Barcelona test, (1) Day 4

The last day of February's winter testing has arrived. Who would of thought the teams have already done 8 full days of running. The driver's will be well settled in their 2012 machinery, with the teams now evaluating data and mechanical parts. 

(c) Octane Photographic

It is the last day of testing until early March where the 2012 F1 circus will return to the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, for the final testing session. The majority of teams will test on the 1st to 4th of March, while Red Bull and Ferrari will test from the 2nd to 5th March.

The Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi finished the final days testing in February on a high. The C31 driver completed 145 laps on route to topping the time sheets, completing another faultless day for the Sauber team. The popular Japanese driver set his time sheet topping lap of 1m22.312 in the late morning, on the soft tyre. It is the fastest time set over the 4 days of testing at Barcelona. He said "I'm quite happy. We achieved a very good mileage today. The set up changes we did in the morning meant an improvement in lap times, which, of course, is very positive."

His time was under little threat in the afternoon, after teams moved on to the popular afternoon longer runs. This meant 2nd place driver Pastor Maldonado could not leap frog the Sauber. Maldonado completed 134 laps, continuing the Williams FW34's reliable streak, with his best lap of 1m22.561 being just over 2 tenths off the top time. 

(c) Octane Photographic

3rd finished Paul Di Resta who had a difficult day of testing. After finishing 8th yesterday, the Scot putting in his best lap of 1m23.119 in the early hours of the afternoon, one of the only drivers to move up the order after the lunch break. Di Resta was over 8 tenths off Kobayashi but lapped the circuit 101 times, despite bringing out a red flag for beaching his VJM05 in the gravel.


Just 8 hundredths behind Paul was fellow UK flag waver Jenson Button in the beautiful Mclaren MP4-27. The Frome born racer put in a best lap of 1m23.200 in the morning, completing 115 laps overall. Mclaren are finding their reliability is much more impressive compared to last year. Jenson also set his best time on the harder tyre compound, hinting at more to come. 

The first driver over a second off Kobayashi was Felipe Massa in 5th. Ferrari have seemed to struggle with the "different" F2012 but he edged up the order slightly. The Brazilian, who did not reach the podium at all in 2011, put in 103 laps. He focused on long runs, completing 3 longer runs of around 13 to 15 laps.

Behind the 2 main title challenging teams, the 2011 constructors title winners had a quiet end to the 2nd test. Mark Webber finished the day 6th overall with a best time of 1m23.774, some 1.4 seconds off a Sauber. Webber commented, saying there was a "lack of grip" compared to last year. The Australian seemed delayed after the lunch break, waiting a good while before emerging. He was therefore only able to complete 85 laps as Red Bull tried to bring him back to the top of the times.

Just behind the Red Bull RB8 was their junior squad, Toro Rosso. After being in the top 5 of the times on each day of testing so far, the feat inevitably ended. Jean-Eric Vergne's best time of 1m23.792 was just 0.018 seconds off the more experienced racer Mark Webber, with 95 more laps under the French mans belt. He said "I am much more confident in the car now than I was by the end of the Jerez test. We worked on many different aspects of the job and for example, today I had a much better understanding of the pit stops than I did after trying them yesterday for the first time."

(c) Octane Photographic

Behind the Toro Rosso STR7 was Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes W03, launched on Tuesday. Nico continued with the reliability assessment by completing an impressive 134 laps, but it was a relatively low key week for them. Rosberg, who's father is a former F1 world champion, had a best time of 1m23.843 which put him just over 1 and a half seconds off the pace. 

Behind Rosberg, and in last place, was Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterham. The CT-01 has been difficult to read, whether it will be a real midfield contender or will be a bit of a distance behind like in 2011. The Finnish driver circulated the circuit, in which he crashed heavily at during the 2008 race, 70 times with a best lap of 1m26.968. This was not where the former Team Lotus squad wanted to be, near 5 seconds off the pace. They ran into trouble after just 16 laps when an electrical problem led to the engine having to be changed. He said  "This is the sort of test you look back on and think we're pleased to have got behind us, but we have still learnt a lot here and have ironed out quite a few issues that could have been more serious later in the season."

The Marussia team would of, most likely, been 9th between Rosberg and Kovalainen, but they did not even complete a lap. Charles Pic lost a day of important running after the team found damage to the suspension. It meant he could not venture out on track, frustrating for a new driver and a team with over 300 laps under their belt in just 3 days. The team are yet to release their 2012 car, which will be unveiled at the last test.

So 4 different drivers have topped the timings at the 2nd test. It is still hard to read into, but Mclaren, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Force India look strong. The 3rd test, at the Circuit de Catalunya, will be from the 1st to 5th of March.

Barcelona test (1) day 4 times
Pos   Driver     Team            Time                  Laps
1. Kobayashi      Sauber     1m22.312s              145
2. Maldonado     Williams     1m22.561s +0.249    134
3. Di Resta      Force India   1m23.119s +0.807    101
4. Button      McLaren        1m23.200s +0.888    115
5. Massa        Ferrari          1m23.563s +1.251    103
6. Webber      Red Bull       1m23.774s +1.462    85
7. Vergne        Toro Rosso    1m23.792s +1.480    92
8. Rosberg       Mercedes     1m23.843s +1.531    139
9. Kovalainen       Caterham 1m26.968s +4.656    70