It’s all change at the third day of F1 testing in Jerez with Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and several other drivers making their first appearance at the track this year.
Join us to follow the test as it happens below.
Testing times and laps
Best times from today’s test
Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Difference |
Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR5 | 79.919 | 76 | 0 |
Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari C29 | 80.736 | 48 | 0.817 |
Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes VJM03 | 81.428 | 48 | 1.509 |
Felipe Massa | Ferrari F10 | 81.603 | 72 | 1.684 |
Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault RB6 | 81.783 | 59 | 1.864 |
Vitaly Petrov | Renault R30 | 82 | 68 | 2.081 |
Nico Rosberg | Mercedes W01 | 82.82 | 53 | 2.901 |
Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth FW32 | 83.217 | 120 | 3.298 |
Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25 | 83.985 | 68 | 4.066 |
Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth VR-01 | 97.107 | 8 | 17.188 |
Laps complete so far (all 2010 test days)
Driver | Total laps | Total distance (km) |
Fernando Alonso | 344 | 1469.511 |
Sebastien Buemi | 330 | 1408.365 |
Nico Hulkenberg | 311 | 1323.81 |
Rubens Barrichello | 297 | 1240.245 |
Felipe Massa | 298 | 1223.946 |
Robert Kubica | 291 | 1209.024 |
Nico Rosberg | 268 | 1119.87 |
Kamui Kobayashi | 254 | 1084.104 |
Michael Schumacher | 246 | 1037.682 |
Jenson Button | 233 | 997.038 |
Pedro de la Rosa | 202 | 829.314 |
Lewis Hamilton | 176 | 733.644 |
Jaime Alguersuari | 173 | 725.013 |
Vitaly Petrov | 170 | 721.035 |
Vitantonio Liuzzi | 151 | 668.628 |
Mark Webber | 149 | 659.772 |
Gary Paffett | 86 | 344.43 |
Sebastian Vettel | 59 | 261.252 |
Adrian Sutil | 48 | 212.544 |
Timo Glock | 16 | 70.848 |
Lucas di Grassi | 8 | 35.424 |
Model | Total laps | Total distance (km) |
F10 | 642 | 2693.457 |
FW32 | 608 | 2564.055 |
W01 | 514 | 2157.552 |
STR5 | 503 | 2133.378 |
MP4-25 | 495 | 2075.112 |
R30 | 461 | 1930.059 |
C29 | 456 | 1913.418 |
RB6 | 208 | 921.024 |
VJM03 | 199 | 881.172 |
VR-01 | 24 | 106.272 |
Engine | Total laps | Total distance (km) |
Ferrari | 1601 | 6740.253 |
Mercedes | 1208 | 5113.836 |
Renault | 669 | 2851.083 |
Cosworth | 632 | 2670.327 |
Testing notes
The teams were blessed with a full day of dry running yesterday, but will they get any more? I’ve arrived at a dry circuit this morning but there is a lot of cloud and the weather forecast this morning said rain would arrive around 10am – much as it did on Wednesday.
Kamui Kobayashi ended yesterday as the fastest driver after a late flier, and Sebastien Buemi was quickest for much of yesterday’s session.
But it was Fernando Alonso who caught the attention with a very long stint, well over 40 laps in duration, in which time he still lapped with two seconds of the fastest car on the track.
Today almost every team will change drivers with Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa along those taking over.
Today’s testing line-up
McLaren MP4-25 – Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes W01 – Nico Rosberg
Red Bull RB6 – Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari F10 – Felipe Massa
Williams FW32 – Rubens Barrichello
BMW Sauber C29 – Pedro de la Rosa
Renault R30 – Vitaly Petrov
Force India VJM03 – Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso STR5 – Jaime Alguersuari
Virgin VR-01 – Lucas di Grassi
The track: Circuito de Jerez
The teams are testing at the Circuito de Jerez, formerly the home of the Spanish (1986-1990) and European Grands Prix (1994 and 1997):
Eight of this year’s pre-season test days will take place at this circuit. The teams last tested here during the young driver training days in December. On that occasion Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time for Red Bull with a 1’17.418.
