2011 F1 testing day 8: Barcelona

2011 F1 testing

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Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Jerez, 2011

The third F1 test of 2011 beings today at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button are among those in action today.

You can find a full list of who’s driving and more information on today’s test below.

Drivers

The following drivers will be participating in today’s test:

TeamCarFriday 18th
Red BullRB7Sebastian Vettel
McLarenMP4-26Jenson Button
FerrariF150th ItaliaFernando Alonso
MercedesW02Michael Schumacher
RenaultR31Nick Heidfeld / Vitaly Petrov
WilliamsFW33Rubens Barrichello
Force IndiaVJM04Paul di Resta
SauberC30Kamui Kobayashi
Toro RossoSTR6Jaime Alguersuari
LotusT128Heikki Kovalainen
HRTF110Narain Karthikeyan
VirginMVR-02Jerome d’Ambrosio

Circuit

Today’s test is at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain:

Direction: Clockwise
Length: 4.655km
Fastest lap (all-time): 1’18.483 (Fernando Alonso, Renault, 2008)

2010 best times

These are the best times for each team from last year’s pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya:

DriverCarBest time
Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-251’20.472
Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault RB61’20.496
Felipe MassaFerrari F101’20.539
Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth FW321’20.614
Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes VJM031’20.667
Nico RosbergMercedes W011’20.686
Kamui KobayashiBMW Sauber-Ferrari C291’20.911
Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari STR51’21.413
Vitaly PetrovRenault R301’22.523
Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth T1271’25.059
Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth VR-011’25.942

Following the test live

Williams are providing live times from the test on their website here:

If you find any other good sources for live times, please post them in the comments.

You can follow live updates from F1 Fanatic and others at the Circuit de Catalunya using the Live F1 Twitter app (no Twitter account needed):

2011 F1 testing

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    Image © Pirelli

    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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    99 comments on “2011 F1 testing day 8: Barcelona”

    1. I hate the Barcelona circuit with the chicane. Worst idea ever. Should revert to old circuit

      1. indeed. It never changed anything regarding overtaking oportunities AND it killed a very nice combination of very fast corners!

        I actually think it allowed more overtaking before the chicane, because there’s a higher chance of making a mistake before hitting the main straight.

        1. I agree, the thing with the last corner was it was just the right angle that cars that generated high downforce could take it flat whereas other had to slightly lift giving the chance to overtake on the straights.

          But that chicane is awful, needlessly slows down the race.

          1. lol. no f1 car could ever take it flatout. no f1 car. Alonso’s pole in 06 he had to feather it to about 60-70%.

            And if there was a car ahead, it would absolutely impossible to take it anywhere near flat.

            Having said that, I would’ve loved to see last year’s Red Bull tackle the old final sector. Considering Webber’s pole at Spa took Pouhon in 7th, it may have been possible.

      2. As long as they are doing gimmicky things in F1 to try and improve passing, and Catalunya is the absolute worst in terms of parading around the track, why not this —

        Widen that final chicane and make it a double entry/double exit(by way of curbing in the middle or just striping), designed so the distance traveled from entrance to exit is equal between both options. This would allow the car behind to actually get through the chicane without getting checked up by the front car behind so bad, and you might actually be close enough to pull a draft down the front stretch to pass.

        I know it sounds impure in terms of our beloved racing, but Catalunya is SO SO SO boring.

        1. sorry mate its not mario kart… Simply revert back to the old layout would help.

          1. It is not like I am asking for high speed airport conveyors on portions of the straightaways. :)

      3. Wasn’t it “chopped” on safety grounds?

        1. 99% sure it was only to improve overtaking…

    2. Last winter test? I wonder where they’ll reschedule the Bahrain test to at this point. Even if for some reason the race happens, it’s doubtful that the testing will happen…

      1. Yeah seems that way. If they’re going to make a decision, for logistic reasons, it needs to be ASAP.

        Someone told me Bernie will be making a decision tomo.. though I have no way of backing that up.

        1. Qatar anyone? I think this would be a perfect chance for Qatar to push for a F1 debut, even if its just a test circuit.

          1. I think it will rather be Abu Dhabi. Teams know the circuit there and they are reported to have offered this option already.

          2. Qatar?? Why not have the GP in Buckingham Palace

            1. Because Qatar has a track, while Buckingham Palace….

            2. The Queen would never pay for the race… don’t be daft ;)

    3. Can they actually cancel the 4th test completely? or are they obliged to make it happen somewhere?

      1. I think it would hurt some teams such as Mclaren, HRT, FI and Virgin, who have had only Jerez testing sessions with the new car so far. I would expect these teams to object. I think if the political situation in Abu Dhabi is relatively stable, they should consider having the test there, as it has similar weather conditions and will not cost the teams way too much money to transport the parts.

