Massa pulls out for some tire testing.
THE AUSTRALIAN COUNTDOWN BEGINS
By Roberto Motta
Photos: Ferrari-Media
Following the cancellation of the Sakhir test and the Bahrain race, the pre-season continued with the last testing days at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya from Tuesday to Saturday. For the drivers, these testing days are the last chance to wrap up their development programs, evaluate new upgrades and improve their cars before the Australian Grand Prix, March 25-27.
Meanwhile, on May, 1 Bahrain’s Crown Prince HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa will inform the FIA about the possibility of hosting a race in the country, and together with Formula One Management, the FIA will make a final decision about a new slot for the race during the 2011 season.
Montmelo, 8 March – It was a strange prelude for Massa and the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. While the other drivers were driving at the Catalunya Circuit on the first day of the final winter test session, Felipe and the Maranello team personnel were busy preparing the 150° Italia for its four days of testing that get underway tomorrow. The chassis, 287, will turn out fitted with various technical updates, especially in the area of the aerodynamic evolution of the car, but Felipe opted to stay in the pit and was an interested observer at today’s testing. At the end of the first testing day, the Australia’s Mark Webber and its Red bull had the fastest time of 1.22.544.
A little bit of the Spanish F1 circuit and grandstands.
Unofficial Tuesday test times from Barcelona:
1. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:22.544, 97 laps
2. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:22.910, 74
3. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:22.937, 27
4. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:24.117, 90
5. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1:24.735, 20
6. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:25.039, 38
7. Davide Valsecchi, Lotus, 1:25.406, 50
8. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:26.004, 48
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:26.030, 31
10. Luiz Razia, Lotus, 1:26.723, 29
11. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:32.060, 57
Montmelo, 9 March– Felipe Massa started his testing in the morning at the wheel of his Ferrari F150° Italia, and the Brazilian driver’s program was targeted to testing and comparing various configurations, and many new components such as a revised rear wing and a different exhaust configuration. During these first tests, Felipe completed a total of 53 laps, and his best lap was 1.23.324. The best time of the morning belonged to the reigning world champion, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who lapped in 1.21.865. In the afternoon Felipe continued some aerodynamic test on all the updates planned for the first race in terms of its aero configuration and also sporting a new exhaust. At the end of this busy day, the Brazilian covered a total of 101 laps. “First impressions are positive,” said Felipe after the session. “You can feel the effect of the new elements on the handling of the car, especially that of the exhausts. Once again today we did a lot of kilometres, which is always a good thing.”
Massa’s; fastest lap during the testing was 1.23.324.
Unofficial Wednesday test times from Barcelona:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:21.865, 112 laps
2. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:22.396, 120
3. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:22.670, 116
4. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:22.888, 57
5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:23.324, 101
6. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:24.334, 118
7. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:24.436, 107
8. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:25.807, 100
9. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:26.090, 98
10. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:26.989, 29
11. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:28.982, 64
Montmelo, 10 March–Today, with warmer temperatures, Felipe continued the test and did a race weekend simulation, which was concluded with success. At the end the two testing days, Felipe Massa ended his winter tests and had completed 233 laps, which equates to 1086.945 kilometres.
Can’t seem much from any angle. New exhaust system was tested.
“These two days of testing were very important and the outcome is good,” said Felipe. “We introduced a lot of new components on the 150° Italia and their effect was clear to see: there’s more downforce and therefore the tires were working better, even if their level of degradation is still significant. Today, we did a race simulation and the car also worked well in this situation. I don’t know where we are compared to the others because we just concentrated on ourselves.”
Unofficial Thursday test times from Barcelona:
1. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:21.761, 95 laps
2. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:22.092, 132
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:22.466, 97
4. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:22.637, 105
5. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:22.892, 89
6. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1:23.541, 32
7. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1:23.990, 40
8. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:24.233, 24
9. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:24.334, 108
10. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:24.779, 107
11. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:27.336, 96
12. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:34.485, six
Montmelo, 11 March–Third day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro continued with Fernando Alonso at the wheel of the 150° Italia. Alonso ran the identical program as his team-mate, Felipe Massa, with the comparison of various aerodynamic elements and then on a race weekend simulation. The Spaniard started his work this morning with fine weather. Fernando tested the 150° Italia fitted with the latest technical updates. Before the lunch break, the Spaniard had completed 61 laps and stopped the clocks at 1.21.614. In the afternoon after a busy day, Fernando completed a total of 140 laps (656 kilometers). “Once again, the car has proved to be very reliable, which is always good news,” said Fernando at the end of the day. “The updates that the team prepared for this last test have improved the handling of the car and today we managed to do a good simulation of a Grand Prix weekend, with reasonable lap times.”
Alonso in the pits. There will be more stops for fresh tires this year.
Then, shocked by the reports of the tragedy which hit northern Japan, Alonso said “Confronted with a tragedy like the one that has struck Japan today, Formula 1 and all its problems to do with tires, wings and engines is way down the list of priorities and today, my thoughts go first and foremost to the victims and their families.”
Note: The Hispanic Racing Team (HRT) became the final team to reveal their 2011 car. The launch of the new F111 was done in the pit lane of Barcelona’s Circuit. The Spanish team’s drivers will be Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Unofficial Friday test times from Barcelona:
1. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:21.249, 67 laps
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:21.614, 141
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:21.788, 22
4. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1:22.073, 67
5. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:22.233, 89
6. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:22.315, 98
7. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:22.675, 72
8. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:22.933, 64
9. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1:23.437, 138
10. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:22.653, 42
11. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:23.921, 26
12. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:24.108, 11
13. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:25.837, 57
14. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:27.375, 46
Montmelo, 12 March – The final day of pre-season testing saw a heavy rain. The track conditions were very difficult and only Hamilton and his McLaren tried to set a time in the morning, before Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg clocked the session’s fastest lap as conditions improved very slightly late in the afternoon. All the others, including Fernando made do some out-in laps, broken up with some practice starts. The weather at the Catalunya Circuit was very bad from the early hours of the morning and so the team decided to bring proceedings to an end around two hours ahead of the checkered flag.
Alonso's best time was 1.21.614.
Unofficial Saturday test times from Barcelona:
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:43.814, 35 laps
2. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:44.333, 23
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:44.560, 33
4. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, no time, 5
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, no time, 5
FIA Formula One World Championship
Dates Races Country
27.03.2011 Grand Prix of Australia AUS
10.04.2011 Grand Prix of Malaysia MYS
17.04.2011 Grand Prix of China * CHN
08.05.2011 Grand Prix of Turkey TUR
22.05.2011 Grand Prix of Spain ESP
29.05.2011 Grand Prix of Monaco MCO
12.06.2011 Grand Prix of Canada CAN
26.06.2011 Grand Prix of Europe ESP
10.07.2011 Grand Prix of Great Britain GBR
24.07.2011 Grand Prix of Germany DEU
31.07.2011 Grand Prix of Hungary HUN
28.08.2011 Grand Prix of Belgium BEL
11.09.2011 Grand Prix of Italy ITA
25.09.2011 Grand Prix of Singapore SGP
09.10.2011 Grand Prix of Japan JPN
16.10.2011 Grand Prix of Korea KOR
30.10.2011 Grand Prix of India * IND
13.11.2011 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi ARE
27.11.2011 Grand Prix of Brazil BRA
** Subject to the homologation of the circuit.