German rookie Nico Hulkenberg planted his Williams Cosworth onto the top of the timesheets during testing at Catalunya today clocking a 1’20.614 lap. The former A1GP champion took eight tenths of a second off Mark Webber’s best time yesterday, assisted by improving track conditions. His time was set in a simulated qualifying run early in the afternoon that split a programme that included the evaluation of a new sidepod, practice starts and some additional work on the set-up of the FW32.

Hulkenberg put the Williams on top at Catalunya

   Hulkenberg said; “We've had a good test here. P1 today is nice but means nothing, to be honest. We're not in Bahrain yet! It's positive for the team, and for me, to know what the car can do though. We did a lot of set-up work today and have found some interesting things so I feel ready and confident to go to Bahrain now.” 

  Second fastest today was Fernando Alonso who finally did some low fuel runs and his time of 1’20.637 stood all morning until Hulkenberg pipped him. The Ferrari sported some new aero pieces including a “shark-fin” engine cover for the first time. Alonso is still quite confident that the Ferrari has the race pace to be a winner this year. "We set up the programme for these winter tests in January and we brought them to an end.In all it was seven days and I really do have a good impression. I'm calm for the first races, because I know that we've done some great work. I think there are still some unknown factors, because the tests were limited: we'll see what will happen in Bahrain. The key will be how the tyres will be used in the races." 

   Yet again Pedro de la Rosa was near the top in the Sauber posting a time just three tenths off Hulkenberg’s lap while completing 114 laps. "Today was a very good preparation for the season's start in Bahrain. The reliability of the car was perfect and I think the performance was also good, especially in the race simulation. It was a very good exercise and I feel we have now done everything possible to get ready for the first Grand Prix. It was also a big day for me because it has been a while since I last completed a race distance. I feel very well and also really confident now." 

  After completing shorter runs in the morning, where Vitantonio Liuzzi posted his fastest time of 1:21.056, the fourth quickest of the day, the Force India squad started a race simulation after the lunchtime break. Aside from a red flag period shortly after his second stop for tyres, the VJM03 performed reliably throughout the day. “We can be quite happy about today's programme. We completed everything without any issues and the car showed very good reliability, even when we did the race simulation. Again it is responding very well and we are improving day by day so everything is looking positive. We still don't know where we are relative to the others, and we will only see in Bahrain, but overall we can be really happy. We now have two more days of testing to try and get as much information as possible.” 

  Sebastian Vettel took over the Red Bull today but was unable to repeat Webbers time-topping efforts of yesterday. Although he beat Mark’s time by two tenths he was over half a second slower than the Williams. He also had the Red Bull stop on circuit but was not worried about their reliability. Sebastian Vettel said: "It was good today we didn't have any major problems. We had to stop in the afternoon for a minor issue, but it's quite normal in testing. When you're testing, you don't want to risk any damage so it's best to switch the car off and stop if you don't have to push when there's an alert in the background. We had a lot of rain in Jerez so we still have a lot to do over the last two days here, such as finding out more about the tyres and doing some set up work." 

   Down at the back of the field the Lotus and Virgin cars are edging ever closer to the pack with Jarno Trulli just over half a second behind Robert Kubica in the Renault. Lucas di Grassi was another four tenths back in the Virgin as both teams got some more mileage on their respective challengers. 

   In other news it now appears that Indian GP2 winner Karun Chandhok is close to securing a deal to race with Campos-Meta in 2010 despite negotiations continuing with USF1 refugee Jose Maria Lopez. "We are close to finalising a deal with him," said Colin Kolles."However we will be in a better position to comment on this over the next few days." The fact that both Chandhok and Lopez would bring significant sponsorship dollars may put Bruno Senna’s position in jeopardy. 

    The unfortunate USF1 saga continues with multiple sources reporting that the FIA is poised to give USF1's entry to the Stefan GP squad. Zoran Stefanovic reportedly has the help of his government and also Bernie Ecclestone, but another rumour is that USF1 will be urged to merge with Stefan GP. Jacques Villeneuve has denied that he is days from signing to become Kazuki Nakajima's teammate. He has not denied that he is in negotiations however he would like to know that he would be racing before he signs any contract. "It does not have an entry, but everything seems serious about the team. The important thing is for them to get the green light from the FIA for the first race of the season," Villeneuve said. 

  TODAYS TESTING TIMES 

1.  Nico Hulkenberg  -  Williams-Cosworth  99 laps  1:20.614     

2.  Fernando Alonso  -  Ferrari  134  laps 1:20.637 

3.  Pedro de la Rosa  -  Sauber-Ferrari  114 laps  1:20.973 

4.  Vitantonio Liuzzi  -  Force India-Mercedes  90 laps  1:21.056 

5.  Sebastian Vettel  -  Red Bull-Renault  125 laps    1:21.258 

6.  Jaime Alguersuari  -  Toro Rosso-Ferrari  104 laps  1:21.571 

7.  Michael Schumacher  -  Mercedes  85 laps    1:21.689 

8.  Lewis Hamilton  -  McLaren-Mercedes  93 laps  1:22.152 

9.  Robert Kubica  -  Renault  53 laps    1:24.912 

10.  Jarno Trulli  -  Lotus-Cosworth  70 laps  1:25.524 

11.  Timo Glock  -  Virgin-Cosworth  52 laps  1:25.942    

Sam Snape 

27-02-2010   

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