Driver movements for 2010, the ongoing merry-go-round

2010 sees the most changed grid in a long while and whereas the new teams and drivers receive a lot of press there are also a good few drivers who’ve changed teams over the winter. Some of them for the better and some for worse.

Jenson Button – Brawn to McLaren
Rubens Barrichello – Brawn to Williams
Nico Rosberg – Williams to Mercedes
Fernando Alonso – Renault to Ferrari
Timo Glock – Toyota to Virgin
Jarno Trulli – Toyota to Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen – McLaren to Lotus
Robert Kubica – BMW Sauber to Renault

Some of the moves were forced such as Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli and to some extent Robert Kubica because of the demise of the team though in Kubica’s case Sauber re-emerged later on. Glocks move sees him end up at Virgin and Trulli’s at Lotus – two of the new teams – only time will tell whether these moves make sense and a lot of [...]

McLaren lead the teams across all four days of the last test with Lewis Hamilton

When we look at the full four days of the testing in Barcelona the picture is much the same as the last day of the test. Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa take the top spots again showing the form of these teams.
In this list Mercedes GP look of the ultimate pace taking 6th spot behind Force India and Williams but as the first seven places are separated by less than half a second perhaps the story that it tells is that this season will be very close. In this list the new teams seem to have a lot of work to do, they are five seconds adrift.
The odd teams are Toro Rosso and Renault, they seem to be off the pace of the others even if they have managed to impressive on particular days, the Toro Rosso was also fast at Jerez so perhaps it’s just the [...]

Rosberg and Mercedes take the top spot on the third day in Barcelona

Nico Rosberg took the top place in the times with Mercedes today at the penultimate day of pre-season testing. With most of the teams running race simulations to see how the cars perform over that distance Toro Rosso and McLaren with Jenson Button jumped back to the top.
Rain again frustrated the teams as they didn’t get a fully dry track for most of the day but it didn’t stop them racking up the miles. Virgin were the only team not to complete many, their luck really doesn’t seem to be with them as mechanical problems still seem to be holding them back.
It is surprising to see Sauber down in 10th place, this must be the first time that they’ve been that low down in all the tests this year. But then Red Bull are also down there and we know that the car is fast. Perhaps it’s the conditions that [...]

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 [...]