2010 F1 testing live: 25th February

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The teams are at the Circuit de Catalunya for the last test before Bahrain

The F1 teams’ final four-day test at Barcelona starts today.

Who’s got the fastest car in F1 as the 2010 season begins? Find out as we follow developments from the Circuit de Catalunya live below.

Times from today’s test

DriverCarBest timeLapsDifference
Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault RB681.4871090
Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth FW3282.407810.92
Nico RosbergMercedes W0182.5141071.027
Pedro de la RosaBMW Sauber-Ferrari C2983.144731.657
Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-2583.4521001.965
Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes VJM0384.064642.577
Fernando AlonsoFerrari F1084.17742.683
Vitaly PetrovRenault R3084.173732.686
Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari STR584.8691113.382
Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth VR-0187.057315.57
Fairuz FauzyLotus-Cosworth T12788.002766.515

Testing notes

The same 11 teams that were at Jerez last week will be present at the final test.

This final pre-season test is typically where teams try out new parts for the first race of the season. Keep an eye out for some aggressive new aerodynamic developments.

With dry weather expected for all four days keep an eye out for teams doing longer runs which will help us get a rough idea of how competitive their cars are. While McLaren set the best individual lap times at Jerez it looks as though Ferrari have the strongest package heading into this test.

But that picture could change in the next four days – it was at this test last year that the instant pace of the Brawn cars caught everyone by surprise.

Today’s testing line-up

McLaren MP4-25Jenson Button
Mercedes W01Nico Rosberg
Red Bull RB6Mark Webber
Ferrari F10Fernando Alonso
Williams FW32Nico Hulkenberg
BMW Sauber C29Pedro de la Rosa
Renault R30 – Vitaly Petrov
Force India VJM03Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso STR5Jaime Alguersuari
Virgin VR-01Lucas di Grassi
Lotus T127 – Fairuz Fauzy

The track: Circuit de Catalunya

The final test of 2010 is being held at the Circuit de Catalunya, where the teams will return later this year for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello set the fastest time during last year’s Spanish Grand Prix race weekend with a 1’19.954 in Q2. The fastest lap of the race itself was also set by Barrichello, a 1’22.762,

For further comparison, Valentino Rossi lapped the track in a 2008-specification Ferrari on GP2 slick tyres in a time of 1’21.900 earlier this year.

Live Tweets and times

Check out MSFree.gr for live times from the track during the test.

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

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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87 comments on “2010 F1 testing live: 25th February”

  1. MichaelinBeijing
    25th February 2010, 7:19

    Keith,

    I think Lucas Di Grassi is driving for Virgin today.

    1. Fauzy and Di Grassi share the day’s work today.

    2. Oooops Sorry …. I am still sleepy :-(

  2. That link to live timing doesn’t seem to be working

    anybody know of any other ?

    1. @Pat:
      Here are all the websites for live timing and updates:
      http://bit.ly/cIqZF4

      Hope it will be be helpful

  3. I am SOOO happy that this has all started up again the last 3 days at work have dragged awfully.

  4. does anyone know what times these tests start at?

    1. 9am spanish time, so 8am for the UK

  5. it seems for now the Williams site is up.. but it usually has issues eventually… :)

    http://www.attwilliams.com/test-timings

  6. Let’s see… the fastest time from last year was Jenson in the Brawn at 01:19.127… let’s see how close we get to that..

    1. MichaelinBeijing
      25th February 2010, 8:32

      Spot on!

    2. Barrichello in testing did a 1:18.926 last year.

  7. Am I just sad or does anybody else have restless nights when there’s gonna be F1 track action the following day ? :)

    1. You are not along Pat….. ;). I am totally rendered useless any time I had to think about F1.

  8. I have restless nights during the tests.. lol… they start at midnight here in Canada.. :)

  9. I`m using this site aswell to follow all the action……….

    http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/182

  10. here’s today’s direct live timing from the Greek site above

    http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=10929

    guess we need to use google translate though..

  11. Can anyone post the link to F1Today.nl live page of today? I cannot reach that link if I do not typ eit correctly and seem to mistype it every time.

    You should be able to find the link here:
    http://www.f1today.nl/

    1. Thanks. I first typed with Circuito because that is what they used for Jerez tests.

  12. It says here that there is so much media coverage that it’s almost impossible to work. Limiting web access for all. Keith and you are not even up there!

