Most of the team will swap their drivers for today’s test and early indications are the weather will be kinder to them today.
Join us below to find out how the teams get on in their tenth day of testing.
Times from today’s test
Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Difference |
Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault RB6 | 79.299 | 115 | 0 |
Fernando Alonso | Ferrari F10 | 80.115 | 132 | 0.816 |
Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25 | 80.394 | 101 | 1.095 |
Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth FW32 | 81.432 | 138 | 2.133 |
Michael Schumacher | Mercedes W01 | 81.437 | 79 | 2.138 |
Robert Kubica | Renault R30 | 81.916 | 100 | 2.617 |
Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes VJM03 | 81.939 | 69 | 2.64 |
Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari C29 | 82.228 | 28 | 2.929 |
Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR5 | 82.564 | 120 | 3.265 |
Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth VR-01 | 83.504 | 34 | 4.205 |
Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth T127 | 83.521 | 68 | 4.222 |
Testing notes
The poor weather continues to be the main story at Jerez as the teams struggle to complete as much dry running as they can in the increasingly rare breaks between showers.
Lotus have some ground to make up today after losing a lot of time yesterday after Heikki Kovalainen crashed and a replacement from wing was not available. The team were expecting to receive one overnight.
Today’s testing line-up
McLaren MP4-25 – Jenson Button
Mercedes W01 – Michael Schumacher
Red Bull RB6 – Mark Webber
Ferrari F10 – Fernando Alonso
Williams FW32 – Nico Hulkenberg
BMW Sauber C29 – Kamui Kobayashi
Renault R30 – Robert Kubica
Force India VJM03 – Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso STR5 – Jaime Alguersuari
Virgin VR-01 – Lucas di Grassi
Lotus T127 – Heikki Kovalainen
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. Last week Lewis Hamilton set a best time of 1’19.583 at the track.
Live Tweets and times
You can find live times from the track on this site.
Here’s the 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
- F1 testing pictures: 18th February
- 2010 F1 testing live: 18th February
- F1 testing in pictures: 17th February
- 2010 F1 testing live: 17th February
- Who’s fast and who’s not? A closer look at the lap times from Jerez testing
- Jerez test 1 statistics
- F1 testing pictures: 13th February
- F1 testing live: 13th February
- F1 testing pictures: 12th February
- 2010 F1 testing live: 12th February
- F1 testing pictures: 11th February
- 2010 F1 testing live: 11th February
- F1 testing pictures: 10th February
- 2010 F1 testing live: 10th February
- F1 testing review: Valencia (Pictures)
- F1 testing pictures: February 3rd
- 2010 F1 testing: February 3rd
- F1 testing pictures: February 2nd
- 2010 F1 testing: February 2nd
- 2010 F1 testing: February 1st
Image (C) Mercedes
bwells
19th February 2010, 7:56
Here we go… pray for sunshine!!
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 8:09
I hope it’s mostly dry today. It’s hard to work out what’s going on when it’s dry, and its almost impossible when its wet.
—-
I’m interested in Heikki Kovalainen’s crash yesterday. Was it his mistake as he said? Was it the car being hard to drive because they hadn’t gotten the throttle maps and stuff right? Was it because he was expecting the downforce level of a Mclaren and he had X % less downforce that last years Mclaren?
I’m beginning to really route for these little new teams because it all seems so very hard.
Adam Cooper seems to have the inside track on what’s going on with Campos and USF1:
http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/02/18/will-lopezcampos-deal-be-confirmed-soon/
Rum and Coke
19th February 2010, 12:05
are you a policeman? #:)
Mariusz
19th February 2010, 8:13
POLE on the POLE! ! ! Eh Sorry, I’m so excited . . .
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 8:20
Looks like this is the link to the live timing for today from that Greek website:
http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=10807
No times listed yet presumably because they are all doing installation laps.
bwells
19th February 2010, 8:24
Well… shumi with a 2:09… lol
Macca
19th February 2010, 8:25
I think this one is better.
http://live.autosport.com/
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 8:31
No no no. :-) this one is the bees knees.
it updates live and if you click on the drivers name it gives you a list of the laps he has done and the times.
I didn’t find this site. Some other dude posted a link to it yesterday, or possibly the day before.
Yeah you can’t Google translate the timing bit because it’s Flash, but that’s irrelevant since numbers and names can be understood in any language.
bwells
19th February 2010, 8:33
true enough… I just have them both opened plus twitter so your covered in all angles.. :)
Oh… and this site of course.. :)
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 8:34
yeah me too.
