The last test of the 2012 winter is one for improving and testing. Some team's have came here with their Australia set ups, upgrades and mechanical innovations while others are leaving them till practice in Melbourne, just 15 days away.
The Circuit de Catalunya is renown for its testing facilities and the teams return here for the second time this year, apart from Marussia and HRT who are absent from this test.
The 2nd test saw a range of people top the times, with no front leading pace setters being revealed, i reviewed all 4 day's of testing.
1st was Romain Grosjean. The Lotus driver put the teams 2nd test troubles, they had to quit after a faulty chassis, behind and completed a good deal of running. His time of 1m23.252 was just under3 tenths ahead of Button's pace but it was a decent effort seeing as the French driver spent the first part of the day in the garage as the team changed sensor equipment. He still completed 73 laps, considerably lower than what would be expected due to the teams focusing on shorter runs. Grosjean left it late to set a time, one of the last to do so on a short run with just 25 minutes remaining.
Jenson Button headed the test for much of the day but dropped to second by the afternoon with a fastest time of 1m23.510 which was set in the mid morning. The Brit put the Mclaren team closer to the top, a big feat for a team who had a dismal test 12 months earlier. More impressive was the fact he set the time on hard tyres. The Mclaren team held him in the pit lane to do practice pit stops for the first hour or 2, before he eventually set 64 laps. This is considerably shorter than the 2nd test because of the teams trying out new parts and low fuel runs.
Just behind Button, 5 tenths behind Grosjean, was Sergio Perez in the C31. The Swiss team collected 118 valuable laps worth of data as Perez lapped the circuit. He did, however, stop on track just before lunch at the 7th corner but it was due to a fuel economy test. Perez
4th was Mark Webber in the RB8. He had been lower down the order during the morning but managed to shave a few tenths off his best time in the afternoon to move up to 4th, with a 1m23.830. He circulated the track 102 times giving the Milton Keynes based team alot of data to look through.
Yet again leading the mileage steaks were Mercedes with German driver Nico Rosberg at the wheel. The German said earlier on he believes he can win in 2012 and that he deserves to, and has the pace to. His times did not light up the timing screens with his best effort of 1m23.992 being 8 tenths behind Grosjean's, but he did complete 128 laps. He completed these over longer stints.
6th place at the end of the day finished Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso STR7. The last few test days have been rather quiet for the Italian team, with Vergne completing 113 laps to add to his F1 experience. His best time of 1m24.216 was the first outside the 1m23 barrier and close to a second off the pace.
7th finished Paul Di Resta in the Force India who completed 98 laps and a best time of 1m24.305. He was the first one outside the 1 second mark of Frenchman Romain Grosjean and said "I think (our feeling) is relatively positive," he said. "We cleared all of our objectives today. It's the first day of four, at the last test, so I suppose there is a lot of correlation on this day." Behind him was Felipe Massa in the Ferrari. They had hoped some radical upgrades would bring them back up the time sheets but a best time of 1m24.318. This was just 0.013 behind Di Resta. The Brazilian completed 105 laps despite a long wait in the pits after lunch.
9th finished Vitaly Petrov, who subbed in for Heikki Kovalainen after he felt ill this morning. The Russian spent the day running consistently around the track. He had a busy day with 123 laps completed and after a difficult first test last time out, he was just 1.6 seconds off the top time.
Maldonado finished last after the day's running, with a best time of 1m25.587 over 2 seconds off the initial pace setting times. He completed the least laps, a major set back, of 58 as they tried high fuelled runs.
Marussia failed their last FIA crash test so were unable to unveil their 2012 challenger, while it is still unclear whether HRT will make it to any of the 3 remaining days of running. It is rumoured they could be here in Sunday for 1 sole day of testing.
It is also worth noting that the majority of the Sky Sports F1 team were in Barcelona to cast an eye over the 2012 machinery and try and read into the times. Here is my review of when i met the team at the channels official press day. The channel is also live on Sky not at channel 408.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
The 2nd test saw a range of people top the times, with no front leading pace setters being revealed, i reviewed all 4 day's of testing.
1st was Romain Grosjean. The Lotus driver put the teams 2nd test troubles, they had to quit after a faulty chassis, behind and completed a good deal of running. His time of 1m23.252 was just under3 tenths ahead of Button's pace but it was a decent effort seeing as the French driver spent the first part of the day in the garage as the team changed sensor equipment. He still completed 73 laps, considerably lower than what would be expected due to the teams focusing on shorter runs. Grosjean left it late to set a time, one of the last to do so on a short run with just 25 minutes remaining.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Just behind Button, 5 tenths behind Grosjean, was Sergio Perez in the C31. The Swiss team collected 118 valuable laps worth of data as Perez lapped the circuit. He did, however, stop on track just before lunch at the 7th corner but it was due to a fuel economy test. Perez
4th was Mark Webber in the RB8. He had been lower down the order during the morning but managed to shave a few tenths off his best time in the afternoon to move up to 4th, with a 1m23.830. He circulated the track 102 times giving the Milton Keynes based team alot of data to look through.
Yet again leading the mileage steaks were Mercedes with German driver Nico Rosberg at the wheel. The German said earlier on he believes he can win in 2012 and that he deserves to, and has the pace to. His times did not light up the timing screens with his best effort of 1m23.992 being 8 tenths behind Grosjean's, but he did complete 128 laps. He completed these over longer stints.
6th place at the end of the day finished Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso STR7. The last few test days have been rather quiet for the Italian team, with Vergne completing 113 laps to add to his F1 experience. His best time of 1m24.216 was the first outside the 1m23 barrier and close to a second off the pace.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
9th finished Vitaly Petrov, who subbed in for Heikki Kovalainen after he felt ill this morning. The Russian spent the day running consistently around the track. He had a busy day with 123 laps completed and after a difficult first test last time out, he was just 1.6 seconds off the top time.
Maldonado finished last after the day's running, with a best time of 1m25.587 over 2 seconds off the initial pace setting times. He completed the least laps, a major set back, of 58 as they tried high fuelled runs.
Marussia failed their last FIA crash test so were unable to unveil their 2012 challenger, while it is still unclear whether HRT will make it to any of the 3 remaining days of running. It is rumoured they could be here in Sunday for 1 sole day of testing.
Today's times
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Grosjean Lotus 1m23.252s 73
2. Button McLaren 1m23.510s +0.258 64
3. Perez Sauber 1m23.820s +0.568 118
4. Webber Red Bull 1m23.830s +0.578 102
5. Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.992s +0.740 128
6. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m24.216s +0.964 113
7. Di Resta Force India 1m24.305s +1.053 98
8. Massa Ferrari 1m24.318s +1.066 105
9. Petrov Caterham 1m24.876s +1.624 123
10. Maldonado Williams 1m25.587s +2.335 58
It is also worth noting that the majority of the Sky Sports F1 team were in Barcelona to cast an eye over the 2012 machinery and try and read into the times. Here is my review of when i met the team at the channels official press day. The channel is also live on Sky not at channel 408.
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