  13. MichaelinBeijing
    25th February 2010, 9:14

    After one hour, no sign of our Keith anywhere…

  14. As promised, I opened a twitter account yesterday and will be following the action on F1F and twitter.

    Isn’t technology wonderful…

  15. Does anyone know what updates the different teams have brought to this test?

  16. You know what fascinates me ? for the last 10 years (without 2002 and 2005) even though Ferrari and Mclaren had different design choices their cars performed in an equal manner.

    1. True Fluidd, why wouldn’t they, both share the same driver …. of course McLaren making use of them first before transferring them to Ferrari :-).

      Not to mention the intensive IP exchanges between the two.

  17. I never thought I’d say this but I’m sick to death of testing; there’s barely any clips, I’m staring at these different times which mean nothing and maybe some teams have their poker face on. The only good thing is that it means Bahrain is close.

    1. It is funny there are so many TV crews and news reporters in Barcelona and previously in Jereze, but indeed I have not seen any TV footage of all this camera work.

      The limited and combined tests are a brilliant way to work up the tension for the GP season. Never had so much fun in previous years. Testing was always obscure with a one liner at the end of the day with the fastest lap. Now we know when cars stop at the track, when cars go out, when cars go in, rain, wind, sun and loads of funny remarks form the fanatics all around.

  18. Pilotes Equipes Temps Ecarts Trs
    1 M.Webber Red Bull 1.23.335 — —
    2 N.Rosberg Mercedes 1.23.743 +-.— —
    3 P.De La Rosa Sauber 1.24.385 +-.— —
    4 J.Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1.24.968 +-.— —
    5 J.Button McLaren 1.25.536 +-.— —
    6 V.Liuzzi Force India 1.26.021 +-.— —
    7 F.Alonso Ferrari 1.26.401 +-.— —
    8 N.Hulkenberg Williams 1.27.904 +-.— —
    9 V.Petrov Renault 1.29.513 +-.— —
    10 L.Di Grassi Virgin 1.30.168 +-.— —
    11 F.Fauzy Lotus 1.31.532 +-.— —

  19. The Mclaren have a new front wing? anybody see that??

    1. Would like to see some pictures.

  20. The endplates are a bit different than the launch pictures

  21. New end plates on the front wing of the McLaren! I don’t think It can get any more exciting than that.

    1. Especially as they arent new. Photo from Jerez
      http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.php?photoID=146327&catID=4649
      They need a base line today before new parts tomorrow, maybe.

    1. That’s okay, sometimes use livetext for the football and theirs sometimes banter between the |BBC 606| sport forum and the person doing the live updates.

    1. ugly to see…

      1. Your sure that’s aerodynamic, haven’t Ferrari developed an easy-remove-and-attach wheel for super quick pit stops, perhaps thats what its for?

        1. Yeah, I saw that somewhere as the easy locking device that Ferrari developed.

          1. Its very conveniently shaped to be like the now banned wheel Frisbees though don’t you think. Not doubting its quick release mechanism, but it could have a dual purpose.

  22. “Everyone in good spirits.Soucek happy at Virgin. Alex Yoong here in Lotus gear.”

    From Lee Mckenzie’s twitter. .. Should we run? :P

  23. McLaren with more gadgetry, this time on the rear wing:
    http://f1.f-e-n.net/images/f1/20100225/tests/jm1025fe48.jpg

    1. Aouch! look at that rear right tyre!! It is frightening to me, knowing JB is a smooth driver. And the left rear tyre too looks weird. Not straight at all!

      I hope all has to do with the set-up and not the character of the MP4/25.

      1. Mclaren being Mclaren getting “too much data”
        It seems to be their policy to get as much info as possible just incase they have a bad start to a season and need to turn it around.

        1. They are measuring the difference in air flow above and under the rear wing.
          Nick Wirth doesn’t need that he can do it on a computer ;-).

          1. We can see what he can do on a computer by watching the pace of the Virgin F1 car… :)

    2. Is that Greek site with the complete lap times up?

      Does anyone remember the address?

  24. Di Grassi crashed after maybe losing his rear wing?

    If true then they really should ban Nick Wirth from ever designing an F1 car again.

    1. @VirginRacing just tweeted “Install laps for Lucas highlighted a couple of issues, now sorted.” :D
      http://twitter.com/VirginRacing/status/9623640350

  25. webber seems to be flying!

  26. did you see the introduction of winglets on the engine cover from Mclaren…

    They introduced rules to ban this sort of crap…not happy!

