Vergne stays quickest on second day of test

2011 F1 testing

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Jean-Eric Vergne, Abu Dhabi, 2011

Jean-Eric Vergne stayed on top in the second day of testing at Abu Dhabi by a small margin over Jules Bianchi.

Vergne’s best lap in the Red Bull was less than a tenth of a second faster than Bianchi’s in the Ferrari.

A KERS problem on the RB7 limited Vergne’s running in the afternoon. He was delayed by a sensor problem earlier on in the test.

Bianchi racked up 91 laps testing new engine management component on the Ferrari and evaluating Pirelli’s 2011 development tyres.

Esteban Gutierrez made his fourth appearance in a Sauber F1 car following earlier drives for the team at the test in 2009 and 2010. He lost around 20 minutes of running due to an hydraulic problem.

HRT split their running between Jan Charouz and Nathanael Berthon, the latter making a brief appearance in the car ahead of his day’s running tomorrow.

An engine problem delayed Charouz but he was impressed by the team’s rapid work to change the Cosworth power unit, saying “I’ve never seen anybody change an engine so quickly.”

DriverTeamTimeGapLaps
Jean-Eric VergneRed Bull1’40.18843
Jules BianchiFerrari1’40.2790.09191
Gary PaffettMcLaren1’41.7561.56871
Valtteri BottasWilliams1’42.3672.17988
Johnny Cecotto JnrForce India1’42.8732.68584
Esteban GutierrezSauber1’43.6373.44996
Sam BirdMercedes1’43.7343.54694
Kevin KorjusRenault1’43.7763.58870
Luiz RaziaLotus1’43.9443.75689
Kevin CecconToro Rosso1’44.8084.62097
Jan CharouzHRT1’46.6446.45656
Charles PicVirgin1’46.6986.51061
Nathanael BethonHRT1’48.6468.4589

2011 F1 testing

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    Keith Collantine
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    47 comments on “Vergne stays quickest on second day of test”

    1. My grannie is testing the RBR tomorrow, and I still expect to see it top the time sheet

      1. Haha, It does make you wonder how much better that Red Bull is than every other car. Bianchi close but he did say yesterday about getting a chance at some stage to do a new tyre low fuel run.

        What I would give just to see Vettel in equal machinery as Alonso or Hamilton.

        1. if alonso, hamilton and button where in a red bull i think alonso would destroy the field

          1. I think Alonso is better all round to have on a team than Hamilton but given that Hamilton beat him as a rookie I don’t think there is going to be any destroying going on!

            1. in 2007 hamilton and alonso tied on 101 points so it was a draw

            2. Maybe I’m wrong but thought although level Hamilton was placed above because of number of higher positions or something like that.

              Anyway even if that is so I shouldn’t have said he beat Alonso when they were level as it’s not the best way to put it over the sake of a technicality!

            3. i know what you mean it is based on number of 2nd and 3rd places but they both got 109 so for me they tide

            4. I’m pretty sure that’s the way Alonso see’s it too :)

            5. That’s like me saying that Button and Hamilton both have 3 wins so for me they tied- if you apply your own scoring system you could claim anybody as the winner.

            6. yeh but we still know hamilton finished second im just saying in my eyes it a tie

            7. Ya matt90 but the point is they were same on points at end of season, not just wins.

            8. Ah the old “did Alonso and Hamilton really tie in 2007 debate!”

              They got the same points, but the rules say Hamilton was ahead because of the countback rule because you have to have a way of separating drivers who tie on points, so if you are being a stickler for the rules, yes Hamilton beat Alonso. They did also have the same number of wins, so that was a tie too.

              It’s all academic of course because Kimi pipped them both to the post!

            9. thing is, 2007 was by quite a margin lewis best and most consistent season, he has never matched that first 10 races.

              Fernando has moved on as a driver and team member since then.

              End of the day they were extremely evenly matched. The whole ‘Rookie’ element is irrelevant as lewis hasnt performed as well since.

            10. I still think the moment Ferrari switched Massa and Raikonen in Brazil 2007, Mclaren should have made Alonso drop all the way behind Hamilton to give them a driver’s title!

          2. Would! Could! Should!
            Vettel has already destroyed the field!!

            1. yeh but if you gave him a hrt he would be at the back just like any driver

            2. i don’t actually think so mrjlr93.

