Monday, February 8, 2010

Testing week 1 conclusions

I have to say at the end of the first pre-season testing session in Valencia the results were not what I would have expected. For the moment at least Ferrari's claims that their car may under perform have shown no signs of truth. The F10 was easily quickest of the lot on all three days. Its only the first test and the times mightn't necessarily reflect the true pace of the car for a number of reasons, fuel load being the main reason, but you have to say they're off to a good start. Mercedes seemed to get off to a disappointing start which is something that even they admit with Ross Brawn saying that they were off the pace. It mightn't be the magical return Schumacher was hoping for but he did prove one thing. He seems to have more pace than Rosberg in the Mercedes for the minute. Again, it was only the first week of testing but it was certainly a morale boost for the German. Sauber impressed me the most this week and although a lot of people are saying that they were running with a low fuel load in order to get to the top of the time sheets in order to encourage sponsors to invest in the team their long runs seemed quite impressive. If the current trend continues Sauber could be the dark horse in terms of race victories this year. Mclaren's testing was centralised around getting to know the car and getting all the problems ironed out. The new car looks stunning and is easily the most radical of the cars launched so far, I lot of people are predicting big things for the team that had a disappointing 2010. Renault and Williams got off to quiet starts. Renault's new pay driver Vitaly Petrov spent the last day getting used to his new car and was second last in the time sheets. Lets hope that he does not live up to the reputation of the traditional pay driver in which money overtakes talent! Williams also had a quiet start apart from the last day in which Hulkenberg had a collision with Pedro De La Rosa. Hopefully they can challenge for a better amount of points this year and with Cosworth engines back in the car hopefully that will help them. Finally one of the new teams launched their car this week albeit with a bit of difficulty! Their online streaming of the new car failed and so we only got to see pictures of the new car. I can't wait to see how this car fairs in Jerez, the second test track. It was tested at the stowe section of Silverstone at the end of the week but the true indication of where it lies will be seen then. Force India, Lotus and Red Bull are to launch this week. At Last!! It is a bit of a worry that Red Bull missed the first test session because it means less time to iron out the problems, even though it was the same last year. The problem is the weather forecast for Jerez is supposed to be rainy so it would hinder them even more. I was very surprised to hear during the week that Force India's participation this year was thrown into question apparently because of financial issues but thankfully it seems to be all sorted now. Who could forget Lotus. The team (albeit rum by a Malaysian consortium) will launch its first car since in withdrew from F1 in 1994. Its another car I'm excited to see in action and hopefully it can live up to the massive history this team has in F1. And so we come to the last two team who yet again show no signs of announcing any car related news. Campos and USF1's participation are still in doubt but the signs are showing that things may be improving. For Campos' sake I hope so, Adam Carroll is rumoured to be signing for them!! The Portadown man has been rumoured to have been recommended by Tony Teixeira. I'm sorry I'm Irish!! We crave some sort of representation in the sport even if Carroll is technically British!! He is seen as Irish in a lot of Irish people's eyes particularly after representing us in A1 GP. But if the rumours are true then Campos' participation may well be dead already if Stefan GP have their way. The Serbian team have bought the remains of the 2010 Toyota project and are looking to boot one of the new teams out to get an entry for themselves. I say bring back pre-qualifying!! That way everyone gets a chance at racing! Its another exciting week in prospect, I can't wait to see how it unfolds! Cya next week!!

2 comments:

  1. Stefan GP for the Championship '10!!! Rumers they are changing their name to Dick Dastardly GP.

    Shaping up to be a close 2010, Ferrari and McLaren have shown pace and Red Bull and Merc likely to follow in Jerez. Others will be "also rans". Aloso v Hamilton or will Schuie be in with a shout??

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  2. I can picture the last round of the championship now: The 3 of them have a chance of winning. Schumi will block the track in qualifying to screw Alonso out of it and then take Hamilton out in the race!! :P

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