2009 F1 Winter Group Tests Week #4 - March 1-5

[rage2]

Alright, so day 1 of testing week #5, almost all the teams are here. Tons of red flags today, notably Massa spun off into the gravel, and De La Rosa's McLaren developed an oil sensor problem and stopped on the track. vettel was VERY fast in the Red Bull, but the motor puked and red flagged the track. McLaren debuted their new '09 wing, but it looks like they're still running the old diffuser that's missing the whole middle section. Ferrari also debuted some new rear aero bits, including new exhaust outlets. It's expected that both McLaren and Ferrari will debut their final rear aero package (wing + diffuser) either during these next 5 days, or at the next test. BMW and McLaren spent their day testing Bridgestone 2010 tires running full fuel loads, as there will be a ban on refuelling for 2010. Force India introduced their new 2009 car, running McLaren Mercedes engine and gearbox package. I believe they don't have the final KERS package yet... they don't expect to run KERS until the start of the european races.

Final times for today:
1. Sebastian Vettel 1.19:055
2. Felipe Massa 1.20:330
3. Kamui Kobayashi 1.20:699
4. Nico Rosberg 1.21:171
5. Robert Kubica 1.21:292
6. Giancarlo Fisichella 1.21:584
7. Pedro De la Rosa 1.21:831
8. Nelson Piquet 1.22:011

Tommorow should be much more interesting. Pics:

[rage2]

[rage2]

Team/Driver schedule for this week.

Team         Mar 1       Mar 2       Mar 3       Mar 4       Mar 5
McLaren      Dela Rosa   Kovalainen  Kovalainen  Hamilton    Hamilton
BMW         Kubica      Kubica      Kubica      Heidfeld    Heidfeld
Ferrari      Massa       Massa       Massa       Raikkonen   Raikkonen 
Force India  Sutil       Sutil       Fisichella  Fisichella  Fisichella
Renault      Piquet      Piquet      Alonso      Alonso      Alonso
Red Bull     Vettel      Vettel      Webber      Webber      Webber 
Toyota       Kobayashi   Glock       Glock       Trulli      Trulli 
Williams     Rosberg     Rosberg     Rosberg     Nakajima    Nakajima

[rage2]

Day #2, rain all day. Ferrari was due to test Bridgestone's 2010 tires today, but didn't even complete a single lap. Today's times:



Nothing really interesting to post unfortunately.

[rage2]

The track started out wet this morning and ended up pretty dry. Massa went off twice, and McLaren is using flow-vis again, this time blue. They were also pretty slow till Kovy threw on a 2008 wing again, and set a half decent time. McLaren fans should either be very worried, or they've got something they want to hide till the last minute so nobody could copy them. Let's hope for the latter.

Times from today:



Pics:

[rage2]

Press releases for today:

Toyota:

Timo Glock - Chassis TF109-03
Best lap time: 1min 19.814s
Position: 1st out of 8
Total laps: 142
"That was a productive day. This morning we were again a bit unlucky with the conditions, which made the race simulation quite tough. But it was useful to find out when to change to slick tyres and our pace wasn't bad. Then we got some dry running for the rest of the day. We did a lot of set-up work and late on we did some shorter runs to make it through the programme. We've made it through a lot of miles over these two days and we're making useful progress."

Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis
"This morning's race simulation went very well. We just had to manage very transient weather and track conditions which brought us from full wet conditions at the beginning to slicks in the course of our race. Still, we went from wet tyres to slicks at exactly the right time and Timo made it through without major difficulty. All in all it was fun, interesting and valuable mileage for the car in realistic race conditions. Because we were ahead with our schedule we spent the afternoon doing some set-up work."

Ferrari:

Massa is back on the Jerez track

Circuit: Jerez circuit - 4.423 km
Driver: Felipe Massa
Car: Ferrari F60
Weather: air temperature 12/21 °C, track temperature 12/23 °C. Overcast with a damp track in the morning, then cloudy with dry tarmac.

Third day of testing for eight Formula 1 teams at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, in southern Spain.

After yesterday's time-out, when rain prevented the planned use of Bridgestone's 2010 tyres, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro was back on track this morning, again with Felipe Massa at the wheel of the F60.

