2010 F1 testing live: 28th February

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Lewis Hamilton will drive the McLaren for the last time before Bahrain

It’s deadline day for the F1 teams – today is their last chance to test their cars before they head out to Bahrain for the first race of 2010, just two weeks from now.

We’re expecting to see a few low-fuel runs which should give us an idea who’s got the best ultimate pace.

I’m at the track to follow testing as it happens – join us below to see how the crucial final day unfolds.

Times from today’s test

DriverCarBest timeLapsDifference
Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-2580.4721340
Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault RB680.496610.024
Felipe MassaFerrari F1080.5391140.067
Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes VJM0380.6671000.195
Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault RB680.667760.195
Michael SchumacherMercedes W0180.7451230.273
Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth FW3280.87840.398
Kamui KobayashiBMW Sauber-Ferrari C2980.911670.439
Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari STR582.135881.663
Robert KubicaRenault R3083.1751072.703
Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth T12785.251644.779
Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth VR-0186.16495.688

Testing notes

Several teams used the brief period of dry running yesterday to do some race distance simulations which gave us some useful insight into how quick they are.

The weather looks set to remain dry throughout today’s test so we should see some more representative runs throughout the day.

Today’s testing line-up

McLaren MP4-25Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes W01Michael Schumacher
Red Bull RB6Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
Ferrari F10Felipe Massa
Williams FW32Rubens Barrichello
BMW Sauber C29Kamui Kobayashi
Renault R30Robert Kubica
Force India VJM03Adrian Sutil
Toro Rosso STR5Sebastien Buemi
Virgin VR-01Lucas di Grassi
Lotus T127Heikki Kovalainen

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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91 comments on “2010 F1 testing live: 28th February”

  1. anyone know the msfree.gr live timing link?

    1. here’s the link for live timings-
      http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=11062

  2. just wondering why the mclaren team is never on time when the testing starts each morning….already the likes of FERARI,SAUBER,REDBULL ETC have done timed laps ..and its now well into the first hour…it seems they are not weell prepared…they should treat each day as a miltary campaign since each second counts in formula one….

    1. because they think that they are damn bloody good and able to take their own sweet time, that’s why.

      1. Nah, they are just waiting to see what times the other teams are laying down and then adjust there fuel levels (low)and maybe setup to try and put in a quicker time.

        1. Guessing that track temp has a lot to do with it. Not much point in chewing up rubber on a cold track unless worried about reliability and so are trying to run max possible laps. As the McLaren doesn’t seem to be in that situation, better to get meaningful data when track conditions are closer to those they will be racing on throughout the season.

  3. NobleF1 tells us: “McLaren is practicing pit stops with Lewis this morning”

    Quick stops are vital this year due to the banning of refuelling, which used to give the mechanics plenty of time to change tyres.

  4. ops just seen on autosport that mclaren are practising pit stops this morning….with lewis …that is being too over confident we need to see them on the track early….

    1. Practising pit stops is over confidence?
      What universe do you live on. There’s whole seconds to be gained this year. It’s going to be one of the most exciting bits of the racing.

      Anyway McLaren have come at testing in a whole different way to anybody else, an considering they had an upgrade applied to the car yesterday, don’t you think it’s possible that instead if over confidence they are trying to configure a very changed car.

    2. Pretty much everyone has practised pit stops during the tests at one time or another, I wouldn’t read anything into it.

  5. ok …i agree but i think they should concentrate on proper race simulations before the weather turns nasty….we have not seen them do a proper race stint run before someone red flags or the heavens open…

  6. On another point i have this sneaky feeling that KOBAYASHI and BARICHELO may this year prove to be the dark horses this time and am willing to bet that kobayashi may be on the pondium at Baharain and Barichelo may pip the top guns for the WDC …ANY comments on this?

  7. umm why isnt webber testing??

    1. That’s a funny video. Spying thing in F1 kinda fun

    2. That is typical mclaren, can not come up with any ideas of there own…

      1. LOL – I think you’ll find all the teams express a very healthy interest in the opposition vehicles. Be stupid not to actually.

        McLaren are the second most successful team in F1 because they are technically smart, if they were solely reliant on the other teams developments, the would always be playing catch up, not leading from the front.