Remco H
19th February 2010, 8:53
Nice link…..checking it now. Session red flagged @ the moment.
bwells
19th February 2010, 8:23
dry running is a must… sure it’s always good to get wet weather data… but not all wet weather!.. it looks
promising today.. 8)
bwells
19th February 2010, 8:25
I tried to google translate that page and it doesn’t seem to work.. would be awesome to have that in english
costas
19th February 2010, 10:24
hello Bwells. msfree is using a system for autorefresh which creates problems to google translate. You could use the following link for english translation of the article but you will have to make the refresh for the times…
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%2Fincludes%2Fdetails.php%3Fid%3D10807&sl=el&tl=en
bwells
19th February 2010, 8:47
I see that Lotus is a firm believer in any press is good press… on there twitter account they just posted 4 articles about there crash yesterday.. lol.. and then Kovi stops on track.. :)
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 9:16
I’m beginning to root for them because of it. All the major players in Lotus are using Twitter and they openly showed their diffuser at the launch. …wow.
…Although I assume that was because their car has no amazing features any other team would want to copy at this stage.
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 9:17
I think Force india has a problem they are not driving as much as it should. Yesterday they didn’t drove a lot either. engine problems or just electrical due the water?
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 9:34
Seems Sutil is driving again instead of Liuzzi. Keith
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th February 2010, 10:05
Thanks MacLeod – Force India changing their plans again.
Dev
19th February 2010, 10:27
since they expected weather to be dog, they ran di Resta yesterday.. as the weather forecast for today & tomorrow is good… hence all plans got modified… Sutil today Tonio tomorrow…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
19th February 2010, 9:21
Some new pics from yesterday’s test here, including the Lotus and Virgin: F1 testing pictures: 18th February
Derek
19th February 2010, 9:35
Jenson’s got off to a good start!
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 9:46
Being a McLaren/Jenson it’s good to see him at the top of the timesheets for once! :D
But they’re all at least 5 seconds off the pace so plenty of room for improvement for everyone.
Apparently di Grassi may have struck a barrier a few minutes ago.
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 9:48
*Mclaren/Jenson fan I mean…
bwells
19th February 2010, 9:52
Yes lot’s of room for improvement.. and that Virgin just can’t seem to keep it’s wings! I hope they have a spare today.. :)
Calum
19th February 2010, 14:02
They say “spare part X wont reach us until the evening, so no more testing.” Surely they could have sent over more than one spare component, when they know their car is going to break every day!
bwells
19th February 2010, 9:56
That green flag lasted all of a minute! How frustrating… do they know it’s 2am here and I should be sleeping!! lol…
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 10:04
I know! There’s more red flags than a communist convention…
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:06
lol… looks like Kobayashi this time.. so you’re close!
Derek
19th February 2010, 9:58
I’m all for the British drivers, but mainly I just love F1 period!
m0tion
19th February 2010, 10:55
With a name like Derek you can only be for English drivers lol
Derek
19th February 2010, 11:38
Actually I’m Scottish!! But I’m a Hamilton fan and or any other British driver. If paul Di Rista starts winning then ………..?
Calum
19th February 2010, 14:09
Be quite good to see another Scot winning a race!
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 10:00
Working 8:45 – 7:45 at my local library today (in case you didn’t guess, I’m a librarian funnily enough). Thank fully I have this and Live Autosport to keep me busy :D
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:04
Thankfully you have an internet connection.. :)
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 10:12
Thankfully someone knows how to spell thankfully! Sometimes I wonder how I became a librarian…
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:26
lol… 8)
ajokay
19th February 2010, 10:04
Wow, they just keep on throwing these cars into the gravel, don’t they?
FLuidd
19th February 2010, 10:07
Can someone please explain me what’s this whole ordeal about Ferrari’s new chassis ?
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:14
Not totally sure… maybe it’s just the second one but they said there was some improvements.. but I know that Fernando’s going out on slicks so the times should drop.. :)
Tombong
19th February 2010, 10:14
Nothing is new. It’s exactly the same as the one they’ve used in Valencia
ajokay
19th February 2010, 10:33
I believe it’s just the 2nd of the 2 chassis they’ve built so far. Would be better to share the load between the two so that when they get to Bahrain, one driver isn’t in a car thats already racked thousands of testing miles when the other driver is in a brand spanking new tub.
Peter
19th February 2010, 10:52
No, this is the second chassis they are using. I do not know the differences.