    4. “HRT are not present at this test”

      this seems to contradict Narain’s twitter feed that he is already in Barcelona and looking forward to testing..

      1. Whoa…something’s going on there. Well, if HRT are not present here, doubt they’d be present at all this season. But I really do hope that doesn’t happen!

        1. But HRT is on the list! I think Keith has forgotten to delete that line!

      2. I think that is a mistake Keith (left over from Jerez?).
        Yesterday Nairain was confirmed to be driving all of the test.

        1. Yesterday Nairain was confirmed to be driving all of the test.

          I don’t believe HRT actually said that – I think there might have been some sites jumping to conclusions.

          1. I saw F1Enigma has some strong indications Liuzzi might be driving for hem on Saturday.

          2. Nope, Narain has been driving this morning at Barcelona setting a stellar fastest lap of 1.43.575. WOWSERS!!

            http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=19028

            1. @ Coefficient: It’s Friday today.

            2. But so did most of them early on, it was still a wet track, so I think they were all on intermediates?

      3. They are, sorry, that line shouldn’t have been in there. They’ve just confirmed Karthikeyan is driving for them today.

        1. Slipping Keith.. all this TV fame is going to your head… ;)

        2. Will they be using the F110 throughout all of the Barcelona test?

          I thought they were bringing the new car to this test and was quite disappointed to see the gray old livery in one of the pics.

          1. They were planning on bringing that to the Bahrain tests. So I suppose they are prepared to be shipped by next week, if there is somewhere to ship them.

            1. Sounds a lot like last year… new car, no testing.. a team sending an untested new car to Bahrain, and it not getting used.

    5. Got a new acronym for HRT – “Hates Racing & Testing”

      1. Nice one…haha!

        1. Good one :)

    6. Here’s the link to that greek live timing site again: http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=19028

      1. http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=19140
        is the right one for Barcelona testing.

        1. Thanks, was just looking for that.

    7. First timed laps of the day go to Kobayashi a 1:49.781 being his second one on track on Intermediates I suppose.

    8. can anyone please give me live time feed site for current tests?

      1. see post above. That greek site is pretty good.

      1. Isn’t that Alonso’s 2007 McLaren? Why bring it to the current test, are they doing some filming this week?

        1. Weird. It also has grooved tyres. I would almost think that it is an old pic, but for the white floor. Bas, I suppose you are right that filming could be the answer

          1. Why would they waste time for filming during tests?

      2. It is an old car, not in an engineering garage, but an empty garage, and it’s up on stands.

        There are comfy carpets beside the airguns and old show wheels.

        Teams invite sponsors, sponsor’s customers and competition winners to tests and let them change tyres on old show cars.

        C’mon people, let’s use the ol’ noodle here, eh? :)

        1. Good point, that seems a very likely explanation. Still would have been funny if they arrived “uh, guys, we took the wrong car”. “oh, bugger, send an SMS to the factory that they mail us the new one!”

        2. This sounds reasonable. Thx ;)

      3. It’s an F1 car from 2007.

    9. Whats so interesting about the RB7 rear wing, that it’s covered immediately after Vettel stops.

      And the garage doors are blocked.

      1. Well I’ll give Red Bull an A+ for commitment to their magic rear wing/diffuser/gearbox that they have to keep covered from prying eyes at all times! I thought Christian might have come up with another wheeze for this season, especially as all the other technical directors could see last year that it was the front wing they were wanting to get to the bottom of.

    10. Karthikeyan is driving for HRT today see Williams timing sheet

    11. Alguearsuari is setting interesting times. First 4 laps he went from 1:45.7 to 1:43.6 (track drying, getting into these tyres?), after that he is on some 9 laps avaraging 1:42s (lap 9 of that run fastest so far on 1.41.698) before dropping into the 1:45s

      1. Even more interesting, after that he went down to a 1:41.91 and 2 laps on was a 1.40.408.
        I get the feeling this slowing down really helps the tyres. And the Track is getting drier now.

    12. Is it wet there?

      1. Wet enough for intermediates.

    13. Also interesting to see when the first lap of a run is exactly the same time as the last of the run before that (seen just now with Alonso and Narain).

      1. The timing always shows that for everyone.

        1. Do you think it’s a glitch, or are they that precise, and for what reason?

          1. I’ve thought about if from the first test (and last years tests) yet to work out the reason. Maybe it always show the last timed lap until a new one is set, but even that doesn’t seem to make sense. I’ll have a look at the data lunch time and see if I can work it out.
            I have every timed lap from the last two test of last year and this year in a spreadsheet.