        1. Rubel_Frm_BD
          2nd March 2010, 5:22

          but they are benefited by spying as they have both data on what others doing and what they are doing (so it is easy to measure the performance and while others are developing new things, they are just refine the idea). Even in 2007 they are benefitted by the fact that they have full information about the Ferrari’s car and they Know everythings about ferrari,what is their fuel capacity, fuel consumption, potential strategy.

        2. Rubel_Frm_BD
          2nd March 2010, 5:29

          * McLaren are the second most successful team in F1 because they ………….
          kept an eye open and try to copy the idea what other team is doing either by spying or by just simply stealing.

          * McLaren are the second most successful team in F1 ………….
          So they copy the idea of the first team. haha ha

    3. OH NO!!!! NOT AGAIN!!! This is blatant spying by McNobs, in full view of everybody!!!! Wheres the FIA when you need them!!??? Why cant the Ferrari boys give them a slap??? Will there be another paltry fine or will Jean Todt show some ba!!s and fine them £500 million this time!?? Thge questions never end!! #:)

    4. And here’s Ferrari spying on McLaren

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHVv8uz_n78

  8. Yelrom

    They want to let Vettel test until mid day because of the bad weather yesterday, so webbers back at mid-day.

    1. yeah ….remember VETTELS car had an oil pump change yesterday..so maybe they are still” running “it into some reliable milage before D day next two weeks

    2. it seems kobayashi redflaged at turn 9…similar high speed corner…

  9. why is the session red flagged???

  10. oh!Rubens Barrichello is stuck in the gravel at turn 4…

    1. looking at turn four it appears that since it is a high speed corner cars with bad grip on tyres will almost certainly run wide ….and kobayashi has just done that again causing the second red flag..

  11. thats a good video on the “spying activity”..wonder how long before FIA take it down…?

  12. Massa and Schumacher trading fastest times at the moment – Schumacher’s just gone quickest with a 1’21.039.

    1. looks like mercedes have decided to unleash the true potential of this car…and dont be surprised if they demolish the rest of the boys just to prove a point..

  13. P Pilotes Equipes Temps Ecarts Trs
    1 F.Massa Ferrari 1.20.539 +-.— 33
    2 M.Schumacher Mercedes 1.20.804 +-.— 31
    3 R.Barrichello Williams 1.21.441 +-.— 23
    4 S.Vettel Red Bull 1.21.660 +-.— 43
    5 L.Hamilton McLaren 1.22.097 +-.— 27
    6 S.Buemi Toro Rosso 1.22.402 +-.— 21
    7 K.Kobayashi Sauber 1.22.713 +-.— 32
    8 A.Sutil Force India 1.23.079 +-.— 8
    9 H.Kovalainen Lotus 1.25.251 +-.— 46
    10 R.Kubica Renault 1.25.830 +-.— 3
    11 L.Di Grassi Virgin 1.26.790 +-.— 28

    1. HAMILTON and massa now top the times…it seems by end of today we shall know the pecking order for the rest of the season….also vettel and schumaker are showing very strong runs on low fuels for qualifying runs…but the key will be the actual mid stints during the races where tyre management,brakes and pit stop activity will determine who wins the races.SO far the reliability issues have been shown to favour FERFARIS who have covered more miles during these tests so far…and so my prediction for the fisrt race winner at Baharain will be as follows
      1-ferari
      2-mercedes
      3-mclaren?renault
      4-bmw sauber?redbull
      5-force india
      6-williams?toro roso
      7-lotus
      8-virgin

  14. Well Hamiltons quickest with a 1.20.472. an the fab four are all within three tenths. Well within

    1 Hamilton McLaren 1m20.472s
    2 Massa Ferrari 1m20.539s +0.067
    3 Vettel Red Bull 1m20.667s +0.195
    4 Schumacher Mercedes 1m20.745s +0.273

    Seriously if this is quali for the rest of the season we’re in for a blinder. I love these quali runs, oh pleeese let it be this close.

    1. WE hope that there will be proper drama on the tracks and NO interfearance from the FIA POLITICS…AM foreseeing some cars flaming out during qualifying….if not running on fumes to the Q3…

  15. Incidentally, this ridiculous tyre rule. Are the top ten allowed to scrub their qualifiying tyres? Or has the FIA been truly silly.