The Brazilian driver worked on set-up and reliability of the car over long distance, both in the wet and in the dry. Felipe completed a total of 135 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.20.238.

Testing at this track continues tomorrow, when Kimi Raikkonen will be on track.

Renault:

Fernando Alonso, R29-03, 152 laps, 673 km, fastest lap 1:20.296

The ING Renault F1 Team enjoyed a productive day in Jerez as Fernando Alonso completed a mammoth 152 laps en route to setting the third fastest time of the day.

With yesterday’s session being washed out by heavy rain showers, the team was keen to make the most of the dry and sunny conditions today. Initially the track was damp, but by mid-morning conditions had improved enough to allow Fernando to get down to some valuable set-up work on slick tyres. The team also evaluated some new developments while continuing to add mileage to the car.

Fernando remains in the R29 tomorrow for the team’s final day of testing this week.

Fernando Alonso: “Today was a very productive day as I managed to complete 152 laps which gave us lots of useful data. At this stage of the season it’s important to have as much time in the car as possible to get used to the new rules such as the moveable wings and the KERS system and so I’m happy to have done so much today. Everyday we keep learning new things and I’m feeling more and more comfortable in the car. Hopefully tomorrow we can have another dry day to build on the work we did today.”

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “The circuit was a bit wet to start off with and so we used the damp conditions just to put some miles on the car. Fortunately the circuit dried out by the middle of the morning which allowed us to get on and do some good work to make up for some of the ground we lost in the wet yesterday. The car behaved very well and overall we’re pleased with the results as we managed to achieve our objectives for the day.”

BMW:

BMW Sauber F1 Team - Test in Jerez - Day three
03-03-2009 Press Release

Test in Jerez.

March 1st – 5th 2009

Day three – Tuesday

Weather conditions: Overcast in the morning, some sun in the afternoon.

Temperature: Air: 12 – 21 °C, Track: 12 – 23 °C

Number of drivers participating: 8 of 8 teams

Fastest lap overall: Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:19.814 min

Circuit length: 4.428 km

Robert Kubica
Chassis / engine: BMW Sauber F1.09-03 / BMW 86/9
Test kilometres today: 434 (98 laps)
Fastest lap: 1:21.069 min

Programme:
In the morning, when the track was still damp, Robert Kubica concentrated on set-up work with the BMW Sauber F1.09 running on wet tyres. After the lunch break the team continued its development programme on a dry track. The main focus was evaluating different solutions for the car’s aerodynamics and set-up. Late in the afternoon Kubica stopped on the track after switching off the engine when a warning light came on. The reason was quickly traced to a faulty sensor, so minutes later the F1.09 was back on track completing a total of 98 laps over the day.

“Overall it was a good day”, Kubica said after completing his third day of testing in Jerez. “We were able to make up some of the time we lost yesterday when rain meant we had to change our schedule. I started on extreme wet tyres, changed to wet tyres and finally drove slick tyres. Together with the various different set-up solutions I tried that helped me get an even better feeling for the car.”

What comes next:
Tomorrow Nick Heidfeld will take over the BMW Sauber F1.09 and test in Jerez on both Wednesday and Thursday.

McLaren:

Overnight rain meant the day started on a damp track, allowing the team to continue the wet-tyre evaluation programme it had begun yesterday. Heikki made good progress understanding Bridgestone’s intermediate tyre before the drying track prompted a switch in focus for the afternoon. MP4-24 was subsequently fitted with a 2009 front and rear wing package – for the first time in dry conditions – and Heikki carried out a series of set-up evaluation runs until the end of the day. For Wednesday and Thursday, Lewis takes over driving duties and continues the programme.

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by rage2
McLaren fans should either be very worried,

That would be me... Still using flow-vis, posting times that are putting them in the area of 6-7-8 position for the day. Yea, I am worried. I haven't seen anything promising thus far from Mclaren.

Renault topped the board today, with Ferrari and BMW in 2nd and 3rd...

