F1 Winter Testing, Jerez Day 2: Casualties start to fall
Jawsey February 11, 2010
Tags formula 1, motor racing, motorsport, tests, winter testing
After Day 1 was more or less washed out by wet weather, and the teams unable to gather any information of real use, the skies cleared up in Jerez and allowed for some dry running. However, after a generally reliable first test in Valencia, a few of the teams began to feel the bite of technical issues of a new car.
The most high-profile of these was new-boys Virgin, as they had to stop on 11 laps into testing when Glock’s front wing fell off. That’s a pretty scary statement to admit for any F1 team, especially a new one, but boss Nick Worth later confirmed that they knew what the problem had been, and simply hadn’t had a couple of parts needed to fix it. This could be a more costly problem than one may imagine though, as forecasts say this could well be the only dry day Jerez gets in the next few days.
Elsewhere, Williams, and McLaren both stopped out on track late in the day with some technical gremlins. This won’t worry the teams that much, it does generally happen a lot to new cars as the teams sort out the little niggles that F1 cars have, such precise instruments that they are. Despite the late problem, reigning World Champion Jenson Button says he is a lot happier with the car now, and had a good run in it. He will want to have some fairly smooth tests over the next couple of months; coming into the first race against Hamilton with a number of difficult tests behind him is the last thing he needs
In terms of times, Kobayashi was fastest in the Sauber , with Buemi second in Toro Rosso, both times set on low-fuel runs. Button was fastest of those who didn’t have a qualifying-style run, but its Ferrari who probably took the most heart, with Alonso completing a very consistent 48-lap run and racking up 129 laps total. Schumacher and Mercedes also made a number of long runs, totalling 124 laps.
At this early stage of the season, most teams will just be trying to get some miles on the car, ensure reliability, which is more key to the car with every passing season. As we near the end of the third test, going into the fourth, they will be looking more at outright pace, but it’s still near impossible to pick out any winners at this stage. All I will say is that it’s very even between Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull on overall pace, which can only be a good thing
The most high-profile of these was new-boys Virgin, as they had to stop on 11 laps into testing when Glock’s front wing fell off. That’s a pretty scary statement to admit for any F1 team, especially a new one, but boss Nick Worth later confirmed that they knew what the problem had been, and simply hadn’t had a couple of parts needed to fix it. This could be a more costly problem than one may imagine though, as forecasts say this could well be the only dry day Jerez gets in the next few days.
Elsewhere, Williams, and McLaren both stopped out on track late in the day with some technical gremlins. This won’t worry the teams that much, it does generally happen a lot to new cars as the teams sort out the little niggles that F1 cars have, such precise instruments that they are. Despite the late problem, reigning World Champion Jenson Button says he is a lot happier with the car now, and had a good run in it. He will want to have some fairly smooth tests over the next couple of months; coming into the first race against Hamilton with a number of difficult tests behind him is the last thing he needs
In terms of times, Kobayashi was fastest in the Sauber , with Buemi second in Toro Rosso, both times set on low-fuel runs. Button was fastest of those who didn’t have a qualifying-style run, but its Ferrari who probably took the most heart, with Alonso completing a very consistent 48-lap run and racking up 129 laps total. Schumacher and Mercedes also made a number of long runs, totalling 124 laps.
At this early stage of the season, most teams will just be trying to get some miles on the car, ensure reliability, which is more key to the car with every passing season. As we near the end of the third test, going into the fourth, they will be looking more at outright pace, but it’s still near impossible to pick out any winners at this stage. All I will say is that it’s very even between Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull on overall pace, which can only be a good thing