    1. THE rule on qualifying tyres says simply the cars will start the race on the tyre they did the fastest lap on q3….this to me is clearly disadvantges the top ten cars and favours the rest at the race start….i mean supposing you did your fastest on soft tyre and the race condition favours the options or the hard tyre?…..that means the guy on grid position 11 or 12 with good tyres will lap the guy on bad q3 tyre on grid 7,8,9, or 10…surely tell me if am wrong….

      1. further to this the rule actualy says the cars in Q3 WILL START the race on the tyre they used to set their grid position…IT would have been more sensible for the rule to apply to the whole grid i.e no tyre change during the entire period of qualification for all cars and only changerble after race start…thats why pit stop strategy is very important and the team that perfects this will have an edge…

        1. er, i know.
          My question was will the tyres be in parc ferme conditions from quali till the race. Or will the teams be able to work on their used rubber.

          Your right about the effects of the rule though. It’s going to make qualifying in p 8-10 a very risky buisness. Seems very unfair that you can qualify better yet be in worse condition of the grid.

          1. ah..am not sure if the tyres will also be in parc ferme and maybe there could be a loophale here…can some please shade more information on this?…. however i think it will not be asey to manage tyres if they also be in parc ferm and how to monitor this will be a problem.The race director or stewards will need more people and resources to keep at trackside taging all these tyres after each event….TIME will simply not allow…

  16. Anyone know what speed they are doing through the speed traps?

    1. We don’t seem to have a reading for the speed trap at the end of the straight (the max speed one) but we do have the intermediate speed traps. Last I saw Hamilton was quickest at the finish line.

  17. McLaren always leading the last day of the tests. hum…

    1. yes… remember mclaren are good at qualifying most of the times but make mistakes during the actual races at times.LAST SEASON Hamilton had more P1 positions than actual podium finishes….you can lead when it is not important…BUT LETS HOPE THIS YEAR things will be diffrent..track strategy is more important ie tyre management,brakes,and pit stop execution…

  18. At the moment it looks like McLaren and Ferrari will fight for pole position, and Ferrari will be the best in the long runs… but we still’ve to wait if that’s true untill Bahrain.

    1. weaal. McLaren looks much closer to Ferrari on long run pace than initialy thought. Close enough for car characteristics to make the differance on certain tracks. Also close enough to leap frog them in the development race. I reckon they’ll be at it all year. With the order shuffling whenever the big developments come in.

      Mercedes will have trouble switching the tyres on for quali though their race pace looks good. An Redbull will have reliability issues. Basically the same problems these two had last year.

      1. True…but it also seems that Ferari engine is thirtier on fuel on long runs than the Mclaren…judging by the amount of stops we have seen on the track sine JEREZ…and Renault said to be more fuel efficient than all the rest of the cars may have an edge…they can fuel just enough to go the race distance without worrying about flaming out during the races last laps…ANYWAY her…e driver skill and judgement will be the factor…Mclaren has a good combination in Hamilton and Button whose driving style are diffrent Hamilton is aggresive and Button is smooth …

  19. Hamilton’s recent stint before pit stop:

    56 1:27.534
    57 1:27.624 +0.09
    58 1:26.770 -0.854
    59 1:26.306 -0.464
    60 1:26.266 -0.04
    61 1:26.062 -0.204
    62 1:26.480 +0.418
    63 1:25.975 -0.505
    64 1:25.871 -0.104
    65 1:25.958 +0.087
    66 1:25.877 -0.081
    67 1:25.675 -0.202
    68 1:25.458 -0.217
    69 1:25.545 +0.087
    70 1:25.554 +0.009
    71 1:25.220 -0.334
    72 1:28.679 +3.459
    73 1:25.279 -3.4
    74 1:25.123 -0.156
    75 1:24.908 -0.215

    Beautiful.

