F1 2010: Testing sessions thread

After the launch of Virgin VR01 2 days back,car completed its maiden run today at Silverstone track.

Timo Glock was the first to drive the new VR01: The1st among the new teams to launch their car.

The car has been designed without any wind tunnel testing and this test will give the team a chance to see whether the car is behaving the same way as tested ib computer simulations.

The team will continue testing tomorrow at Stowe circuit where Lucas Di Grassi will drive the car for the first time.

Never understood the point of running at stowe - never get higher than 4th/5th gear

Anyway - good to see the new boys running.

Looks like the weather might not play ball for the next test;

...early weather forecasts for Jerez suggest that rain could blight some, if not all of the four day test - which could severely limit useful track time

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81289

Could be a right pain for Red Bull, Force India & Virgin.

Very rational post Henners, as you say the top three (probably 4 once RBR hits the track are all much for muchness when fuel loads, and in McLarens case especially, lack of real 2010 parts is taken into account. Behind them we seem to have a tight fight between Renault, saube and Williams for best of the rest - gonna be a GREAT season!

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Originally Posted by henners88

Its interesting because alot of people are drawing the conclusion that Mclaren and Ferrari are alot closer than the lap times suggest. Lewis recorded a 1m12.256 on a run of 24 laps. He recorded this time 3 or 4 laps into this stint and was only 0.5 secs off Massa's fastest lap of the test. Massa was on a 12 lap stint which suggests he was alot lighter than the Mclaren. Its still far too early to tell and we haven't seen the Red Bulls as yet, but when the times are compared with how many laps were completed, then the Ferrari does not seem too far ahead in terms of raw pace. Alonso did a couple of short runs beating Massa's time and then reverted to long stints where the times were comparable to the Mclarens and the Mercedes teams.

I think theres alot of sandbagging going on between the teams and Mclaren and Mercedes in particular have been careful not to show their true hand IMO. The true glimpse of what to expect will be in Jerez when the likes of Red Bull are on track after much anticipation. :)

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Indeed Henners me ole mucker....

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Originally Posted by James Allen

Ferrari were on top throughout the three days in Valencia, largely due to running lower fuel loads the their main opposition, McLaren and Mercedes.

Close analysis of the lap times shows that Alonso was slightly faster than Massa at this first test, based on estimated, fuel corrected times. Alonso ran mainly 2009 levels of fuel, whereas Massa also spent a little time running the heavier 2010 fuel loads. Massa had two days to Alonso’s one. Both drivers reported a positive feeling with the car and it seems responsive to changes. It also seems to look after its tyres quite well.

Although Ferrari had faster lap times, McLaren ran more fuel all week and the feeling is that the McLaren may be a shade faster at this point.

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The important thing for Ferrari is...

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Originally Posted by James Allen

All our wind tunnel and simulation numbers matched up with the ones from the track. We are fast, even if it’s too early to say how fast compared to the others

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I heard that rainstorms can ruin the tests at Jerez.

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Originally Posted by F1boat

I heard that rainstorms can ruin the tests at Jerez.

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If there is a large volume of rain then it shall be a big blow for teams who had decided to opt out of the first test Valencia which was held recently.

According to a report published in Telegraph,Companies House has threaten to dissolve Vijay Mallya's Force India team.

http://www.f1indiablog.in/2010/02/fo...companies.html

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Originally Posted by f1indiablog

If there is a large volume of rain then it shall be a big blow for teams who had decided to opt out of the first test Valencia which was held recently.

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It may spice things, however so, let the rain hit teh track :)

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Originally Posted by F1boat

It may spice things, however so, let the rain hit teh track :)

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It will be pointless, you learn nothing about the car in the wet.