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
BasCB said on 3rd February 2010, 8:44
So we are waiting to see what happens today.
Times, laps, etc.
Alonso vs Button vs Schumacher
Bertie said on 3rd February 2010, 8:46
The lap record set in 2008 is 1.08 something. In my opinion I would imagine the 2010 cars are of comparable speed if not faster. Is this true? or were the 08 models far quicker.
Varun Murthy said on 3rd February 2010, 8:56
Im not entirely sure but I think the lap record was set in 2006 by Ant in a Honda..Maybe someone can confirm..
Tim said on 3rd February 2010, 9:10
The lap record was set in 2006 by Anthony Davidson in a Honda. On the basis that the fastest cars in 2009 were generally slower than the fastest cars in 2006, it’s safe to assume 2010 cars will also be slower than in 2006.
Salty said on 3rd February 2010, 8:49
Looking forward to seeing the Hulk in F1 for the first time. Wonder how he’ll stack up against wily ole Rubens.
wdf2 said on 3rd February 2010, 8:52
Rest easy, AP, this post makes no reference to testing times!
An article in the German motorsport-total.com yesterday had Gerhard Berger pointing out that the test ban takes away one of Schumacher’s old advantages: Namely that (especially with Ferrari, on their own track) he could and would spend hours and days pounding around, making improvements, learning more about the car. So when he got to the race, he already had something on most others.
This reminded me of a story from the online karting magazine tkartweb about the F1 drivers getting together at Lonato last summer for a couple of days of karting. Some (i.e. Piquet) just hopped in the karts and drove. Schumacher, naturally, tinkered and modified and constantly changed things (including mounting the steering wheel upside down) to get a few hundredths better.
But the better story was about Timo Glock, the normal guy of F1. All of the other drivers were working with the factory kart teams, had various new chassis and motors, etc., and hung out in the secure area away from the crowds. Glock DRIVES down from Germany in an old Mercedes transporter, pitches an awning in the public parking lot, pulls out a beatup old Maranello chassis with a motor that had dozens of hours on it, and hits the track. When the Maranello factory finally heard about this, they rushed to Logano to assist – and promised Timo a new package to use next time.
KNF said on 3rd February 2010, 13:40
More respect for Timo then, to show up with his own kart…
Prisoner Monkeys said on 3rd February 2010, 9:01
I have it on good authority that Ferrari have set their fastest times on super-soft tyres. I don’t know tyre data for anyone else except Renault, who apaprently haven’t touched anything but the hardest compounds. One has to wonder if they’re not going to arm Petrov with a set, suck his fuel tank dry and send him out to set some quick laps with the intention of making Moscow pay attention and net some sponsor roubles.
It’s what I’d do.
sato113 said on 3rd February 2010, 15:57
hmm, i guess that explains why renault are slower atm. must be doing heavy fuel load/hard tyre runs only.
VenturiEffect said on 3rd February 2010, 9:09
live timing and comments on this italian blog
http://www.blogf1.it
wdf2 said on 3rd February 2010, 9:13
Virginracing.com is a nice site – but there’s not a word on there about the launch event today. Strange.
I hope the rumor holds and the car is black. The old UOP Shadow has always been one of my favorite looking cars.
And I like the contrast: Schumacher and Rosberg pose in suits (Hugo Boss, I’ll bet) and scarves at the Mercedes launch. The Virgin site has Timo Glock in a dime-store cotton hoodie and a leather biker’s jacket.
Prisoner Monkeys said on 3rd February 2010, 9:15
Di Grassi said it is to be black. I think that qualifies as more than a rumour, so I expect red and white to be worked in as well. Black will probably be predominant, though.
wdf2 said on 3rd February 2010, 9:26
Is the launch supposed to be at 10 CET or GMT?
SaloolaS said on 3rd February 2010, 9:27
it’s in 30 minutes, which means it’s at 10 GMT I think
Jay M said on 3rd February 2010, 10:23
HA… Black with red and white highlights? Sounds like another Minardi Team, probably not what they would want to be know as, but most likely what they will become :( hope not, coz i think Timo Glock hasn’t showed us what his made of yet.
Too Early to Judge who will be the Quickest at Bahrain, but Alonso will definitely be 1st or 2nd in practice 3 if Ferrari continue to use similar fuel loads to that of what Massa had been running.
