Testing day two – more red paint please
With Michael Schumacher absent from the test another former world champion in the form of Lewis Hamilton took to the track in his first laps of the McLaren, he fared better than Gary Paffett by getting the McLaren ahead of the Mercedes but didn’t impress on the Ferrari dominance of the test so far, or the Sauber’s second place.
Sauber seem to have amazing pace considering what has happened to them over the last few months, perhaps we are going to see another Brawn moment? And it was the inexperienced Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel today so it seems it’s not all down to a testers handiwork – I have to admit I’m already becoming a fan.
The Ferrari is continuing to impress with it’s form and it seems that there are rumours of more downforce from a b-spec diffuser that is being rushed through development at the factory, who knows what Ferrari are capable of. Massa leaves the test on a high with no one topping his times, he’ll be happy with that – what more will we see from him this season? I must admit to looking forward to the inter team battle almost as much as the Button-Hamilton-McLaren one. It will be interesting to see what times Alonso can produce tomorrow in his first laps as a Ferrari driver given the difficulties that Fisi faced last year.
The Renualt seems to have improved somewhat or perhaps Kubica is just settling in to life as a Renault man, I guess he’s probably quite relieved that he’s not proping up the timesheets again.
The times in full from (formula1.com) are;
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:11.722, 124 Laps
2. Kamui Kobayashi, BMW Sauber, 1:12.056, 96 Laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:12.256, 108 Laps
4. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:12.426, 119 Laps
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:12.899, 119 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:13.377, 102 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:13.823, 107 Laps
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