Tag Archives: jaime alguersuari

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 [...]

Four day view of the second test in Jerez, Jenson Button ends up top with McLaren

With the weather in Spain still damp for most of the test and the teams request for a warmer location turned down everyone knuckled down to see what they could get done. Their efforts were rewarded near the end of the test with some dry running, with the dry days being right at the end of the test we can’t really compare the drivers as some of them never really got a dry track to drive on.
Team wise though we see that Jenson Button and McLaren take the top spot but that surprisingly Renault have come from nowhere to post the second fastest time of the whole test, I don’t know how consistent these times are but that’s fast for the Jerez tests, that must give some encouragement to them. Sauber still show in the top three confirming that they might be a good bet for some points this year.
Red [...]

The fourth and final day in Jerez and Button and McLaren top the times

The final day in Jerez and Jenson Button put down his claim with the fastest lap of both the Jerez tests, underlining that this year is not going to be easy for Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and that he intends to defend his title.
Sauber again take one of the top spots re-enforcing the pace that they have shown so far through the tests, we should expect some good grand prix from them this season. Renault will also be pleased to have rounded off the test with a good time.
Red Bull and Williams will be disapointed to be that far down the times given their performance on previous days but then perhaps they weren’t going for it today.
Virgin will feel that they got another one over on Lotus today though they have still to put significant mileage on their car whereas Lotus racked up the most laps of anyone today [...]

Jerez day three, sunshine brings Red Bull and Mark Webber to the top

Day three of the second Jerez test was finally dry enough for decent running and all the teams racked up the laps with over 4000 km between the teams during the day. Red Bull took the top stop from Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari and Jenson Button in the McLaren.
With the improved weather and reliability of the cars (except Sauber today) the teams have cover many race distances – even the new guys. Virgin will be pleased to have beaten Lotus today in the dry and Williams will be pleased to stay in the top half on a dry day whereas Renault and Force India will probably be disappointed. At the sharp end it’s starting to look like it could be a Ferrari – McLaren – Red Bull – Mercedes battle for the title this year.
Times in full:
1. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:19.299, 115 Laps
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:20.115, 132 [...]