Tweets from the test
Here’s the ten latest Tweets from people at the track, including me:
If you would like to suggest a Twitter feed to add to the list, please suggest one in the comments. The list only updates when this page is refreshed.
Live timing
Williams are showing live timing from the track on their website.
2010 F1 testing
GeeMac
12th February 2010, 7:36
Any news on Lotus’ launch? It’s supposed to be today isn’t it?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 7:40
Yep, see here: F1 Fanatic round-up: 12/2/2010
GeeMac
12th February 2010, 7:52
Thanks!
sato113
12th February 2010, 8:41
what time will it be at?
Bullfrog
12th February 2010, 10:33
This evening, after 5pm according to this.
paxter
12th February 2010, 17:47
http://en.espnf1.com/lotus/motorsport/story/8634.html
i love the color!
Calum
12th February 2010, 7:48
Ah good, lewis’ turn today!
GoHam
12th February 2010, 7:56
Go go go go Lewis! Blow ‘em away!
GoHam
12th February 2010, 7:58
now it appears :)some problem keith? Same thing happened a couple of days back.
Calum
12th February 2010, 8:37
Speaking of alternate comments, is there any reason behind why every second comment has their poster’s name in blue then every other in blue? I only noticed the pattern last night! :)
HounslowBusGarage
12th February 2010, 8:44
Any ideas what the track and air temps are?
HounslowBusGarage
12th February 2010, 8:47
Seems we have this strange order of comments back again. My question about temperatures was osted at 8.44 but appeared above Calum’s post at 8.01 am.
This is posted as a reply to my 8.44 post; let’s see where it slots in.
Pedro
12th February 2010, 9:34
It is 11 degrees (Celsius).
ap
12th February 2010, 9:14
shame about the rain in spain….
Scribe
12th February 2010, 11:42
on the plain?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 14:05
Actually it’s quite hilly here.
sumedh
12th February 2010, 9:26
Alonso’s fastest lap of yesterday was done on one of the final laps of a 50+ lap stint. Jenson says that Jerez circuit is abrasive on tyres. I think, its fair to judge that Ferrari is kind to its tyres, and is pretty fast :). I am so happy :D :D
Scribe
12th February 2010, 11:43
Ferrari build their cars like that, particulaly since 05.
Anyways, it seems Ferrari will have the advantage with this top 10 tyre rule, they’ll be able to make softs work better than harder tyre workers in qualifiying and off the grid.
David B
12th February 2010, 9:44
Here comes the rain again.
It will be a though day, and Virgin will waste an opportunity.
ap
12th February 2010, 9:52
“Read the new rules story here: FIA to keep fuel weights secret in 2010
@autosportlive 10 minutes ago · Reply · View Tweet · RT”
I dont understand this….why would they need to show fuel load after qual anyways…they ALL have to have a full tank for the race LOL
And they are crippling the top 10 cars with crappy tyres…after there 1lap dash after sitting in the pit bay untill last moment to save those tyres…
But seriously, they will be doing low fule runs in q3 so why the fuss that no published weights…?!?!?!?
bwells
12th February 2010, 10:15
maybe the teams want to keep their fuel economy a secret.. lol
Platine
12th February 2010, 10:24
Some cars will need less fuel due to greater engine efficiency, and also maybe teams could try to start a little on the light side to pull away and ensure track position then ease off last few laps, or gamble on a safety car when a given lap uses far less fuel…
Tim
12th February 2010, 10:29
Fuel weights were never published before refuelling was re-introduced in 1994, so why publish them now?
Oliver
12th February 2010, 15:43
Fuel weights were only published as recently as 2008 if I’m correct.
Kanyima
12th February 2010, 10:04
Raining in Jerez at the moment.
Kanyima
12th February 2010, 10:05
Ham first one out in the wet and goes back to the pits.
