Tag Archives: barcelona

What does all the bad weather during the tests mean for the season

With three out of the four pre-season tests being affected by bad weather the teams will be well prepared for damp conditions but they won’t have done nearly as many miles in the dry as normal. How is a cold damp Spanish circuit going to compete with Bahrain?
I would imagine that the teams will have a very good understanding of how the new tyres perform in changeable conditions but they won’t have a very good understanding of the wear rates in hot conditions. Valencia – the only dry test is a street circuit and so will have different tyre wear rates to ‘real’ racing circuits and so it may effect the setup that the teams can run in the race.
The rates at which the engines burn fuel will also have been affected by the weather as the cars won’t have been able to push as hard around the circuits, this [...]

Nico Hulkenberg and Williams top the Friday times in Barcelona

Williams ended the second day of the last pre-season test at the top of the times with the young Nico Hulkenberg, though he says that it doesn’t mean anything as it’s only testing it means a lot more if you can’t do it which Mercedes haven’t really done yet.
Red Bull suffered some problems with their car in the afternoon, stopping it as a precaution, Renault also ran into some problems with something not right on the suspension. Virgin seemed to manage to get some laps done so perhaps they have dealt with the hydraulic issue that has caused them so much bother.
Alonso in the Ferrari finally jumped to the top end of the times taking second place in the listing, it was Alonso’s last action before the first race and he’ll have been pleased to get in some good times without any issues even if the Williams did beat him [...]

Mark Webber and Red Bull top the first day at Barcelona

Red Bull finally jumped to the top of the times in good conditions with Mark Webber in Barcelona. It will be a great boost to them to see the car at the top of the times and give them the confidence that this years car might be able to compete right at the sharp end. With Ferrari and McLaren down in 5th and 7th some two seconds off the pace though I’m not sure that much confidence can be there yet.
Sauber are still appearing in the top four runners as they have almost everywhere on everyday. It shows that they are consistent and they seem to have reliability. With their technical director Willi Rampf saying that they aren’t happy with the balance of the car and that there’s still a lot of work to do it seems that the other mid field teams are going to have another battle.
Yesterday also [...]

Testing moves to Barcelona and the Circuit de Catalunya

The final 2010 pre season test is to begin in Barcelona today with all the teams that were at last weeks Jerez test present. The test promises to be more relevant than the previous ones, if only because of the weather. The teams have also had a chance to learn the cars and work on the setup so we should see some more comparable times.
Along with better weather the teams will be hoping that they have ironed out any technical gremlins that could restrict their running, Virgin most of all will be hoping that the hydraulic issues that dogged them at the last test have been sorted and they can get some proper long runs on the board.
Ferrari will be looking to reassert themselves too after not really making an impression into the last two tests, it’s important that they show they are capable of the times – especially to [...]