Unofficial Wednesday times from Jerez:
1. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 1:19.945
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:20.250
3. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:20.520
4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:20.540
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:20.894
6. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 1:20.948
7. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:21.302
8. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:21.411

[Mibz]

McLaren says "Nah man, it's cool"

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,189...006517,00.html

[iceburns288]

EDIT: Ah.

[EK 2.0]

Ok, I know I said before I found the new Aero weird....

But, I have to retract that statement....this seasons cars are super sexy....wow....

I love watching F1...not as hardcore obviously as you guys though...haha...I just love it for the sounds....haha...

[Mibz]

Hamilton crashed.
Lost control in turn 4, hit the wall and sheared off the wing.

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,189...010001,00.html

I can't link from the slideshow but if you click the "Gallery" below the article you get a few boring pictures.

[rage2]

Yea, I have no fucking clue what McLaren's doing. Their times are horrible, never anywhere near the top lately, still running 08 wing today, still running Flo-vis today. And now, the car gets smacked.

3 weeks to go if they don't debut the full package in the next test, I'll be kinda scared.

[buh_buh]

Why are they wasting valuable test time with the '08 wing? Does it really take 2 tests to find out "YES the '08 wing does indeed make our times quicker! Lets use flow vis with the '08 wing to ensure our findings are indeed true"

[Mibz]

Hamilton finished 3rd, but still way off pace. I dunno what problems 4-6 had but they ran about half the laps they normally do.

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:20.052  123
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  1:20.404  112
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:21.272   58
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:22.219   47
 5.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.226   54
 6.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  1:23.119   38

EDIT: Sounds like Trulli ruined the front wing early on so they called it quits

[rage2]

Originally posted by buh_buh
Why are they wasting valuable test time with the '08 wing? Does it really take 2 tests to find out "YES the '08 wing does indeed make our times quicker! Lets use flow vis with the '08 wing to ensure our findings are indeed true"

Talk at the paddock (mostly interviews with Toyota and BMW guys) suggests that McLaren is doing all their development testing on CFD and simulator, so McLaren is using real world testing + flo-vis to calibrate and fine tune everything even more accurately on their setup. This way, they can develop at a better rate than their competitors mid season, since real testing is banned. So right now, they are just preparing so they can do development mid season. Before winter testing, their simulation setup was accurate within 1/2 a second, and they want to improve accuracy before the start of the season to within 0.2s.

The question is, does McLaren have a competitive aero package already done? Toyota thinks that if McLaren is behind everyone in Austrailia, they will easily catch up by the european races because of their simulator. Most teams think McLaren is wasting their time, and they'll be slow at the start of the season.

If they do have a real aero package ready, we will see it by the next tests next week. I can't see them waiting for the final 3 day test they have scheduled the week after, because there's no time for any corrective measures if the simulations are wrong.

There's also rumors from "insiders" that McLaren has a completely different floor to diffuser to rear wing package completed for Australia that we haven't seen yet (what we're seeing is based on launch aero, which was designed back in summer of 2008)... but that's just something posted on the internet.

[buh_buh]

ahh your optimism will only make Australia all the sweeter for me when Hammo and Kovy qualify in 10th and 11th and actually run the race with flow vis and '08 wing, but are penalized for doing so.
Come join the pessimists at Hon.... Brawn... Brackley Racing or whatever.

[rage2]

Originally posted by buh_buh
ahh your optimism will only make Australia all the sweeter for me when Hammo and Kovy qualify in 10th and 11th and actually run the race with flow vis and '08 wing, but are penalized for doing so.
Come join the pessimists at Hon.... Brawn... Brackley Racing or whatever.

There's no optimism from me. I'm fucking worried! I'm just posting the "excuses" I've been hearing and trying to make sense of it all.

Personally, I think McLaren's in trouble. They've never sandbagged during winter testing, always near the top in their competitive years. No reason to think why they would change their strategy.

[Team_Mclaren]

i think all the fanboys should be worried!

The session ended prematurely at 15:30 when a sudden gust of wind swept the MP4-24 off the track and into a tyre barrier

hit the wall because of wind... we're fucked

[buh_buh]

Originally posted by Team_Mclaren
i think all the fanboys should be worried!



hit the wall because of wind... we're fucked

must be that '09 wing.