Kanyima
12th February 2010, 10:09
Rain has ceased. Sun pops out rather timidly. Should dry soon, hopefully.
Kanyima
12th February 2010, 10:10
Rosberg first out.
bwells
12th February 2010, 10:16
Well I think I’m going to hit the hay.. not much going on so hopefully it’ll dry up and they can get some laps in and I can have something to read in the am.. :)
FLuidd
12th February 2010, 10:38
Go SAUBER ! ^^
m0tion
12th February 2010, 10:43
The fuel thing will make it tempting for teams that know they would normally be well out of the points to run fuel loads that won’t get them to the flag. Showboating for sponsors and fans and praying for race stopping rain. Something else for “the show” – puke
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 10:49
I’ve been stood down at the turn ten hairpin watching the cars braking into it this morning, while it was still dry. Petrov was having trouble getting the Renault to slow down, he ran very wide at least once and had a big lock-up on another occasion (which I caught on camera, will have a picture up soon).
The other thing about the Renault was that, just like yesterday, it was the only car with glowing brake discs.
Hamilton appears to be running another aero gizmo on the McLaren, his times were quite slow this morning – Felipe Massa gradually caught and passed him in the Ferrari.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 11:45
Where is this new gizmo, from your pictures I thought it might be in the sidepod.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 12:00
Yep that’s it.
epi
12th February 2010, 17:34
Maybe this is just me being an optimistic fan but…
The slow lap times might be related to that aero device. It’s designed to measure the airflow through a specific area but also the distribution of the airflow.
This will change at different speeds, so it’s very possible that he had to cruise at specific speeds to allow the readings to stabilise.
Something to the tune of, “Ok Lewis, go to 80mph now …. …. now 90 mph” and even going around corners at constant speed too.
Either that or it’s another dog :(
VXR
12th February 2010, 12:23
“The other thing about the Renault was that, just like yesterday, it was the only car with glowing brake discs.”
Lots of fuel.
statix
12th February 2010, 13:47
yep, looks like lots of fuel
GeeMac
12th February 2010, 12:56
In one of the pictures you toook of Rubens you can see the Williams’ brake discs glowing.
Ned Flanders
12th February 2010, 13:03
Keith, a comment you made about Massa catching and passing Hamilton this morning made me wonder… how much to the drivers act as though they are racing during tests? If a car is stuck behind a slower car, is the car in front expected to let him by, or do they really have to fight their way past?
Obviously, I know it’s only testing, and the teams wouldn’t want their drivers to risk trasshing their cars for no reason. But F1 drivers are competitive creatures. I remember Q3 at the 2006 French GP, Schumacher and Alonso seemed to be ‘racing’ each other for the fun of it in the otherwise pointless fuel burn period
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 13:54
Some of them were letting other cars go past by getting out of the throttle coming off a slower corner.
De la Rosa went past Barrichello in front of me while I was there and Barrichello gave nothing away, he stayed with de la Rosa on the outside and the two came out of the corner side-by-side. De la Rosa got ahead though – about three cars passed Barrichello.
They don’t defend their positions but you sense there’s no love lost. Massa have Hamilton a bit of a squeeze when he went past the McLaren.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 13:12
gah I don’t like this rain. I really want to see a fume run soft tyre lap from Lewis, or a race simulation, they seem to be going about this testing lark slightly differently.
Does anyone have well lit pictures of the RB6 diffuser, or the VJM03’s?
Anyway, all this rain shows why Bahrain is such a decent spot for testing, lets face it in the limited time available, everyone wants dry running, it’s better, hope Barca isn’t wet as well.