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:29
Shumi and Fernando just had a sweet battle… but Micheal set his best time on a 4 lap run where Fernando was on a 9 lapper.. :)
TeviotMoose
19th February 2010, 10:33
Could you add the VirginRacing twitter feed – they seem quite on the ball (and in the barriers!)
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 10:36
Uhoh the Greek site with the live timing seems to have gone down. Damn, that was a great service they had on there.
I hope I didn’t contribute to it’s demise by posting a link to it.
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 10:37
Oh. I’m wrong. It’s back. Maybe a problem at my end.
Calum
19th February 2010, 14:15
Probably gremlins or something!!
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 10:43
Alonso goes fastest: 1m21.969
Getting closer to Hamilton’s fastest from last week…
FLuidd
19th February 2010, 10:45
still 2 seconds off
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:46
Not just you it was down here as well… too many connections.. and FOM don’t feel there’s a world wide market for F1.. I think there is!!
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 10:53
Me father seems to think we’ll see the true pace of each car at Barcelona (weather permitting), but I don’t think we’ll see that until Bahrain. What’s everyone else’s take?
Derek
19th February 2010, 10:56
We need a dry track, air temp 15c + and low wind in Barcelona then the cars will show their true colours.
bwells
19th February 2010, 10:56
as we get closer to Bahrain we’ll get a closer idea of each teams pace but ultimately Q3 in Bahrain will be the true judge.. :)
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 12:32
Q3 may well not be a test of ultimate pace because of the new tyre rule about having to start on the quali tyres. It might turn out that the best thing to do is qualify something like 5th on hard tyres, rather than qualify 1st on soft. It’ll be interesting to see how the rules actually work in practice. I’m fairly sure that someone is going to totally screw it up in the first race and look stupid.
luigismen
19th February 2010, 18:46
Q2 then?
matt88
19th February 2010, 11:01
As last year, I think we’ll see the true pace in Barcelona.
I remember 12 months ago in Barcelona that Briatore said about the fastest laps set by Brawn GP:”There are some teams that are running low on fuel to catch some sponsorship, no need to worry about them.” :D
djdaveyp
19th February 2010, 11:03
Another instance where we all see flav is a complete c**k!
We will see the try pace in q1 actually cost we’ll get to see “for sure” who is the fastest out of virgin and lotus, and any other team that shows up.
But we’ll get a good idea in bar-phell-ownar, because they’ll all generally do a glory run towards the end!
bwells
19th February 2010, 11:03
funny how some people are saying that about Sauber these days.. although they haven’t been as impressive lately..
James_mc
19th February 2010, 11:31
Ironic given what Alonso then did to plonk his car on the front row! :D
djdaveyp
19th February 2010, 11:06
I think the snow plough device on the front of the Mclaren is going to make a huge difference to the lap time if they have it right. I expect the other teams will be rushing to copy it when they are a second a lap faster in bahrain! (in my dreams of course! but you never know.)
david
19th February 2010, 11:08
lets say the 3 completely new teams get to the grid, Lotus, Virgin and USF1/Stefan GP, if 8 get knocked out in Q1 it would be a pity if the 6 get knocked out nearly every, leaves it easy to get out of Q1 compared to last year.
bwells
19th February 2010, 11:10
another red flag means the end of my late night… have fun all
Derek
19th February 2010, 11:18
McLaren consistently in the 1.21s and so were Ferrari, Red Bull in the 1.22s (before it broke!)Looks like we are getting a gimps of the pace already guys!
Derek
19th February 2010, 11:20
Just to add to my last: They all looked like they were on a 9 lap stint, so time were comparable
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 12:35
Still don’t know the fuels loads though or what they are testing.
Peter
19th February 2010, 11:25
Does anybody know what is wrong with the Lotus? They caused a red flag at 9.34 but I have not seen any post about the problem.
Azhar
19th February 2010, 11:30
Lotus car stopped with a clutch sensor failure.
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 11:28
A close shave for di Grassi earlier today:
http://cdn.images.autosport.com/editorial/1266578605.jpg
david
19th February 2010, 11:29
Hekki on twitter
Bit of a troubled morning, clutch problem taken time to fix. I’ve taken early lunch, hopefully non stop afternoon ahead!
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 11:31
It’s over for US F1: crashtests are cancelled, No sponsor money to pay crew and deliveries. (NYtimes)
Jose Maria Lopez cried when Winsor contacted him. (argentine media)
Azhar
19th February 2010, 11:42
so here come Stefan GP.
