Barcelona Test Day 3

vectra

The pre season test in Barcelona continued with day three. The fastest time of the day belongs to Jenson Button who early in the afternoon session posted few very quick laps. His best time 1:19.127 is also the fastest time of the week so far. Whether today’s Button’s time was on empty fuel tank or not it is obvious the Brawn GP car is quick. No other driver this week made it below 1m20s. Second quickest today was Felipe Massa in Ferrari about a second behind. Lewis Hamilton crashed his McLaren damaging the car however he returned back to action later on. His best time was 2.53s slower then Button’s. The busiest drivers of the day were Sebastien Buemi with 140 and Jenson Button with 124 laps. (images from today in the article)

Barcelona test times - March 11, 2009


1. J. Button - Brawn GP - 1:19.127 - 124 laps
2. F. Massa - Ferrari - 1:20.168 +1.041 - 109 laps
3. R. Kubica - BMW Sauber - 1:20.217 +1,090 - 109 laps
4. T. Glock - Toyota - 1:20.410 +1.283 - 99 laps
5. F. Alonso - Renault - 1:20.863 +1.736 - 107 laps
6. S. Vettel - Red Bull - 1:21.165 +2.038 - 102 laps
7. N. Rosberg - Williams - 1:21.324 +2.197 - 89 laps
8. G. Fisichella - Force India - 1:21.545 +2.418 - 97 laps
9. S. Buemi - Toro Rosso - 1:21.569 +2.442 - 140 laps
10. L Hamilton - McLaren - 1:21.657 +2,530 - 82 laps

And here are the lap times from the morning session:

1. F. Massa - Ferrari - 1:20.168 - 21 laps
2. J. Button - Brawn GP - 1:20.313 +0.145 - 86 laps
3. F. Alonso - Renault - 1:20.863 +0.695 - 64 laps
4. T. Glock - Toyota - 1:21.046 +0.878 - 69 laps
5. S. Vettel - Red Bull - 1:21.165 +0.997 - 49 laps
6. R. Kubica - BMW Sauber - 1:21.201 +1.033 - 52 laps
7. N. Rosberg - Williams - 1:21.482 +1.314 - 30 laps
8. G. Fisichella - Force India - 1:21.545 +1.377 - 51 laps
9. S. Buemi - Toro Rosso - 1:21.569 +1.401 - 59 laps
10. L Hamilton - McLaren - 1:21.657 +1.489 - 49 laps

Midway through the morning session the fastes time goes to Jenson Button in Brawn GP was the fastest driver out there, followed by Timo Glock in Toyota and Fernando Alonso in Renault about 7 tenths back. Lewis Hamilton focusesed on pit stop practice early in the session before going for race simulation later in the day. Felipe Massa’s Ferrari stopped on the track after only 8 laps, and spent better part of the morning in the garage. Lewis Hamilton has already added MBE to his name on the car.

Grim.

lol that brawn car just gets better and better

vectra

Grim. wrote: »

lol that brawn car just gets better and better

Or lighter and lighter being desperate for sponsors

G-Money

There was an interview with Ron Dennis and he said they are slightly behind with the development of the car than they expected to be, but it's not their intention to be top of the time sheets etc. I don't really care though, I'm guessing it's not their intention to be last or 2nd last either!

vectra

grandmaster wrote: »

There was an interview with Ron Dennis and he said they are slightly behind with the development of the car than they expected to be, but it's not their intention to be top of the time sheets etc. I don't really care though, I'm guessing it's not their intention to be last or 2nd last either!

I think they are certainly where they look on the timesheets with testing.

tommiejoie

vectra wrote: »

I think they are certainly where they look on the timesheets with testing.

Agreed. Following what I said in yesterdays thread, no realistically competitive car can afford to be that far off the pace at this stage. Granted, it is not necessary, and probably not in their programme to be at the top, but over two seconds off the pace is too much.

BoardsRanger

Normal sandbagging would put McLaren in 3rd/4th place, but multiple slowest laps? It would be some bluff- role on Melbourne and we shall see!

vectra

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I think Mclaren are just sandbagging, just wait and see at the first race. The will grab pole for the race and then all the quotes
will be "we had to work so hard to get to this level" etc etc.

I am not a race driver but you do a certain amount of it.
Can you tell me how could Mclaren possibly know how good their car will be when they keep it 2 seconds off the pace ??
2 seconds is light years away in Formula one as you know.
Also
If they are sandbagging it.
Why is Lewis Beaching it and Crashing it when he is on the limits already??

BoardsRanger wrote: »

Normal sandbagging would put McLaren in 3rd/4th place,

As I said above.

G-Money

I'm beginning to think they are in trouble alright. I'm going to make a prediction. McLaren won't qualify in the top 4 in Melbourne.

vectra

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I have no idea about whats happening on the inside of Mclaren but it is possible to have a really good car that needs a good bit of tuning. I have been out testing in a really quick car that unfortunately kept breaking down. I knew the time was in the car but we needed to sort a few things out.

I have also seen my team mate out testing on his own on a empty track and yet most of the grid knew about his lap times. Its a glorious circus the F1 circuit.

As for Lewis hitting the tyre wall, it could be a heap of things; cold tyres (tyre failure),driver error, dirty track or it could be something simple like a 50 cent compontent failing. His team mate I dont think has thrown it off (but he is still doing poor times). They could just be keeping things very close to their chest, maybe limiting the amount of revs the driver could use etc. They are miles off the pace but if they suddenly come up with they will look like heroes!

I understand what you are saying about others knowing test results.

But
From my understanding,
How do you find the limits of your car when it is not capable of hitting those limits?
How do you know what way it would handle?
Maybe you are right about holding it close to their chest
BUT
Being that far behind I would be suspicous
Now
if people were saying that Ferrari were snadbagging I would agree. Hitting second spot in testing all the way through no matter what the top times are?:rolleyes:

amacachi

McLaren will be there or thereabouts for the title again this year, can't see why they're sandbagging, what can they test when they're that far off their own pace?

Frank Bullitt

Even the great James Allen is saying that they are in trouble, to me that says something.

Oblomov

McLaren have a history of playing games, RD has been quoted as saying, When the Flag drops, the bullsh1t stops.

Ferrari have used the winter Grand prixs , as they used to be called, the time to play games.. good testing period but no startling times.. but on the grid... swoosh.

The team mate equation, who is quickest is the internal game between team mates and to impress team managers. How well the car performs, very much down to the final test sessions.

Hamilton going off, the general consenus was strong side winds, feasible but why not other teams? ..

Very much a wait and see.. and another look at the bookies odds.

amacachi

Gintonious wrote: »

Even the great James Allen is saying that they are in trouble, to me that says something.

McLaren for the Constructor's title so.

Oblomov

Briatore also warned observers not to read too much into this week's test times. "If you have no sponsors for your car, you come here to make big lap times. Otherwise you focus on the preparation of your machine," he said.

Chopper888

The only time you can judge the perfomance of the various cars is after the qualifying sessions in Australia. Its very hard to judge performances in testing as all the teams are on different programmes and not everyone wants to be quickest in testing. Remember there are no prizes for being quickest in testing.

vectra

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I do think their is something going on alright but only time will tell. As for the limit it is a sliding bar. Just for instance your testing up in Kirkistown and your best time 1.06, you wait and hour go out again and all of sudden your best time is up to a 1.07 even thought is warmer.

Then you jump into a mates car and go a second quicker than you have had all day. Finally you jump back into your own car for the final session and you post the quickest lap time all day. The limit is always changing,sometimes when its really cold you quickest even though your tyres are ice cold (cold air helps the engine). I myself have gone out and thought this car is not going any faster jumped in a hour later and gone half a second quicker.

I undeestand axactly what you are saying
BUT
McLaren do not seem to be finding that "Sweet Spot" or "Hot Lap" at the moment.
Maybe they will get it before Melbourne
But I will say one thing.
As Much as I cannot stomach Hamilton. If..and I mean IF
All cars are very well matched and hamilton pulls it off again this year I will take my hat off to him:D

vectra

LIGHTNING wrote: »

but that said they have the money and resources to get it fixed.

Well they have the money since before designing it and building it so why did they get it so wrong with their super duper thechnology center

Hard to swallow humble Pie I guess.
It would be nice to see lewis struggle with the car as Kimi did for the latter part of last season. I would be interested to see just how many people would make the same silly comments about him
eg. "I wonder is it Lewis's brother is driving the car" etc. :rolleyes: