2013 F1 Grand Prix Season

[TBWG]

   
Jerez F1 testing: Raikkonen puts Lotus on top on final day
By Glenn Freeman   Friday, February 8th 2013,

Kimi Raikkonen topped the final day of Formula 1's first pre-season test of 2013 at Jerez.

The Finn set the best time of the day on a short run with the soft tyre during the afternoon running, which was extended by 30 minutes to make up for a delay caused by track repairs around lunchtime.

Raikkonen had attacked the run from the moment he left the pits, choosing to force a way past the Caterham of Charles Pic on his out lap rather than back off to get clear track.

After the short, but clearly committed run, the 2007 world champion switched back to longer runs.

Raikkonen's lap was just enough to prevent Force India hopeful Jules Bianchi from leading the way as he bids to earn a promotion to a race seat with the Silverstone-based team.

Bianchi's lap, which came just after the track re-opened following the long stoppage in the middle of the day, also came on soft tyres.

The Ferrari junior had no chance to respond to Raikkonen's lap, as he handed the Force India back to lead driver Paul di Resta for the final two hours.

World champion Sebastian Vettel was third fastest for Red Bull on a day where he focused on long runs with the medium and hard tyres.

Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez managed to go fourth with a short run, but he spent most of his afternoon getting used to how the Pirelli tyres behave on longer stints.

A series of short runs on the soft tyre helped Jean-Eric Vergne move up to fifth late in the day, moving him ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The Briton had a much better second day with his new team, making up for his lack of running on Wednesday due to a crash by logging the most laps of anyone.

New Ferrari development driver Pedro de la Rosa got back out in the afternoon after a gearbox problem stopped the F138 in the morning. The Spaniard completed 50 laps.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver                 Team            Time                Laps
 1.  Kimi Raikkonen         Lotus           1m18.148s           83
 2.  Jules Bianchi          Force India     1m18.175s  + 0.027  56
 3.  Sebastian Vettel       Red Bull        1m18.565s  + 0.417  96
 4.  Esteban Gutierrez      Sauber          1m18.669s  + 0.521  142
 5.  Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso      1m18.760s  + 0.612  92
 6.  Lewis Hamilton         Mercedes        1m18.905s  + 0.757  145
 7.  Sergio Perez           McLaren         1m18.944s  + 0.796  98
 8.  Valtteri Bottas        Williams        1m19.851s  + 1.703  92
 9.  Pedro de la Rosa       Ferrari         1m20.316s  + 2.168  51
10.  Charles Pic            Caterham        1m21.105s  + 2.957  109
11.  Luiz Razia             Marussia        1m21.226s  + 3.078  82
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India     1m23.435s  + 5.287  49


TBWG

[TBWG]

Number crunching gives early F1 form guide - Gary Anderson


By Gary Anderson
BBC F1 technical analyst

On the face of it, the fastest lap times from the first pre-season Formula 1 test last week are meaningless - the cars are not in the order you would expect and some teams who you know will not be winning races were right up at the top.
But I have been analysing the sheets of all the lap times done by the drivers and I think I have a way of producing a list that reflects pretty well the true competitive order of the new cars.
That order has some big surprises in it - the quickest cars appear to be those of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, with Lotus not far behind. And Red Bull - the world champions for the last three years - look relatively slow. Let me explain how we get there.
Let's start with the list of fastest times overall from the four days of the test, which looked like this:
1. F Massa (Ferrari) 1:17.879, 2. K Raikkonen (Lotus) 1:18.148, 3. J Bianchi (Force India) 1:18.175, 4. R Grosjean (Lotus) 1:18.218, 5. S Vettel (Red Bull) 1:18.565, 6. E Gutierrez (Sauber) 1:18.669, 7. J-E Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1:18.760, 8. N Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:18.766, 9. J Button (McLaren) 1:18.861, 10. L Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:18.905, 11. S Perez (McLaren) 1:18.944, 12. P di Resta (Force India) 1:19.003, 13. D Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1:19.134, 14. J Rossiter (Force India) 1:19.303, 15. M Webber (Red Bull) 1:19.338, 16. N Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1:19.502, 17. V Bottas (Williams) 1:19.851, 18. P de la Rosa (Ferrari) 1:20.316, 19. P Maldonado (Williams) 1:20.693, 20. C Pic (Caterham) 1:21.105, 21. L Razia (Marussia) 1:21.226, 22. M Chilton (Marussia) 1:21.269 23. G van der Garde (Caterham) 1:21.311
The problem with that list is that you do not know how much fuel the cars had on board, and fuel weight makes a big difference to lap times. So on its own, the list is worthless.
Play media