Derek
19th February 2010, 11:43
Well done MacLeod for the news but what a bummer for USF1. I think USF1 has to succeed in order for Formula 1 to make it in North America. This is not good for Formula 1!
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 11:54
It’s indeed bad news for F1 for the states overall. And gues what Stefan GP started their Car today also (autosport.com)
Sad day indeed, i think we will see Stephan at Barcelona.
Calum
19th February 2010, 14:14
It is a shame for those involved with the team, the designers and engineers who will unfortunately not see their labour of love reach the track.
HounslowBusGarage
19th February 2010, 12:46
MacLeod, could you post the NYT link where you found this story please. I can’t find it on their site.
HounslowBusGarage
19th February 2010, 13:02
Ah!
Found it http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/sports/autoracing/18autos.html?scp=1&sq=US%20F1&st=cse
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 13:27
No direct link to NY times, but according to this site http://www.rtl.nl/(/sport/rtl_gp/formule1/nieuws/)/sport/rtl_gp/components/formule1/nieuws/2010/02_februari/18/100218_us_f1.xml
There is a insider of/from NYtimes (probaly the financial department of the NY times)telling them about the money or lack of it. therefore cancelling all tests incl. the crashtest and you know no crashtest no races.
So no official statments but hearing some friends on wall street it’won’t be long. (when i saw that article i ask some people for confirment and they told me it it won’t be long. So 2 sources means it’s over
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 13:49
Sorry for the late respaonse i was on lunch but i think that is the article the other site was referring too.
Bertie
19th February 2010, 11:43
Mclaren showing their speed today. I cant think of a better testing partership than Button and Hamilton. Both totally different styles, which must give two perspectives to look at the same problem. This i am sure will be a major advantage as the season progesses.
Tim
19th February 2010, 11:51
Or two entirely different problems.
Bertie
19th February 2010, 13:17
Yeah perhaps. But if it is a problem for one driver and not the other you know that it comes from the driving style. If the two drivers have different problems you would know again driving style is to blame. That is stil preferable to having two drivers with same style with same problem. In this case it much harder to separate the two. I cant think of a sitauaion (atleast in a testing sense) where having two drivers with similar styles is better.
Tim
19th February 2010, 14:34
Not necessarily. The car is generally developed to suit the driving style, not the other way round. If both drivers have similar driving styles and struggle to overcome the same problem with the car, then the team only has one set of problems to solve. If the drivers have very different styles, one may struggle with one set of problems with the car and the other may struggle with a different problems. Then the team has two sets of problems to deal with, and it effectively has to develop the car in two different directions at the same time to suit each driver. This means either twice as much work for the team(or only making half as much progress for each driver) or focusing all the team’s effort on one driver only.
In 2006 McLaren had Raikkonen and Montoya, who wanted very different things from their cars, and the results were not good. Similar driving styles helps to provide consistency of feedback and helps the team focus.
FLuidd
19th February 2010, 11:54
STEFAN GP will be competing in F1.
MacLeod
19th February 2010, 11:59
That is not (YET) official.
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 12:00
With driver’s Kazuki Nakajina (oh, the joy!) and Jacques Villenueve (tbc)…
Jacob
19th February 2010, 12:00
yh, but they are having a red car :(. I think Ferrari should be the only team that have a red car
Calum
19th February 2010, 14:07
I don’t think you can just make a colour exclusive to one team, afterall Mclaren have been silver for over a decade, does that mean Mercedes Benz GP should not be allowed silver this year?
djdaveyp
19th February 2010, 12:33
In you educated opinion, of course. They might and probably will but at present that isn’t a fact.
Adam
19th February 2010, 12:17
Button appears to be on a long run, though his times are gradually dropping off from his early 1m20s to low 1m22s.
So Button set that time with a decent fuel load on-board.
Bertie
19th February 2010, 13:45
Since they can only use a few tyres each weekend. I think they are testing how well tryes cope with being abused in qualfying and then used in a race.
Jacob
19th February 2010, 12:23
This is by far my favourite picture yet
http://twitpic.com/122y77
AMAZING!!!!!!
djdaveyp
19th February 2010, 12:40
whoop whoop :)
BBT
19th February 2010, 12:30
Updated with today so far
http://www.ergouk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/F1%20Times%203rd%20Test.xls
David B
19th February 2010, 12:37
Great BBT. Thanks.
KMal
19th February 2010, 12:48
Is Virgins car really that slow? Have they managed sub 1.30 at all yet?
