2010 F1 testing live: 17th February

17th February 2010, 7:38 by Keith Collantine 129 Comments »

Fairuz Fauzy will drive the Lotus at Jerez today

The F1 teams reach the halfway point in their preparations for the 2010 season today – it’s the eighth day of their 15-day testing allocation.

We now have 11 teams working at Jerez as Lotus has joined in with its newly-launched T127. Join us to follow testing as-it-happens below.

Times from today’s test

Driver	Car	Best time	Laps	Difference
Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault RB6	82.593	99	0
Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25	83.017	72	0.424
Felipe Massa	Ferrari F10	83.204	72	0.611
Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR5	83.322	79	0.729
Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari C29	83.367	76	0.774
Michael Schumacher	Mercedes W01	83.803	111	1.21
Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes VJM03	84.272	28	1.679
Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes VJM03	85.088	74	2.495
Vitaly Petrov	Renault R30	86.237	55	3.644
Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth FW32	87.32	109	4.727
Fairuz Fauzy	Lotus-Cosworth T127	91.848	76	9.255
Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth VR-01	92.417	10	9.824

Testing notes

Pictures from today’s test

The weather in Jerez last week wasn’t great with two of the four days’ running disrupted by rain. Unfortunately it’s set to be just as bad if not worse over the next four days.

Due to the agreements the teams have with the circuits, they’ll only be able to move to a different venue if they look like getting zero chance of dry running. At the moment it looks like they willl get a dry day on Friday, but heavy rain is forecast for today and tomorrow.

Today Lotus becomes the second of the new teams to join testing – we’ll see if they an get their car on-track more quickly and with fewer problems than Virgin did last week.

Another new addition to this week’s test is Paul di Resta, who will get half a day’ running in the Force India.

Today’s testing line-up

McLaren MP4-25 – Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes W01 – Michael Schumacher
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/Paul di Resta
Toro Rosso STR5 – Sebastien Buemi
Virgin VR-01 – Timo Glock
Lotus T127 – Fairuz Fauzy

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):

View Larger Map

Eight of this year’s pre-season test days will take place at this circuit. Last week Lewis Hamilton set a best time of 1’19.583 at the track.

Tweets from the test

Here’s the ten latest Tweets from people at the track (plus me):

If you would like to suggest a Twitter feed to add to the list, please name them in the comments. The list only updates when this page is refreshed.

2010 F1 testing

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129 comments on 2010 F1 testing live: 17th February

HG said on 17th February 2010, 8:07

good to see lotus hit the track, looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

keith, have you taken out recidency in spain yet? seems youve been there ages you lucky…

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Mariusz said on 17th February 2010, 8:08

Read somewhere, that current R30 is only 60% of this which we will see at Bahrain. . .

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- maciek said on 17th February 2010, 9:02
  
  where?
  
  Reply
  - Mariusz said on 17th February 2010, 9:30
    
    Maciek, guess U r my countryman… Well, this information comes from polish f1 sites, but main source can be different. Anyway, beside possible 215 million dolars budget of Renault, it was the biggest news.
    
    Reply
    - Damon said on 17th February 2010, 11:05
      
      It was here, amongst other places: http://sport.onet.pl/f1/f1-zmiana-decyzji-renault-dobre-wiesci-dla-roberta,1,3177958,wiadomosc.html
      
      Brief summary in English:
      “According to French media reports, Renault are preparing a vastly improved chassis for the Bahrain GP (In previous statements Ranault said a new car would only be ready for the Canadian GP.). The new and/or modified parts should alter the car we have seen Renault testing so far by as much as 40%. The biggest changes concern the front wing, sidepods and the diffuser.”
      
      ———–
      Perhaps I should consider changing my nickname for sth more Polish-sounding?
      Still, a Pole called Damon (which is kinda the equivalent for my real name) is less confusing than a Czech guy called Pedro. ;]
      
      Reply
      - K said on 17th February 2010, 13:09
        
        less confusing than a Czech guy called Pedro
        
        ha
      - Ned Flanders said on 17th February 2010, 16:37
        
        So Damon, what is your real name? Damonski?! Pedro said his name is actually Petr, which is fine with me because they’re all just variations on Peter to me!
        
        It is a bit misleading, but loads of people on this site (including me) don’t use their real name. Plus I think it’s great that we have contributors from Eastern Europe, it seems as though F1 is really growing over there.
- David said on 17th February 2010, 9:17
  
  so it’s going to lap about 30 seconds faster than it currently is? Kubica, you genius!
  
