Barcelona F1 Test round-up

Barcelona Test round-up

This weeks four day test took place at the Circuit de Cataluyna in Barcelona, here's my round-up of the test.

Day one - Vettel storms to the top

Sebastian Vettel stole the headlines on day one, showing blistering pace to end up over a second faster than second placed man Fernando Alonso. The world champion posted a time of 1.24.374 on a drying track, sending out a message to the rest of the field; he wants world championship number two. Alguersuari and Kobayashi were an unusual third and fourth, although it did seem their laps were set on low fuel runs. Schumacher completed a race simulation for Mercedes who had seemingly overcome their teething problems at Valencia and Jerez.

Day two - Vettel stays on top

Vettel was the pacesetter again for day two, but it wasn't as comfortable as it was on the first day for the young German. Jaime Alguersuari was a shock second place as Toro Rosso continued to show good pace,  Alonso was third and closely followed by veteran Rubens Barrichello.

Heidfeld and Kobayashi, who were fifth and sixth respectively were also very close; the pair separated by just one thousandth of a second. Ricardo Teixeira got a chance for Team Lotus but was a massive eight seconds off the pace. Unsurprisingly, it was HRT, Virgin and Team Lotus rounding up the field. Vettel completed a race simulation and was shockingly quick compared to Rosberg's.

Liuzzi tested for HRT as he bids to secure the second drivers seat and stay in Formula One.

Day Three - Rosberg steals the headlines

Nico Rosberg's late lap prevented Lewis Hamilton topping the time sheets on day three, although many in the paddock predicted the Mercedes was on light fuel and super soft tyres. Mark Webber took over for Red Bull and could only manage fifth fastest and Jarno Trulli was an impressive sixth.

The session started off damp but dried rapidly during the afternoon to allow Rosberg to post the quickest time of the three days. Giorgio Mondini tested for HRT and managed to get ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who tested for Toro Rosso. The session ended under red flag conditions; Webber stopped on track and couldn't be recovered in time for the session to restart

Day Four - Massa and Ferrari show their pace

Felipe Massa posted the quickest time of the entire test on the final day, his 1.22.625 lead Webber by a hefty eight tenths. Buemi was third for the on form Toro Rosso team with Heidfeld closely behind in fourth. Hamilton was fifth for a seemingly struggling McLaren, the news of the Bahrain cancellation a relief for them as they lag behind rivals Ferrari and Red Bull. Schumacher was a lowly tenth for Mercedes who are lacking pace, pinning their hopes on a major upgrade coming for the next test, which will also take place in Barcelona following the Bahrain cancellation.

Overall test times

Massa 1:22.625

Rosberg 1:23.168

Vettel 1:23.315

Webber 1:23.442

Petrov 1:23.463

Alguersuari 1:23.519

Buemi 1:23.550

Heidfeld 1:23.657

Hamilton 1:23.858

Alonso 1:23.978

Barrichello 1:24.008

Maldonado 1:24.057

Sutil 1:24.177

Kobayashi 1:24.243

Perez 1:24.515

Button 1:24.923

Di Resta 1:25.194

Trulli 1:25.454

Kovalainen 1:26.421

D’Ambrosio 1:26.501

Glock 1:26.598

Liuzzi 1:27.044

Schumacher 1:27.079

Mondini 1:28.178

Ricciardo 1:28.329

Karthikeyan 1:28.393

Teixeira 1:31.584

For updates on the final test in Barcelona (March 8th-11th) follow ACooperF1 on Twitter

 

Posted by Alex Cooper. Follow me on twitter @acooperf1

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