Perez fastest in his last test before F1 debut

2011 F1 testing

March 10, 2011 at 4:06 pm by Keith Collantine

Sergio Perez, Sauber, Barcelona, 2011

Sergio Perez put Sauber on top on the third day of testing at Barcelona – his last test before making his F1 debut in Melbourne.

And unlike his fastest time on Tuesday, he didn’t cut the track in order to set his fastest time.

His lap of 1’21.761, set during the morning, is the fastest lap seen at the Circuit de Catalunya so far this year, beating Sebastian Vettel’s best effort from yesterday by a tenth of a second.

Perez had a problem later in the session, however, coming to a stop at the end of the pit lane in his Sauber. He was able to join the track again shortly afterwards.

The next two drivers on the times sheet were also in their last test before the first race.

Felipe Massa was second fastest for Ferrari, who have now accumulated more than a season’s worth of racing mileage on their 150° Italia – over 6,100km.

Mark Webber was third for Red Bull.

Williams did not run KERS on Rubens Barrichello’s car today after experiencing more problems with it yesterday. However they still caused two stoppages – one shortly before the lunch break and another half an hour before the test was due to end.

A third red flag was caused by Jerome d’Ambrosio in the Virgin earlier on.

Renault split their running between Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld. The German driver back in the car after his Tuesday running was cut short as he was unwell.

Lotus also ran two drivers today, with Heikki Kovalainen taking over from Jarno Trulli. But they were delayed by reliability problems again, and further frustrated when a replacement radiator they had flown in broke during transit.

	Driver	Car	Best time	Laps	Difference
1	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari C30	1’21.761	95
2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari 150° Italia	1’22.092	132	0.331
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault RB7	1’22.466	97	0.705
4	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth FW33	1’22.637	105	0.876
5	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes W02	1’22.892	89	1.131
6	Nick Heidfeld	Renault R31	1’23.541	32	1.780
7	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault T128	1’23.990	40	2.229
8	Vitaly Petrov	Renault R31	1’24.233	24	2.472
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes VJM04	1’24.334	108	2.573
10	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR6	1’24.779	107	3.018
11	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth MVR-02	1’27.336	96	5.575
12	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault T128	1’34.485	6	12.724

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53 comments on Perez fastest in his last test before F1 debut

slr said on 10th March 2011, 17:18

I really hope Perez does well, I’ve been waiting to see him in Formula One for over 2 years. I just hope he doesn’t let me down like Nelson Piquet Jr. did.

VXR said on 10th March 2011, 17:20

Probably better to post this on this page. oops!

BBC website:

“Technical director James Key said this was the first time the team had run the car on a low fuel load and that Perez “did a good and controlled set of laps, setting a time of 1:22.042 minutes on soft tyres and 1:21.761 on the super-soft compound”.”

OmarR-Pepper (@omarr-pepper) said on 10th March 2011, 18:14

The testings añways provides some deceiving results. Even more, a little difficult tough. it’s that probably McLaren is proving different aero packages and then catch up with the top teams. But the flying lap set but Perez doesn’t point at Sauber as a top team or even an occasional contender. It’s an improve of course, but just among the pack teams. Let’s se how Renault evolves and if Heifeld is able to challenge the Bulls and Alonso (needless to think Massa as a real contender)

Reply Report user
rui said on 10th March 2011, 18:29

Im a Psychic you will see:
–battle for the 1st———
Ferrari
RedBull
–for the 3rd—————-
Maclaren
Renault
–5th and 6th—————-
Sauber
Toro rosso
Mercedes
Williams
–rest assured—————
Force India
–I dont want to be the last——–
Lotus
HRT
Virgin

Gp2 said on 10th March 2011, 19:59

Perez’s time today was almost as fast as what Kobayashi managed last year in Quali, which got him to Q3:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/results/8498713.stm

Taking into account the peformance loss due to lower downforce levels from new regulations and the drop-off from Pirelli tyres compared to the Bridgestones, his time looks very competitive.

- BasCB (@bascb) said on 10th March 2011, 20:05
  
  Now that is interesting.
  
  Reply Report user
- Mike said on 11th March 2011, 11:35
  
  Wow…
  
tomforpresident said on 10th March 2011, 21:22

am i the only one impressed by Kovalainen’s lap? still not up with the big guys but hopefully that gap is closing.

Don M. said on 10th March 2011, 22:37

All the cars have a certain amount of ballast added to bring them up to the minimum weight. Where you put the ballast can make a big difference, and I think this is the area where Sauber have found their speed. They’ve put their ballast in the corner of the garage with the spare wheels. I’d like to see them do well, so hopefully I’m wrong about that.

NJB said on 10th March 2011, 22:43

This may have been a glory run but I’ve been impressed by what I’ve seen of Perez so far. He seems to have a quiet air of self-belief about him.

wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 11th March 2011, 2:22

What was that all about? that was a great lap. May not be the likes of Red Bull or Ferrari but I think with tyres rules Sauber & Torro Rosso can shed sweat from the big teams.

Reply Report user
DVC (@dvc) said on 11th March 2011, 3:22

I think Lotus should consider swapping courier companies.

Reply Report user
Lucas said on 12th March 2011, 21:56

I can see Kamui winning a race this year and possibly both cars in the points in Australia.