  Reply
- spawinte said on 17th February 2010, 10:41
  
  If thats true then maybe it is an r29b and Renault are hiding some insane developments up their sleeve. Doubt it though.
  
  Reply
  - Ads21 said on 17th February 2010, 14:29
    
    Yer its something that a lot of people have suspected since the ‘R30′ was unveiled. I think they’re running still running the R30 with mostly R29 aero and will have massive new update for Bahrain.
    
    Reply
sagar said on 17th February 2010, 8:11

Tell me something more about R30. I want to see those Renault’s great days back.

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Dougie said on 17th February 2010, 8:23

Is Twitter working, there doesn’t seem to be any Tweets coming out of the test… nothing for over half an hour… which is unusual.

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- Max said on 17th February 2010, 9:16
  
  You need to refresh the page to get new feed.
  Thats probably why it looks like it isnt working.
  
  Reply
  - Dougie said on 17th February 2010, 9:35
    
    Cheers Max, but I’m referring to F1 Testing Tweets generally… I get them direct to my phone with the Twitter app sitting open refreshing automatically every 5mins.
    
    They are coming through from Keith, so I guess all is working okay, just nothing from anyone else e.g. ClaireVWilliams, VirginRacing, McLarens TheFifthDriver, JamesAllen etc etc… it’s possible they just haven’t tweeted anything due to being busy or whatever.
    
    Its just not like the first Jerez test last week, which was a Twitter frenzy… guess can’t always be like that.
    
    Reply
    - Keith Collantine said on 17th February 2010, 9:55
      
      I think Claire said she wasn’t doing anything at this teat. James Allen wasn’t at the test last week and I don’t think he is this week either. Fifthdriver has been pretty quiet from testing generally. There’s a fair bit coming from Lotus though.
      
      Reply
      - Dougie said on 17th February 2010, 10:02
        
        Thanks Keith, I’m following Tony & Mike now, thanks for the info.
        
        Impressed with the Lotus so far, Mike Gascoyne never fails to impress me.
BBT said on 17th February 2010, 8:47

Red flag already caused by Hamilton… not a good start. Looking forward to some video footage of the Lotus

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- Scribe said on 17th February 2010, 11:52
  
  I think Hamilton did a fuel out run. They probably won’t admit it like Ferrari, which was hilarious btw, but it seems everyones doing it.
  
  Reply
  - Calum said on 17th February 2010, 12:57
    
    Ferrari laughed to soon, as “the session is stopped, while Massa’s car is retrieved”
    
    Did he run out of fuel too?
    
    Reply
    - LewisC said on 17th February 2010, 13:10
      
      http://twitter.com/InsideFerrari/status/9231625208
      
      “Another usual problem for Felipe, who stopped in the track…”
      
      They’re doing it deliberately. Not sure why though.
      
      Reply
      - statix said on 17th February 2010, 13:26
        
        There should be some penalties for causing red flags (testing time for respective team should be trimmed by 1h or so).
      - statix said on 17th February 2010, 13:27
        
        The same should be about causing flags at Q1,2,3.
      - Scribe said on 17th February 2010, 19:47
        
        theyre doing it because competative advantage is going to be firmly with the team that can run the least fuel.
        
        So essentially there seing how low they can go. There also seeing how much they can stretch out an under fueled cars ,,… fuel by running lean.
      - Patrickl said on 17th February 2010, 20:30
        
        If it was deliberate, why call it a problem?
din said on 17th February 2010, 8:49

Prob. off topic, but I have my doubts

How come BMW Sauber is still retaining the same name? Shouldn’t it be Sauber-Ferrari?

Surprised to see BMW’s not worrying too much about branding…

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- Leon said on 17th February 2010, 8:58
  
  If they change the name they lose the residual funding from last years participation as BMW Sauber. Peter Sauber needs every penny of income he can lay his hands on at the moment. So his team will probably remain with the existing title for some time yet, or at least until other income is secured.
  
  Reply
  - din said on 17th February 2010, 9:24
    
    But actually its more damage to BMW than Peter Sauber.
    
    If FIA’s naming regulations means money for a name change, it would be wise for BMW to fund Sauber to get its name off the team as I dont see it otherwise impossible since Brawn has changed its name.
    Its ironic to see a BMW run on a ferrari.
    
    And wonder why the team’s name isn’t listed at formula1.com yet.
    