Gary Anderson sums up first F1 test
So, the next step is to look at how many laps the driver did on the run on which he set his fastest time. You know he must have at least that amount of fuel on board.
Taking Massa as an example, his fastest time was set on a six-lap run, so he must have had at least six laps' worth of fuel on board.
Each lap of fuel burnt is equivalent to a gain in performance of 0.086 seconds. Apply that calculation to Massa's time, and you get a potential lap time of 1:17.536.
Do that for all the drivers, and the list looks like this:

1. Massa 1:17.536, 2. Rosberg 1:17.566, 3. Grosjean 1:17.961, 4. Raikkonen 1:17.977, 5. Bianchi 1:18.004, 6. Vergne 1:18.160, 7. Vettel 1:18.308, 8. Perez 1:18.430, 9. Hamilton 1:18.476, 10. Gutierrez 1:18.498, 11. Button 1:18.690, 12. Di Resta 1:18.832, 13. Ricciardo 1:18.877, 14. Rossiter 1:19.132, 15. Webber 1:19.167, 16. Hulkenberg 1:19.331, 17. Bottas 1:19.508, 18. De La Rosa 1:19.887, 19. Maldonado 1:20.350, 20. Van Der Garde 1:20.882, 21. Pic 1:20.934, 22. Chilton 1:21.012, 23. Razia 1:21.226
A few obvious things stand out immediately. First, the Ferrari is still at the top. Second, the Mercedes looks much more competitive - that is because Rosberg's time was set at the start of a 14-lap run. Third, the Red Bulls have slipped down the table.
But this still is not the definitive list, because some of the teams try to disguise their true form in testing.
So they will do a 'low-fuel' run - the one that sets their fastest overall time - with more fuel on board than they needed to make the car look slower than it is, for example.

The ones that do it most tend to be the biggest teams. The smaller teams tend not to mess about. They want to know where they are. The big teams pretty much know they will be at the front, but they do not want their rivals to know exactly how quick they are.
But there is a way around this.

Nearly all the teams do longer runs on race-distance levels of fuel. By applying the time lost as a result of the extra fuel in the car, you can extrapolate back from the lap times they do at the start of these long runs to give another list of fastest laps.
Play media

Gary Anderson's verdict on 2013 F1 cars after Jerez test

In theory, this list should match closely to the second list, the 'potential' lap times. If it does not you know either that the car was not full of fuel when it started its 'race' run or the car had more fuel than it needed when it did its headline lap time in the first list.
Most of the times do match reasonably closely - the 'potential' and 'high-fuel adjusted' times of both Red Bulls, for example, were within 0.3secs, and the same went for Raikkonen's Lotus.
The Saubers' times were almost identical, as were those of Williams and Force India. See what I meant about the smaller teams?
Unfortunately, Massa and Rosberg did not do representative high-fuel runs, but that's not necessarily a problem - I think their fastest times were on pretty low fuel, so are probably pretty representative.
The key point is that anyone who has a quicker 'high-fuel adjusted' time than 'potential' time was almost certainly running more fuel than they needed when they did their 'headline' time.
The prime offenders here are the McLarens - but that is not a surprise, as it is well-known they rarely run low fuel in testing.
So, the Gary Anderson list of fully adjusted lap times from Jerez looks like this:

1. Perez 1:17.315, 2. