2010 Winter Testing

[ArchAngel]

Maybe those are just Merc/Brawn bean-counters from back at the office doing pit-crew duty. Even nerds do need to have some fun fieldwork once in a while. The real pit-crew are probably practicing tyre-stops in private, so as not to reveal to the other teams how to do it all in just 2.5 secs.

[Poleman]

I've had trouble finding a better picture of the FI with that device attached, anyone have better luck? There's definitely something there, good eye Andy!

Thats the best (at least i could find) from the Force India today...Cant say for sure whats is the element's purpose but it seems less complicated than McLaren's and mounted on the sidepod.





Also something i noticed today as well....Ferrari using the pitstop lights that caused some problems back in 2008.

[tk421]

thanks guys, certainly a better view! mercedes have also adopted the pit-light. you can see it in numerous pics...at least until one of their drivers goes out of the box with the fuel hose still attached

p.s. i had never seen that until albers did it at the french gp in 2007. since then, i think 4 others have followed i guess he started a trend!

[Giblet]

No fuel hoses this year at pit stops, but I can see leaving with a jack, and other mistakes to.

Imagine two cars coming in for a stacked pit stop without the fuel time to get 16 tires handled in less than 10 total seconds for two cars.

Considering one team this year has already done a 2.9 second pit stop, 3 to change cars in the box, then a second 2.9 stop, while other teams are doing the same?

It's going to be crazy, stuff will screw up, in new ways we or the teams have not yet considered.

[Poleman]

No fuel hoses this year at pit stops, but I can see leaving with a jack, and other mistakes to.

Imagine two cars coming in for a stacked pit stop without the fuel time to get 16 tires handled in less than 10 total seconds for two cars.

Considering one team this year has already done a 2.9 second pit stop, 3 to change cars in the box, then a second 2.9 stop, while other teams are doing the same?

It's going to be crazy, stuff will screw up, in new ways we or the teams have not yet considered.

Exactly. =D>
Thank god that those wheel covers are history....That would have made things quite messy in the race with time for a 3 sec pitstop

[Ganxxta]

Wonderful pitstop of the Mercedes only ~20 secs just for tire change without refueling... they should do it with refueling like last year to be faster

[WhiteBlue]

Circuit status: Air temperature: 9 ° C
Track temperature: 10 ° C
Test times Updated: 09:58
driver team Drive time difference #
1. M. Schumacher Mercedes GP W01 1:26.701 10
2. M. Webber Red Bull Racing RB6 1:27.111 +0,410 13
3. J. Button McLaren MP4-25 1:27.461 +0,760 8 pit
4. F. Alonso Ferrari F60 1:27.724 +1,023 9 pit
5. J. Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR5 1:31.133 +4,432 7
6. R. Kubica Renault R30 1:33.569 +6,868 3 pit

Merc and Red Bull setting the early pace at a cold but almost dry track. Kovalainen caused a red flag already .

@mikegascoyne: Car stopped with a clutch sensor failure. Replacing sensor and updating front wing while waiting for circuit to dry

[toshinden]

Red Flag caused by Kobayashi, but its green again now

1 Button McLaren 1m23.586s
2 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m24.816s +1.230
3 Alonso Ferrari 1m25.750s +2.164
4 Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.600s +3.014
5 Webber Red Bull 1m26.698s +3.112
6 Di Grassi Virgin 1m31.670s +8.084
7 Kubica Renault 1m33.569s +9.983

[WhiteBlue]

Circuit status: Air temperature: 9 ° C
Track temperature: 10 ° C
Test times Updated: 11:24
driver team Drive time difference #
1. J. Button McLaren MP4-25 1:22.693 14
2. M. Schumacher Mercedes GP W01 1:23.320 +0,627 23 pit
3. F. Alonso Ferrari F60 1:23.421 +0,728 28
4. J. Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR5 1:23.761 +1,068 38
5. M. Webber Red Bull Racing RB6 1:24.020 +1,327 33 pit
6. A. Sutil Force India VJM-03 1:24.407 +1,714 11 pit
7. L. Di Grassi Virgin Racing VR-01 1:31.670 +8,977 11 pit
8. R. Kubica Renault R30 1:33.569 +10,876 5 pit

Incidents
time driver incident green
10:55 K. Kobayashi Stop, Turn 15 11:07
10:33 L. Di Grassi Stop, turn 14 10:52
09:33 H. Kovalainen Stop, turn 9 09:50

Track is drying now after a series of reds.

[toshinden]

Alonso quickest

1 Alonso Ferrari 1m21.969s
2 Button McLaren 1m22.693s +0.724
3 Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.320s +1.351
4 Kubica Renault 1m23.481s +1.512
5 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m23.761s +1.792
6 Webber Red Bull 1m24.020s +2.051
7 Sutil Force India 1m24.407s +2.438
8 Kobayashi Sauber 1m25.818s +3.849
9 Hulkenberg Williams 1m26.215s +4.246
10 Di Grassi Virgin 1m31.670s +9.701

[raceman]

Alonso quickest

1 Alonso Ferrari 1m21.969s
2 Button McLaren 1m22.693s +0.724
3 Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.320s +1.351
4 Kubica Renault 1m23.481s +1.512
5 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m23.761s +1.792
6 Webber Red Bull 1m24.020s +2.051
7 Sutil Force India 1m24.407s +2.438
8 Kobayashi Sauber 1m25.818s +3.849
9 Hulkenberg Williams 1m26.215s +4.246
10 Di Grassi Virgin 1m31.670s +9.701

latest update:

1 Button McLaren 1m21.435s
2 Webber Red Bull 1m21.684s +0.249
3 Alonso Ferrari 1m21.771s +0.336
4 Kubica Renault 1m22.415s +0.980
5 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m23.085s +1.650
6 Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.320s +1.885
7 Sutil Force India 1m24.407s +2.972
8 Hulkenberg Williams 1m25.691s +4.256
9 Kobayashi Sauber 1m25.818s +4.383
10 Di Grassi Virgin 1m31.670s +10.235

[raceman]

session stopped - Webber stopped between turns 8 and 9; not clear why

[Hangaku]

Looks like Macca are either done with sandbagging, or Button wants to let everyone know that his car means business this year. Or (shock horror) he's able to drive this years motor better than Hamilton!?!

Who decides what to do on a test day? Does the driver dictate whether they go fast or long, or is that a team decision?

[toshinden]

session stopped - Webber stopped between turns 8 and 9; not clear why

"11:21 Webber's car has arrived in the paddock on the back of a truck, hidden under a cover. It looks mechanical, it stopped on a straight"

it might that they testing "last fuel drop" run, but the time he posted is not like in a low fuel run

"11:09 Webber was six laps into a run, lapping in the 22s/23s"



earlier accident ... only a view inch

[MattF1]

Note that Mercedes are using a traffic light system in the video - not a lollipop man. Could this be the source of the problem?