What I really want to see is a picture of one of these cars going down one of the long straights on full wets, it’ll be good to see the trails the cars produce this year.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 13:54
Have a look here: https://www.racefans.net/2010/02/12/f1-testing-pictures-12th-february/img_2724/
Scribe
12th February 2010, 14:32
thanks Keith, that is a marevellous photo by the way. The best I’ve seen of the RB6
bwells
12th February 2010, 15:17
Scribe do you remember what happened to Ferrari last year when they tried to beat the rain… the got sand storms.. :) lol
Calum
12th February 2010, 13:39
The lap record (race conditions) is by h-h frentzen: a 1:23:135
Bullfrog
12th February 2010, 14:03
1:21.072 was the fastest qualifying time that year.
It was also the time for 2nd and 3rd on the grid! I remember it well, Murray Walker nearly exploded…
Scribe
12th February 2010, 14:33
Ricardo got 1.17 with a fully developed RB5 last yeaar, as Keith says at the top.
If they can go that fast tommorow their in the money.
AP
12th February 2010, 14:41
Ricciardo…
Sorry but Imagine spelling Hameltonnes name wrong!?!?! LOL :)
sato113
12th February 2010, 14:33
what year was that Calum?
DanThorn
12th February 2010, 14:37
1997.
mani
12th February 2010, 14:23
I see Ferrari using the conical golden wheel nuts… any advantages using ’em???
djdaveyp
12th February 2010, 14:33
I think the shape is so they can get the wheel guns on them faster in the pit stops! No idea why they are gold.
mani
12th February 2010, 14:45
yeah, that is an advantage :)
FLuidd
12th February 2010, 14:36
I think it adds to the wheel’s inertia.
djdaveyp
12th February 2010, 14:59
I’ve always wondered actually why they don’t put ballast in things like wheel nuts?
It would have a neutral effect on the cars handling as it wouldn’t roll with the car.
But it would help with weight distribution!
Scribe
12th February 2010, 15:05
Prehaps because you would have to have colse to equal amounts of balast on left an right wheels?
Prehaps they do but probably connected to the fairing or break section in some way, I think moving ballast would have all sorts of diffcult to predict variables through corneres, you’d never set it up right.
Ballast on the wheels is possibly there but hidden, an you could only have it in a still position to help with back front balance.
Bertie
12th February 2010, 15:11
I severely doubt they put any ballast on any of these parts. You always want the minimum unsprung weight as possible for the suspension to perform better.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 15:32
@ Bertie, yeah mooving Ballast just doesn;t make sense like that.
You could have equal Ballast at opposite points of a circle to cancell out any difference though.
Probably improve inertia like Fluid said as well.
Unlikeley though.
Oliver
12th February 2010, 16:05
Believe it or not, the wheel is a free body as far as the car is concerned, any additional weight will put more strain on the suspension.
Bertie
12th February 2010, 15:40
It will definately add to inertia since mass and inertia are essentially equivalent, well if you not close to the speed of light.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 15:44
Which, alas, F1 cars haven’t reached yet. But we’ll get there, yes we will.
Incidentally do you think the opposite sides of the wheel idea works at all? Just curious.
Dr. Gonzo
12th February 2010, 15:49
You’re not Improving inertia, you’re Increasing it – which is a bad thing.
Bertie
12th February 2010, 15:50
Well i am sure it would be good as far for just the view point of ballast. However, since moving the ballast to parts of that car that are unsprung (wheels, brakes, etc) would be very undesirable as it would cause the the suspension to be less responsive. For example, people have tried moving brake discs to the centre of the car so that they dont add to that wieght. However, that failed because of the ridiculous torsion forces that the axel is put under.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 16:15
Awesome, this is why i’m not an engineer.
mani
12th February 2010, 14:43
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/13245424
cute pic here… anyone has a high resolution of this?
Oliver
12th February 2010, 15:18
I believe SUTTON should have what you are looking for.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 15:07
Lucas di Grassi just made it out in the Virgin for the first time, he did a seven lap run with the new front wing. The team hadn’t quite got all of the stickers on it. Here’s some pictures: F1 testing pictures: 12th February
Bertie
12th February 2010, 15:08
I aprreciate it is still early doors, but virgin are looking like they might even struggle to qualify.
FLuidd
12th February 2010, 15:32
That’s what happens when you let 13 teams to compete in f1.
Bertie
12th February 2010, 15:37
I wonder if Lotus or others fair better. Ironically, I bet stefan GP would be able to qualify considering it is just the toyota.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 15:40
Car doesn’t look to tough now does it. An the problem with that front wing won’t go away untill it is developed. Still if the FIA pass it, it can’t be that bad.
Still Stefan could probably qualify but the car will be average at best, development has been slowed right down and Toyota never produced a winner yet.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 15:40
There’s no 107% rule so I think they’ll be OK!
Bertie
12th February 2010, 16:03
Oh really did realise that had been dropped. Lucky for them… well probably for them.
KMal
12th February 2010, 15:42
Yeah but have they not been unlucky with the weather too, i mean they have run in the wet/damp both times?
Their times are WAY off the pace though even in the wet.
Scribe
12th February 2010, 16:19
well, in the wet the cars are going slower, so theres probably less strain on downforce providing elements.
So if the wing falls off in the wet, you know it’s in dire need of something different.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 19:14
I spoke to Di Grassi this evening and he’s not taking much notice of performance yet, he just wants more mileage.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 15:39
The rain got much heavier in the final hour of the test. Hamilton’s just been out and crawled round the track very slowly, throwing up huge plumes of spray and backing off on the straight.
Force India say they’ll send Sutil out for an installation lap after fixing his electrical problem if they can, but we’ll see.
Icthyes
12th February 2010, 16:31
Ah, I wish we went to Jerez instead of Barcelona for the race. All it needs is decent transport links and a wider track.
Tom
12th February 2010, 17:18
I actually just started a blog on the testing, and this post made me realise how rubbish it was in comparison, great work as ever.
(Without plugging it…if anyone fancies giving me some constructive feedback that;d be great, please check it here : http://bleacherreport.com/articles/343916-testing-times-virgin-racing-gives-us-a-taste-of-the-new-boys)
F1Fan
12th February 2010, 17:32
Keith, two questions for you:
(1) How do you rate Jerez as a test track ? From its outline, it seems that it offers a mix of high- and low-speed corners w/out any real long straights. I understand that it is a far better barometer than Valencia, but do you think there are elements of a car’s design that don;t really get tested on this track ?
(2) James Allen reports today that Michelin is in talks w/ the FIA about a return to F1 in 2011 as the sole supplier. Who do you think has the superior tyre technology and also reliability, Michelin or Bridgestone ?
Thanks in advance – looking forward to Bahrein !
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 19:13
Well, from a media point of view Jerez is great because the centre is is in the middle of the track and you can see various points of the circuit from it. The facilities have recently been updated and are very good.
For the teams I think the track is more reflective of the slower courses they’ll visit during the season – the likes of the Hungaroring for example. But they wouldn’t be spending more than half of their days here if it wasn’t useful for them in terms of the data they get from the track, the dependability of the weather (today’s rain notwithstanding) and the ease with which they can ship parts in from their bases (as Virgin did today for example).
Can’t add much to the Michelin story other than to say it’s not so much a question of tyre technology as who has the infrastructure to supply dozens of sets of tyre to 13 teams for 19 races on all corners of the globe. Bridgestone can, and there are many who think they’ll be persuaded to stay if costs can be brought down – it’s no coincidence tyre allocations are being cut for this year. Michelin presumably could because they supplied most of the grid only four years ago.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th February 2010, 19:09
I’m finishing up at the circuit for today, here’s my write-ups from two interviews this evening including a one-to-one with Lucas di Grassi who was very interesting to talk to (not that Hamilton wasn’t, of course!):
Hamilton eager for more dry running
Di Grassi: Too early to judge performance
Marc Connell
12th February 2010, 21:11
i dont see mclaren being good this year :( im voteing for virgin to be the best rookie team. Torro rosso look good! cosworth power ftw