2010 F1 testing: February 3rd
Schumacher is back on track for Mercedes today
Much of the world’s media will be focused on Michael Schumacher’s return to test for Mercedes again today.
Meanwhile two other world champions will get their first official runs with their new teams – Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari F10 and Jenson Button driving the McLaren MP4-25. Join us for day three of testing below.
Testing notes
As we head into day three of testing the outward signs are that Ferrari have the upper hand so far.
Felipe Massa has been fastest on both of the two testing days so far and he’s racked up over 100km more in the F10 than any other car.
As ever it’s worth remembering we know little of the comparative fuel loads and set-ups being used. But so far it looks safe to say the F10 is not the turkey its predecessor was and Rubens Barrichello said he thought the car “seemed very good”.
But encouragingly, for those hoping for a closely-fought championship, several of the other teams were able to set times within a few tenths of a second of Massa’s.
We’ve seen some teams, including McLaren and Renault, using green ‘flow vis’ paint to suss out if their aerodynamics are working as expected.
Today’s testing line-up
McLaren MP4-25 – Jenson Button*
Mercedes W01 – Michael Schumacher
Ferrari F10 – Fernando Alonso*
Williams FW32 – Nico Hülkenberg*
BMW Sauber C29 – Pedro de la Rosa
Renault R30 – Vitaly Petrov*
Toro Rosso STR5 – Jaime Alguersuari*
*First appearance in testing this year
Timing and other resources
The following sites have live information from the test:
Autosport
Motor 21
F1 Today
Live GP
La Sexta
The F1
If you know of any others, please post details in the comments.
Several drivers, teams and journalists are providing updates from the track. If you’re on Twitter and would like to follow them you can find links to their accounts in the F1 Twitter directory.
You can find details of future F1 tests in the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar.
Testing so far
The tables below shows how many laps and how much distance have been logged by each driver, car model and engine prior to today’s test:
Drivers’ test mileages
| Driver | Total laps | Total distance (km) |
| Felipe Massa | 227 | 909.135 |
| Robert Kubica | 188 | 752.94 |
| Rubens Barrichello | 177 | 708.885 |
| Nico Rosberg | 158 | 632.79 |
| Sebastien Buemi | 125 | 500.625 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 108 | 432.54 |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 96 | 384.48 |
| Gary Paffett | 86 | 344.43 |
| Pedro de la Rosa | 74 | 296.37 |
| Michael Schumacher | 40 | 160.2 |
Car test mileages
| Model | Total laps | Total distance (km) |
| F10 | 227 | 909.135 |
| W01 | 198 | 792.99 |
| MP4-25 | 194 | 776.97 |
| R30 | 188 | 752.94 |
| FW32 | 177 | 708.885 |
| C29 | 170 | 680.85 |
| STR5 | 125 | 500.625 |
Engine test mileages
| Engine | Total laps | Total distance (km) |
| Ferrari | 522 | 2090.61 |
| Mercedes | 392 | 1569.96 |
| Renault | 188 | 752.94 |
| Cosworth | 177 | 708.885 |
The track
The teams remain at the Ricardo Tormo road course just outside Valencia in Spain (not the street track which is the venue for the European Grand Prix).
The weather is expected to remain dry with temperatures around 14-16C.
2010 F1 testing
Image (C) Mercedes
VXR said on 4th February 2010, 20:47
Tuesday times.
Felipe Massa’s fastest lap – 1:11.722 – was set on the first flying lap of an 11-lap run.
Kamui Kobayashi’s fastest lap – 1:12.056 – was set on the fourth lap of an 8-lap run.
Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap – 1:12.256 – was set on the fourth lap of a 20-lap run.
Robert Kubica’s fastest lap – 1:12.426 – was set on the second lap of a 3-lap run.
Nico Rosberg’s fastest lap – 1:12.899 – was set on the fifth lap of a 6-lap run.
Fuel loads unknown, but Ferrari were definitely the only ones specifically doing low fuel runs for the majority of the tests.
Now that’s interesting! Also, Renault and Williams didn’t do any low fuel setup work on Tuesday.
speedster said on 6th February 2010, 14:05
can any one settle an argument the wheel base on f1 cars does not have to be the same is there a site i can go to with the answer to this question so i can prove it
VXR said on 6th February 2010, 17:53
The wheelbase does not have to be the same. It is obvious, for example, that the Renault has a much shorter wheebase than either the McLaren or the Ferrari, but all are legal.
http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-public.nsf/130A104E1769D120C1257617002D4CAE/$FILE/Stable%20Technical%20Regulations%20-%2024th%20July%20-%20CLEAN.pdf