    Reply
    - Oliver said on 17th February 2010, 9:59
      
      If Sauber don’t score any points this year, you can bet the name will be changed quickly. Express approval was given to Brawn last year, because everyone thought they were poor.
      
      Reply
- Bien said on 17th February 2010, 9:00
  
  I believe the reason is because teams are only allowed to change their name once every couple of years or so. There is some sort of limitation (going off something I read, maybe someone else can elborate). Sauber is waiting for a big sponsor before changing its name.
  
  Reply
- Tim said on 17th February 2010, 9:09
  
  The team can change its name but there is a process to go through which requires the consent of all the other teams. It’s just not a big enough priority for Sauber at the moment.
  
  Reply
  - Leon said on 17th February 2010, 11:33
    
    Exactly Tim !
    
    If the car was called Marmite-
    Spam-Feugtvengler Peter Sauber would
    stick with it till other vital things
    fall into place for him. How he managed
    to get the show on the road after last
    years BMW-exit debacle I’ll never know,
    but you can bet the details are still
    pretty messy.
    
    The thing that impresses me most is how superbly that Ferrari engine/gearbox oufit
    seems to be perforing in a chassis designed
    for a completely different mechanical set-up.
    me most
    
    Reply
    - Leon said on 17th February 2010, 11:35
      
      sorry guys screwed up that last para whilst actually doing some work to make a living!
      
      Reply
    - Scribe said on 17th February 2010, 11:55
      
      Everyone knew that BMW where leaving for quite some time. Sauber would have had more time than say Brawn to adjust his chassis to another engine.
      
      Certainly not the hatchet job they where forced to do on the Brawn.
      
      Reply
      - Robert McKay said on 17th February 2010, 14:29
        
        Do you know how much I now want to set up a Formula 1 team called Marmite-Spam-Feugtvengler?
        
        Obviously we’ll put a “Racing” on the end, else it doesn’t make any sense!
BBT said on 17th February 2010, 9:00

Second Red Flag of the day already

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costas said on 17th February 2010, 9:00

Live timing with live lap by lap timing for every driver (click on the name):
http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=10691

Greek language commendatory

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- MondoL said on 17th February 2010, 9:14
  
  cool!
  Now we need to keep the rain away for as many hours as possible.
  
  Reply
- din said on 17th February 2010, 9:28
  
  Englished
  http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msfree.gr%2Fms.php%3Fid%3D10691&sl=el&tl=en
  
  Reply
- Keith Collantine said on 17th February 2010, 9:58
  
  That’s a cracking find costas thank you very much.
  
  Reply
Stuart said on 17th February 2010, 9:33

Keith, any chance of putting everyone who’s at the track in a Twitter list? Theoretically it would make it easy for tweeps like me to then get live updates on what’s happening.

Hope the rain stops!

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Peter said on 17th February 2010, 9:53

Whats happening at Virgin?

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- Calum said on 17th February 2010, 12:59
  
  Guess they chickened out.
  
  Oh I’m going to love all the un-funny virgin “jokes”
  
  Reply
Bertie said on 17th February 2010, 9:56

Must say, hats off to Lotus. They are already done more than virgin’s first day. I suspect by the end of the day they will have done more milage. Considering they built it all in 4 months their future looks promising.

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- wdf2 said on 17th February 2010, 10:19
  
  I know a few of the top guys at Lotus, such as Mark Tatham. Top pros with loads of F1 experience.
  
  Reply
LewisC said on 17th February 2010, 9:58

Daft question – why’s the Lotus in the pic above wearing grooved tyres?

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- Michael said on 17th February 2010, 10:01
  
  Rain
  
  Reply
- Staffan Hansson said on 17th February 2010, 10:05
  
  its from the release last week, non testing pic.
  
  Reply
- David said on 17th February 2010, 10:21
  
  Shakedown.
  
  Reply
Tango said on 17th February 2010, 10:25

Why is Hamilton bottom of the sheet? No running this morning?

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- LAK said on 17th February 2010, 10:37
  
  He did run but apparently caused the first red flag of the day, his car stopped and had to catch a ride back to the pits.
  
  Reply
LAK said on 17th February 2010, 10:26

Wondering what’s happening with McLaren.. It seems like they are trying to keep quiet about the problems they’re facing

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- thestig84 said on 17th February 2010, 12:03
  
  Yeah right! Widely considered to be looking like the team to beat along with Ferrari. Keep dreaming!
  
  Reply
ihudy said on 17th February 2010, 10:30

Virgin and Renault without time?

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