Schumacher quickest on day two of test as Webber leads 2012 runners
2012 F1 testing
Michael Schumacher was fastest at Jerez on Wednesday
Michael Schumacher topped the times on the second day of testing at Jerez.
Driving last year’s Mercedes W02, Schumacher set a best time of 1’18.561, more than a second quicker than Kimi Raikkonen’s fastest lap yesterday.
Raikkonen completed his second full day of testing for Lotus, he and Schumacher sharing a track for the first time since Schumacher first retired at the end of 2006.
He had a minor off in the morning, skidding into a gravel trap in the E20. But he continued his programme, running a longer stint in the afternoon and ending the day fourth having logged well over 100 laps.
Mark Webber also beat Raikkonen’s time with a 1’19.184 at the wheel of Red Bull’s RB8, which was quickest of the 2012 cars.
Daniel Ricciardo snuck inside Raikkonen’s best time from Tuesday, setting a 1’19.587 in the Toro Rosso STR7. Jean-Eric Vergne will have his first run in the car tomorrow.
The Ferrari F2012 completed almost 100 laps in Felipe Massa’s hands. He was seventh-fastest ahead of Jenson Button in the McLaren.
Among the new faces was Jules Bianchi, who had his first run at the wheel of the Force India in the morning, before handing it back to Paul di Resta.
Sergio Perez took over from Kamui Kobayashi at Sauber.
At Caterham, Heikki Kovalainen used KERS in the car for the first time, and racked up an impressive 139 laps. New reserve driver Giedo van der Garde will make his debut for the team tomorrow.
Tomorrow Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will be in action for their respective teams.
Jerez test times
| Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Difference | |
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes W02 | 1’18.561 | 132 | |
| 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault RB8 | 1’19.184 | 97 | 0.623 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR7 | 1’19.587 | 100 | 1.026 |
| 4 | Jules Bianchi | Force India-Mercedes VJM05 | 1’20.221 | 46 | 1.660 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault E20 | 1’20.239 | 117 | 1.678 |
| 6 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes VJM05 | 1’20.272 | 69 | 1.711 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari F2012 | 1’20.454 | 95 | 1.893 |
| 8 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-27 | 1’20.688 | 85 | 2.127 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari C31 | 1’20.711 | 68 | 2.150 |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault FW34 | 1’21.197 | 97 | 2.636 |
| 11 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault CT01 | 1’21.518 | 139 | 2.957 |
| 12 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth F111 | 1’22.128 | 64 | 3.567 |
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Image © Red Bull/Getty images
F1_Dave said on 9th February 2012, 3:09
Purely from watching the cars from trackside.
Red Bull looks the best, planted in every corner, Stable under braking, Good mid-corner speed/stability, Earlier on the throttle than anyone else & opening DRS earlier than anyone else.
McLaren looks about next best although it seems a bit twitchey at times under braking & doesnt seem to have the turn in grip. Has the highest top speed again in speed traps with Force India not far behind.
Force India looks real good, car looks really stable & easy to drive.
Ferrari are hard to judge, Car didn’t look anything special but Massa never really seemed to be really pushing it. He threw it over the kurbs real hard a few times as if he was going for it but then quickly backed off to not set a representative lap time.
Lotus seems OK, Car seems good through the bends.
Caterham seems well balanced although Heikki was really having to wait to get back on the throttle & seemed hesitant to open DRS untill well onto the straght.
Sauber was all over the place in faster turns, looked a real handfull.
sumedh said on 9th February 2012, 3:47
Nice feedback! Thanks a lot
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 9th February 2012, 10:49
That’s the best stuff i’ve read in the past few days, thanks for sharing!
RB8 sounds just like its predecessors.
I thought Massa would have learnt his lesson about the kerbs!
Sulman said on 9th February 2012, 6:26
I think the clues you always get in pre-season testing are little to do with the lap times; it’s the driver and team quotes. When they talk about ‘learning’ or ‘understanding’ that can give a hint that the car isn’t immediately where they want it to be.
Usually, if the car’s good, they will (carefully) say as much.
Massa is a good example, although I suspect he’s technically heavily reliant on his engineer’s output, so expect more hair loss for Rob Smedley before melbourne.
Alonso will be the acid test at Jerez. He’s guarded at best, downright critical if he doesn’t think the car’s up to it.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 9th February 2012, 10:46
I really hope that KERS pays off for Caterham. I can’t wait until qualifying in Melbourne :D