    1. very consistent…

      1. that is very impressive ….he is actually still on his long run simulation and is laping in mid 23.lets see how far he goes as he has another 36 laps to go…hoping no red fags between now and the rest of this testing…
        Webber is practising qualifying as we can see …now

    2. Second stint:
      15:54:54 78 1:24.384 -0.524
      15:56:57 79 1:24.756 +0.372
      15:57:59 80 1:23.992 -0.764
      16:00:12 81 1:24.065 +0.073
      16:01:13 82 1:23.728 -0.337
      16:02:15 83 1:23.607 -0.121
      16:04:04 84 1:23.704 +0.097
      16:05:06 85 1:23.663 -0.041
      16:07:09 86 1:23.361 -0.302
      16:08:11 87 1:23.298 -0.063
      16:09:13 88 1:23.402 +0.104
      16:11:01 89 1:23.529 +0.127
      16:12:02 90 1:23.608 +0.079
      16:13:04 91 1:23.407 -0.201
      16:15:07 92 1:23.467 +0.060
      16:16:10 93 1:23.237 -0.230
      16:17:59 94 1:23.357 +0.120
      16:19:02 95 1:23.455 +0.098
      16:20:04 96 1:23.223 -0.232
      16:22:08 97 1:23.782 +0.559
      16:23:10 98 1:23.782 P

      1. Incredible consistency. How on earth do they do that. Not so tricky with a PS3 or PC, but buzzing round in one of these beasts in real life, pulling 4G through some corners, bum just inches off the deck. Really amazing.

        That’s why I love this sport. These guys are hugely talented.

    3. Great data rfs!

  20. MsFree has only gone and collapsed. All I know is Hamiltons laps where at least a second quicker after he took on the tyres. This upgrade does seem to have worked magic on that McLaren.

    Massa was lapping in consistent 1.26’s Doesn’t seem to have been a race simulation, or you would have thought the fuel effect would have shown. Really want to see a Ferrari race siumulation today for the comparison with the better calibrated upgrade on the mclaren.

    1. at this rate..from this i can see Ferari going for the Mclaren shark fin permanently…and that magical difuser that mercedes are hoping to bring to Bahrain…

      1. Mclaren shark fin???

  21. Lolz….. read this: ” After five laps stuck under Schumacher’s rear wing, Hamilton is past and into clear air.” :-) …. nice read there :-)

  22. haha…we are heading into the last hour of this testing before the big day 14th march….and we shall see the drivers rushing for glory runs to round of the day ….but for me the big guns have shown that the best cars are MCLAREN,FERARI,REDBULL,MERCEDES,RENAULT,BMW,..in that order…Virgin will bring up the rear unless BERNIE and FIA agree to bring stephan and crew into formula 1 by next week…

  23. Mclaren seems trying to make a statement. The statement is pretty clear, that they are one of the strong contender

  24. Are the teams allowed to continue testing after this organised session finishes?
    If so, what’s stopping them going to Bahrain for 10 days testing before the race?

    1. No, this is the last day of testing.

      1. No testin within the F1 season.

        Wow! That sort of means the season has begun!

  25. The top 8 is covered by 0.4sec amazing.

    1. it would be interesting to see how the cars will perform in the wet tracks since atleast some of the venues are guarranted to have rain…

      1. great congrats keith. 4th best site for F1. keep up the great work hope it will be 1st in a couple years.

  26. You know my biggest complaint this season…

    My other half is going away skiing on the 13th and not coming back until the 24th/25th then we’re going away 26th-28th.

    If only they could have put Australia on the weekend of the 20th/21st it would have meant I’d be able to watch the race live. As it is I’ll be recording it and trying desperately to avoid the result all Sunday and Monday until I can watch it on Monday evening…or shall I book the Monday off work??

    1. yes… IT depends whom you are hoping to do well…if your favourite team is doing well come Bahrain…then take Monday off work…the agony of waiting and not knowing the result is not worth it…

    2. Bad luck on the Aus. Imagine if you had to miss the opener.

      OH WAIT, THATS ME, I’M GOING TO MISS IT. Thank god for the Iplayer. Is all I can say really. This genuinley makes me miserable, i’m going to miss the live chat on this site an the excitement of watching it on telly.

      Ah well, all this self pity is nausiating. Hopefully the forum will be back up by then.