Nick Someone
19th February 2010, 12:52
CFD? They don’t have the real front wing on it yet of course. …Anyway i’m hoping they are good enough to have a battle with Lotus and who ever else of the new teams gets it together.
Azhar
19th February 2010, 12:52
wow…Button is still 1.038s in front, though.
David B
19th February 2010, 12:59
Alonso now got even faster.
Peter
19th February 2010, 13:07
Williams 100!
costas
19th February 2010, 13:42
From msfree: Sorry for the connection problem guys… We have far more visits that we except. We try to stay up and serve as many as we can… keep refreshing the page when you get “to many connetions” :)
Azhar
19th February 2010, 13:43
Well..virgin doing good right now.
Ninjenius
19th February 2010, 14:54
Only one hour of today’s testing to go. Who will be the last gasp hero? Very soon we’ll know. *Cue dramatic music…*
Oh, the glory and excitement of pre-season testing. Truly nailbiting.
Championship points awarded for fastest pre-season test times? Anyone? No? A brilliant idea if i do say so myself. Either that or this librarian work is driving me slightly crackers.
bwells
19th February 2010, 15:45
just a little koo koo.. lol.. but you’ve had a long day in the library.. :)
KMal
19th February 2010, 14:55
Yeah Virgin have shut me up alright! :)
They put in a good time.
sagar
19th February 2010, 14:59
Here is the link
http://translate.google.co.in/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.confidential-renault.fr%2F&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
which states that there will be 40% update coming for R30 for 1st GP. Hope that will place Renault higher in order.
the stig
19th February 2010, 15:48
i discovered something that the cars this year at jerez are doing 1.19s and in 2004 it was 1.16 sec
thats a massive difference
i hope alonzo finishes top
i think it is gone to be a close season
it will be ferrari v mclaren v red bull and possible mercedes gp
AP
19th February 2010, 16:10
the rb5 in Dec did 1m17…
bwells
19th February 2010, 15:49
Last few minutes of testing and there’s some cars on track.. and glory runs??
the stig
19th February 2010, 15:59
its been red flagged but i dont no why
bwells
19th February 2010, 16:02
The Hulk..
bwells
19th February 2010, 16:00
It does look close for the top 4.. although judging by the stint lengths.. I’m thinking that Ferrari is on top.. Webber’s top time was on a 3 lap stint, while Button’s was on a 7 lapper.. Fernando’s best lap of 1:20.115 oddly enough was his first lap of a 15 lap stint that was all mid to high 20’s.. they seem to be more consistent on the long runs.. I think I’m throwing a 20 on Fernando for WDC.. lol 8)
David B
19th February 2010, 16:11
What we miss is an information on whether they refuelled after those short stints or not. We could have an idea on fuel load.
samakafuzzy
19th February 2010, 16:37
Wow at Webbers time, a full 8 tenths ahead of everyone! o.O
Johnnie Siggie
19th February 2010, 16:39
Webber sets fastest time. here is a summary
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:19.299 115
2. Alonso Ferrari (B) 1:20.115 132
3. Button McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:20.394 101
4. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:21.432 138
5. M.Schumacher Mercedes GP (B) 1:21.437 79
6. Kubica Renault (B) 1:21.916 100
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:21.939 69
8. Kobayashi BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.228 28
9. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:22.564 120
10. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth (B) 1:23.504 34
11. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth (B) 1:23.521 68
Calum
19th February 2010, 16:49
What does (B) signify?
matt88
19th February 2010, 17:25
Almost certainly (B) stands for Bridgestone.
Pedro
19th February 2010, 17:47
Bridgestone. It is useless as (B) is the only tyre supplier.
Calum
19th February 2010, 20:29
See, that’s what I thought. It’s like, Bridgestone is the only tyre so why bother with a B sign?
ram
19th February 2010, 18:03
Bridgestone I think.
BBT
19th February 2010, 16:42
Updated the spreadsheet with the final times for today… see the link posted previously if interested.
Calum
19th February 2010, 20:30
I think todays times are an indicator of final standings.
wasiF1
20th February 2010, 1:09
We still have Barcelona
Mac v2
20th February 2010, 4:43
It’s too early to tell, I’m sure top teams aren’t running the definite aero pack. Still, Ferrari and Red Bull look stronger than Mclaren and Mercedes.
Ylan Marcel
20th February 2010, 3:34
Button says Ferrari is faster than McLaren. But i think Red Bull is the fastest car of 2010!
Sagar
20th February 2010, 4:07
After all they have got Renault engine