            1. Thanks, that would be great.

    14. Schu now simulating Qualification? just one quick timed lap.

    15. Looks like all running so far has been on intermediates.

    16. Times now coming down quickly. Barricello set the trend with going in the low 1:30s now

    17. First time below 1.30 got in by local boy Jaimie.

    18. And Button has now beaten the slowest cars times set last year!

    19. Button = 1:26.365

    20. Alonso

      1:57.172
      1:56.310
      1:57.027
      2:02.519
      —-
      2:02.519
      1:52.877
      1:50.909
      1:53.486
      1:47.198
      1:46.509
      —-
      1:46.509
      —-
      1:46.509
      1:36.978
      —-
      1:36.978
      1:25.597
      —-
      1:25.597

      I’m assuming —- is an in lap
      and the out lap is the same as the previous timed lap (unless the out lap happens to be faster than the lap timed lap)

      1. last timed lap) even.

        1. looks like somehow making one long run out of it only stopping in the middle to measure some things.

          1. some of the stops were for a reasonable amount of time.

    21. Hi, i´m from Brazil.This is a very good link (dutch) for the live times from Barcelona http://www.f1today.nl/live-update/2011/02/18/circuit-de-catalunya.html

      1. Ah great, I always have trouble locating the exact link on their site (even though I am Dutch), last year they were very quick with updating it though, so it was very useful.

        1. The easiest way is to keep using this link:
          http://www.f1today.nl/testsessies.html

          1. I think I had trouble getting that before the tests begain (ie. at the first test), and then forgot about the site for a bit when I found the greek one – but thanks :)

    22. Anyone fancy guessing what ultimate times the cars will achieve by the end of the day? I’m gonna take a punt at mid to low 1.23s.

      Be interesting to know your thoughts!!

    23. What happened to FI….

    24. Seems Kubica is on track to a great recovery, or accoriding to williams, he’s literally on track! I think they mean Heidfeld and they didn’t bother to change it but wow that looked strange at first!

      1. But Heidfeld is not on track any more. He handed the car to Petrov, who has not yet been out.
        Looks like a lot of teams are having some KERS problems, not sure what problems are at Renault right now.

    25. does anybody know if there will be photos from todays session..?

    26. Oddly Mclaren have again done 36 laps… does their car automatically stop at this number?

    27. For me Ferrari looks pretty well with all the mileage they made already.

      P.S.
      My favourite source of times:
      http://f1tests.mine.nu/2011_1eng.php

    28. Here is a site i used for jerez times, it did the job with regular updates

      http://f1indiablog.in/2011/02/f1-2011-pre-season-testing-jerez/

      p.s i know it say jerez in the link but it should just redirect you

    29. Will there be more pictures? :D

    30. Lol, just read Bahrain is being replaced by Libya…

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      ——————————————————————————–

      Barcelona Test TimingsPos No. Name Status Best Gap Diff Last
      1 5 ALONSO 1:25.485 – – 1:28.342
      2 16 KOBAYASHI 1:25.641 0.156 0.156 1:25.641
      3 19 ALGUERSUARI P 1:26.117 0.632 0.476 1:28.897
      4 4 BUTTON P 1:26.365 0.880 0.248 1:31.483
      5 1 VETTEL P 1:26.640 1.155 0.275 1:55.102
      6 11 BARRICHELLO P 1:27.447 1.962 0.807 1:33.170
      7 7 SCHUMACHER 1:27.512 2.027 0.065 1:32.361
      8 15 DI RESTA P 1:28.348 2.863 0.836 1:28.667
      9 22 KARTHIKEYAN 1:28.393 2.908 0.045 1:35.013
      10 20 KOVALAINEN P 1:30.065 4.580 1.672 1:31.987
      11 25 D’AMBROSIO 1:30.950 5.465 0.885 1:31.176
      12 9 HEIDFELD P 1:44.324 18.839 13.374 1:48.717

      Timings will update automatically

      Test sessions for the 2011 season are:

      Valencia 1 Feb – 3 Feb
      Jerez 10 Feb – 13 Feb
      Barcelona 18 Feb – 21 Feb
      Bahrain 3 Mar – 6 Mar
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    32. Ha, Ha. This is how Renault complies to the rule of having the constructor name right at the front of the nosecone while making it look like a Lotus:
      http://photos.gpupdate.net/large/170039.jpg

      1. Cute. That is a tiny bit laughable, really.

    33. Looks like Red Bull are afraid of Keith uncovering their speed. They haven’t done any long runs nor fast laps.

      1. Well, he seems to have just changed that, 1.1s faster than Alonso’s previous fastest time.

      2. That got em out already! Still a long way from last years testing times though.

    34. Question to all f1 fanatics:
      what do you think about Kamui Kobayashi?

      1. I think most of us find him an entertaining and aggressive drivers, although some find him too aggressive and prone to crash. There is some doubt about his qualifying speed too, but that isn’t conclusive.

    35. All lap times…

      http://www.ergouk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/2011 F1 Test times.xls

      not sure if the link is correct.

      1. “www.ergouk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/2011 F1 Test times.xls” into address bar…. can’t get the link to show correctly.

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