              I seem to have a faint memory of the guy driving a Toro Rosso around in the top 10 for a whole season and something about him winning in Italy in the same machine ;)
              True TR > HRT, but still.

            3. @mrjlr93 – And if you believe that, Alonso and Hamilton wouldn’t do any better, given Vettel’s record in 2007-2008.

        2. @snowman yes the rbr is so much better, can´t believe. i think vettel is not so good as the german tv says. everybody is fast in a red bull.
          takuma sato will become champion in a red bull

          1. @mcmrocks – Mark Webber has proven that a decent driver can’t just be plugged into a good car, so claiming Sato could become champion is ridiculous.

            1. @David A : i think sato is faster than webber

            2. @mcmrocks – Webber qualified Jaguars and Williams on the front row, and beat his teammates in most of his years in the sport. Sato did not build a reputation as any form of qualifying specialist, instead having an embarrassing year in 2005, where he scored 1 point to his teammate’s 36.

      2. So your granny is within 0.1 of Vergne?

    2. Bianchi has some pace thats good to see

      1. It’s difficult to judge pace without knowing the testing programs of everyone in the driver line-up. Bianchi has made it known that Ferrari were going to let him do some fuel-light runs on fresh tyres in order to display some pace (no doubt in response to criticism over his disappointing GP2 campaigns), but nobody else has really given much away about what they’re doing. For example, Nathanael Berthon had just half an hour in the car at the end of the day.

        1. im just refering to the time posted in p1, p2, p3 and qualifying from last weekend

          1. The track is in a very different condition now. More rubber has been laid down, the track is hotter, wind conditions have shifted and so on.

            1. yes but still times are comparable to p3

        2. It’s difficult to judge pace without knowing the testing programs of everyone in the driver line-up.

          It’s difficult to judge slow pace, but a fast time is just fast. I had hoped to see something like a repeat of last year, when Ricciardo went faster than the pole time. I realise that in the Bridgestone days, tracks rubbered in much more significantly, but still; some ‘thirty-eights’ or ‘thirty-nines’ would have been nice to see after a whole day of not much excitement for the online spectator.

    3. Vergne’s best lap in the Red Bull was less than a tenth of a second faster than Vergne’s in the Ferrari.

      You mean “Bianchi’s” or has Vergne tested for Ferrai in the past (in which case the sentence could be clearer) ?

    4. Any chance Williams could be running Valtteri Bottas light on fuel to make him look good to help in negotiations with Raikenon

      1. maybe but i think it will be pastor and kimi in 2012

        1. So do I but Frank was dropping hints about seeing how Bottas was going to look in the test and him being a candidate. Williams negotiations over price is strengthened if it looks they have other options.

          Apparently Kimi is trying to get equity in the team.

          1. from what i have heard kimi is bringing sponsors from qatar

            1. I heard Williams are bringing sponsor from Qatar to afford Kimi.

            2. I believe it’s the other way around – the sponsors want Raikkonen in the car, rather than Raikkonen luring sponsors to the team.

      2. Doubt it. Williams have said openly that they are using this test to run the car with its 2012 exhaust configuration to see what the performance loss will be.

        1. it is going to be huge

          1. Williams never got the blown diffuser working properly AFAIK, because of the Cosworth engine, so Williams won’t lose that much in 2012 compared to 2011. RBR, McLaren and Renault will lose the most, followed by Ferrari. Not sure about STR.
            Red Bull will be an interesting case. McLaren is guaranteed to screw up at the start of the year and play catch-up from mid-season onwards. Ferrari will be generally rubbish, and Red Bull will find a way around the loss of the magic diffuser.

      3. According to the German media, Williams have given Raikkonen a deadline of today to make up his mind. So if that’s true, I very much doubt they will send Bottas on light runs to put pressure on Raikkonen.

    5. Razia half a tenth off Trulli’s quali time. Nice.

      1. With more rubber on the track.

        1. @pielighter And so the ambiguity continues from last year…

    6. Taking into account just the final positions, I think Bianchi, Cecotto and Bottas did a good job.

    7. So now there are four seats for that STR.

    8. The Lotus is even closer, by about 1s to the top now.

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