On the final day of testing at Catalunya many teams finally showed their ultimate pace by engaging in qualifying simulations during the morning session. One thing that it did show was just how tight it is at the top at this point with the fastest eight cars separated by under half a second. Just claiming the top spot with a time of 1’20.472 was Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, but breathing down his neck, with a time set in the afternoon was Mark Webber in the Red Bull just two hundredths of a second back.

Hamilton ended testing quickest - just

  Hamilton benefited from a batch of aero upgrades that arrived on Saturday and spent the morning putting in a series of quick “qualifying” laps before concentrating on a race simulation in the afternoon in which he posted consistently quick lap times. 

  Webber on the other hand only took over the Red Bull from Sebastian Vetel after the lunch break and squeezed in both qualifying runs and some long stints. Vettel’s problems from Friday resulted in an overnight rebuild which lasted well into Saturday morning so the team’s schedule was revised to allow Sebastian more time in the car on Sunday morning. Vettel managed a best of 1’20.667 which, despite being just two tenths off Hamilton’s time, was good enough only for fifth fastest of the day.

   Third quickest was Felipe Massa in the Ferrari who was pleased with the teams entire testing performances so far, but was talking down their supposed advantage. "I'm satisfied with the whole of testing, not just Barcelona, but at Valencia and Jerez too. We did what we wanted to do, but it looks like it will be a very tough and competitive championship. We never expected to have an advantage and to go to the first race and win in an easy way, definitely not. We expect to have a competitive car, and this I think we have done. The car is reliable, but also consistent, and that is what we want to start the season. We are not here to be the champions of the pre-season. We are here to work on the car, to try to have a good championship and fighting for the championship."

   An impressive fourth fastest was Adrian Sutil who slotted in between Massa and Vettel in his Force India with a “qualifying” lap of 1’20.611 set in the afternoon session. That he posted a time that was quicker than Vettel (Red Bull), Schumacher (Mercedes), Barrichello (Williams) and Kobayashi (Sauber) shows just how much progress the Force India team has made with their new car.

   The German was trying to paint the best picture possible of the Mercedes pace after only posting the days sixth fastest time in qualifying trim with a best of 1’20.745. "The four testing days here in Barcelona have helped us to make significant progress with the MGP W01 and I am feeling quite confident for the start of the season. It is always difficult to read too much into testing but knowing our programme, it is fair to say that the times did not always reflect the true picture. We have worked through many set-up and development evaluations this week and gained valuable information to study before Bahrain. We are heading the first race with a good feeling and we know that we will have our upgrades there. But most of all we know that our prospects for even the first races are looking very reasonable now."

   Rounding out those that ran in qualifying spec were Rubens Barrichello, sevenths quickest in the Williams with a best of 1’20.870 and Kamui Kobayashi who finished eighth fastest for Sauber and managed a 1’20.911. 

  In the battle of the new boys Lotus (Kovalainen) again out-performed the Virgin squad (di Grassi) who are still suffering from the hydraulic problems that have hampered their testing schedule. Kovalainen, concentrating on race distance runs, ran a little over two seconds a lap slower than Robert Kubica’s Renault which was on a similar programme. Di Grassi was another second back with his runs again being disrupted by those hydraulic gremlins. 

  Meanwhile over at Stefan GP, despite his denials that he has signed a contract, it is widely believed that Jacques Villeneuve will be attending the team’s Cologne factory on Monday for a seat fitting. The team is planning a launch on Wednesday after it takes delivery of it’s second car on Tuesday. As Bridgestone has refused to supply tyres to Stefan until they are an official entrant to the World Championship the team has decided that Avon tyres will be suitable for the launch and a shakedown run later in the week.

   Stefanovic has also revealed that possible merger negotiations with USF1 have broken down. "Yes, it is true we had some discussions stretching over many days, but these broke down completely on Thursday afternoon European time due to the inflexibility of certain players. I stress it was not Chad Hurley, who was open to discussions with us, but some of the other stakeholders who sabotaged the talks."

    For all the Barcelona testing times go to;

 http://www.mmmsport.com.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=150  

Sam Snape 

01-03-2010

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