      1. Yeah I’ve had to miss out on my friend’s birthday holiday/trip just so I can watch the Aus GP…she thinks I’m crazy :P

        1. LOL – she’s right Steph, we know you are (F1) crazy ;) Just make sure you spill some wine with her to celebrate on a non-track day :D

  27. Just 25 minutes of the session left & we have a red flag!

  28. 1 Hamilton McLaren 1m20.472s
    2 Webber Red Bull 1m20.496s +0.024
    3 Massa Ferrari 1m20.539s +0.067
    4 Sutil Force India 1m20.611s +0.139
    5 Vettel Red Bull 1m20.667s +0.195
    6 SchumacherMercedes 1m20.745s +0.273
    7 BarrichelloWilliams 1m20.870s +0.398
    8 KobayashiSauber 1m20.911s +0.439
    9 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m22.135s +1.663
    10 Kubica Renault 1m23.175s +2.703
    11 Kovalainen Lotus 1m25.251s +4.779
    12 Di Grassi Virgin 1m26.160s +5.688

    1. The final five minutes.

      1. I will have a very bad two weeks if MCLAREN are removed from top spot today ….

  29. Redflagged in the dying seconds!
    Ah well. Autosport doesn’t think anyone was going for something special. Hamilton finishes fastest.

    or maybe not Redflagged. Whatever.

    Well then here we come the season. Factoring in Ferrari and McLarens upgrades it looks closer than it ever has. Lets hope it a blinder! Overtaking, daring strategy and racing racing racing.

  30. Hooray!!
    Mclaren finally do a good bit of running, 134 laps.
    Surprising to see Lotus above Renault, good to see Hammy at the top, and disappointing to see Virgin at the bottom for the second day in a row but testing only gives an indication of things to come. The 13th and 14th of March are much more important in terms of times.

    1. oh yes yes…i think formula 1 this season is just going to be too good…with all the new rules max mousely gone and …and a host of rookie drivers,rookie teams etc…great…my worry for Virgin is that they did not take the designing and car building seriously…all that blah blah about CAD design without hard ware wind tunnel testing was a disaster..the virgin car will take a whole year to become of age in my view… any way enjoy the ups and downs…Mclaren will carry our flag very high…

      1. Virgins current problems aren’t with CFD, they are with the hydraulics and the general reliability of the car. I think you’ll have to judge the whole CFD thing over a period of time.

        1. I think any team that relies soley on CFD is brave, but surely not using a combination of both CFD and tunnel testing is folly. I realise the idea of CFD was to keep down costs, but when the tech is as finely honed as F1’s, you have to make that investment to achieve a decent result. Ferrari and McLaren’s consistancy is testament to that – the chassis, engines or rubber may have let down the teams on occaision, but their aero has been second to none.

          1. to get maximun benefit of design charateristic MCAREN HAVE UTILISED ALL SORTS OF GIZMOS as we have seen on the testing tracks this season.NO other team besides the feraris have employed so much hardware in design and development…..as we saw last season from bad car to a race winner towards the end for Hamilton.
            NOW THAT they have race winning cars from the start one wonders how far they will go…MAYBE Its time the engine freeze development is lifted…

          2. I don’t think the CFD decision was for bravery it was because it was all fianceses allowed!! They should have went on Brawn GP’s website last year because they were renting out the old Honda windtunnel!

    1. this link to lap times is not loading up?

      1. If click doesn’t work try pasting it… seems the address cut off after F1

        http://www.ergouk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/F1 Times Final Test.xls

        1. Full link for Barca laptimes is:
          http://www.ergouk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/F1%20Times%20Final%20Test.xls

          at BBT,
          MSFree missed out some of Lewis’s Laptimes on his second run, luckily rfs has the missing laptimes above.

          RFS, from which website did you manage to find Lewis’s Barcelona laptimes.

  31. A bit of engine noise & Kova’s crash…was it Friday ? Maybe you have seen it already, if yes, sorry !

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcb9ve_f1-jerez-winter-test-2-18-2010-lotu_auto

  32. “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,”

    The fastest time set during pre season testing here in 2009 was a 1:18.926 set by Barrichello (12th of march 2009)

    Amazingly the cars are still at least a second and a half slower than they were then. The second fastest time back then was 0.8s slower though. Still, with al this blah blah from the teams about their cars being faster than last years cars. They aren’t really are they?

    Alonso set a 1:20.664 in march 2009. His “this is the best car I’ve ever driven” Ferrari is indeed faster, but only by a few hundreths.

    1. The teams always talk of values when comparing this car to their previous. The aero values are far greater than last year, but the cars are missing a big chunk of front grip from the tyres so they’re naturally going to be slower, regardless of having better balance.

  33. Good article, thanks for sharing this!

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