Tag Archives: jerez

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]