The cars that have been released so far, here is what I’m Predicting For Bahrain
1st MercedesGP – The car looks like an angry RB5 at the front and something from Star Wars at the back, like the intake is Darth Vader’s Mask or something. The car just looks like it is another masterpiece of engineering from Ross Brawn.
2nd Ferrari – They gave up half way through 2009 to start work on this car so you cant help but think they must have done a good job, it looks very conservative but sometimes that can be very good, like a volkswagen golf is always constantly refined to be the ultimate small car. But instead its the Ferrari. Only Thing that worries me is the people working at Ferrari now aren’t the same people as when they won the WC with Schumacher.
3rd Mclaren – Yeah I’ve just named the Big names.. But the new Mclaren looks like they have taken a Big Gamble in the design, which might pay off like the RB5, or it could be a rust bucket, but if it is a rust bucket they have two WC to get them points.
4th Sauber – A lot of Support from BMW went into designing this car, so even if Sauber have had some concerning moments, this car is no slug and hasn’t been rushed into production, I expect this car to be competitive for consistent points in each race
5th Torro Rosso – Torro Rosso just improved the successful STR4 with minor changes, not screwing around with the formula too much.
6th Williams – eh.. Not the car that will put Williams on the podium, but not a dog of a car either. I have gone cold on Williams, they just haven’t been able to meet their standards from previous years, but this year could be one step up towards becoming a big contender again, but not this year I’m sad too say. And for the love of god, Get a better Livery!!! Plain White and Blue is so boring, bring back the winfeld or cannon style.
7th Renault – This car may have a neat Livery, but the design is.. horrible? Like the 2009 cars at the start of the year, very basic. Most of the other cars have got all of the similar improvements they made on their 2009 car incorporated into the 2010 car, like the STR5 wide front nose (used towards the last few races). But the renault looks like it didn’t learn its lesson from last year.. and to top it off, they have a new team leader which might lead into beginners mistakes. But the Renault Engine should be three thumbs up, Renault have always had fantastic engines, and this year the renault engine might have great fuel consumption meaning lower fuel weight during the race, unlike the mercedes engine, which last year was the hot pick but how will it retain high performance and a low fuel consumption?
I expect the RB6 to be hot property, Possibly another Redbull vs Brawn for 2010? Schumacher vs Vettel? and the Lotus to be the best of the new comers
Thats my intake on the cars released so far.
2010 is gonna be a ripper of a season!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 3rd February 2010, 9:18
Button’s had his first run in the McLaren: http://twitpic.com/115g08
RandomChimp said on 3rd February 2010, 10:02
Anyone know if the Virgin Racing launch can be watched anywhere?
Their website isn’t particularly helpful at the moment.
SaloolaS said on 3rd February 2010, 9:22
1. P. de la Rosa Sauber C29 1:13.038 3 pit
2. M. Schumacher Mercedes GP W01 1:14.889 +1.851 5 pit
Dingle Dell said on 3rd February 2010, 9:27
Live commentary on Autosport – http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/173
Live timing at f1today.nl – http://www.f1today.nl/live-update/2010/02/03/circuit-de-la-comunitat-valenciana/
:)
SaloolaS said on 3rd February 2010, 9:30
1 de la Rosa Sauber 1m12.293s
2 Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.889s +2.596
3 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m15.250s +2.957
4 Hulkenberg Williams 1m17.723s +5.43
5 Petrov Renault 1m21.312s +9.019
6 Button McLaren 1m32.980s +20.687
Dave said on 3rd February 2010, 9:33
Sauber is looking quick again tod………..oops.
wdf2 said on 3rd February 2010, 9:35
OMG! Button is 20 sec per lap slower than de la Rosa. In the first race, he’ll be lapped DOZENS of times! :-)
Dave said on 3rd February 2010, 9:37
lol
disaster!!!!!!
bwells said on 3rd February 2010, 9:42
lol…
SaloolaS said on 3rd February 2010, 9:54
What was Massa’s best time?
Dave said on 3rd February 2010, 9:40
I figured we would have a lot more comments today with Alonso and shumi on track.
Dingle Dell said on 3rd February 2010, 9:41
… and Button as well :P
bwells said on 3rd February 2010, 9:42
Fernando is finally on track… :)
bwells said on 3rd February 2010, 9:44
1:16.356 first lap…