    1. it seems it maybe camera mount opps LOL

    2. Its testing, they can whatever they want.

      1. Gee can they…
        !p

  27. There seem to be a lot of pitstop practices today, any idea how quick they complete them?

  28. why is lotus running Fairuz Fauzy in such a crutial time of car development when they have 2 experianced drivers whose imput would be much more valuable?????

    1. I think they are thinking that if any of the experienced driver fails to do some race then this test may be helpful to him.
      But I do agree why will they do something like this.

    2. Dunno.

      …His nationality? …They want to give him a run because it was hard too see his performance in the rain with no power steering? …He brings money to the team? …They discovered at Jerez that he gives better technical feedback than Trulli or Kovaleinen?

    3. its what i don’t like about F1. he’s simply there because he’s Malaysian, fulfilling the business agreement with the malaysian government.

  29. 1 Webber Red Bull 1m21.487s
    2 Rosberg Mercedes 1m22.514s +1.027
    3 Hulkenberg Williams 1m22.684s +1.197
    4 de la Rosa Sauber 1m23.321s +1.834
    5 Alonso Ferrari 1m24.170s +2.683
    6 Button McLaren 1m24.582s +3.095
    7 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m24.869s +3.382
    8 Liuzzi Force India 1m25.303s +3.816
    9 Petrov Renault 1m26.208s +4.721
    10 Di Grassi Virgin 1m27.057s +5.570
    11 Fauzy Lotus 1m29.268s +7.781

  30. yea true but correct me if im wrong but rookies get a days testing if they are called up this year? and the chances of an f1 driving missing a race isnt that high, seems silly

    1. I believe so but I’m not sure how exactly it applies to the likes of Di Resta who’s getting Friday testing.

      As for missing a race we missed Massa and Glock (Glock may have been political). And don’t discount Torro Rosso sacking drivers either…

  31. As Alonso is testing today,any idea how many people are attending the test today?

  32. Any word on the red bull stoppage?

    1. No idea but may be he ran out of fuel.

  33. Has anyone noticed how the teams are seconds apart rather than tenths or hundreds of seconds? It’s been the same since the start of testing and if that’s the case in Bahrain then I can’t see any close racing happening…

    Also McLaren don’t seem to be putting in any convincingly quick times and I’m guessing they aren’t on the pace as much as they’d like to be.
    I must admit that I’m more intrigued to see who’s fastest this year than ever before but at the same time worried about the fact that the times seem to be showing the teams are quite far apart when it comes to general pace.
    I know people might say “its testing… the times mean nothing” but by now teams will of wanted to see for themselves who is fastest and tried to put in some really quick laps and only two teams are standing out and that’s F’flippinrrari and RedDull.

    1. don’t worry, it’s only testing. during every qualy and every race next year, all cars will have the same amount of fuel onboard as each other. then it’ll be tighter.

    2. You are guessing, McLaren have looked convincing throughout testing and the smart money after Jerez had them as just behind Ferrari.

      To be honnest they’ve done well today, put in serieses of very good consistant laps. Consistancy and word of mouth being the only guesing tools we have.

      1. OK… Not that I’m trying to be big headed but if I’m not correct in saying Mclaren will be midfield and either Ferrari or Red Bull on pole in Bahrain I’ll shave my head or something…

  34. I knew the “it’s only testing” comment would come out! :)

    1. you’re just too impatient :P

  35. Mr Haug gives reasons why testing is so hard to judge this season.

    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81695

  36. So I thought teams could not test on a track that was going to be used on the race calendar? Or is there some special circumstance for this?

    1. No one has said that. They always test at Barcelona.

      1. Last season some teams tested at the Bahraini circuit.

        1. Oh, my mistake. I think the rule was only for swapped/new drivers during the current season.

  37. Great job and shoths Keith!
    Your blog became the best way to get fresh info.
    Already the start page on my browser…

  38. Lotus and Virgin with very bad paces. What about!?

  39. To all JB and Mclaren doubters:

    Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25 83.452 100
    Fernando Alonso Ferrari F10 84.17 74

    This happened on a track that was going to show the better of the two cars.

    I see the new teams are bottom of the list, but I hope Virgin can get points and show every one their newage all computer car can be a success. Hopefully it’s faster than their broadband is at the moment!!!

    1. “To all JB and Mclaren doubters:”

      Todays times mean nothing. Read this:

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81695

  40. if read that Stefan gp will travel to bahrain with their car and hope that USF1 doesn’t show and that they can take their spot on the grid, their car has passed the FIA test and is aproved, you got to give ‘the serbian fultures’ the credit they have balls.

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