Two more tests to go, what else is there to do?
The 2010 formula one pre-season testing regime is halfway now with the tests in Valencia and the the first Jerez test complete. The remaining testing includes another four day test at Jerez (17-20th February) and one at Barcelona (25-28th February). The teams will then have a couple of weeks to digest the results and ship out to Bahrain for the first race on the 14th of March.
Over the course of the testing so far we’ve seen Ferrari show blinding pace at Valencia to then be over shadowed by Mercedes, Sauber, Toro Rosso and McLaren in the rain hit test at Jerez. So what can we expect in the next few tests?
One thing will be the arrival of Lotus and whether they can beat the Virgin car, and whether they can make an impression on the other teams, something that Virgin haven’t done yet. Virgin will also be looking for a more constructive (and drier) test to really get some proper numbers and start learning to set the car up as they made fantastic progress over the last test to get within a few seconds of the fastest times, a long way off in F1 terms but within the 108% that would have been the qualifying cut off a few years ago.
I would expect some more from Ferrari too at the next outing in Jerez, they didn’t make any impression on the timesheets over this test – or perhaps their quotes after the Valencia test show that they were expecting this. In the same vein I’d expect the next test to finish with the big teams at the top, with both drivers fighting for the top spot in the teams. We won’t have to wait long though as the next test is only a few days away.
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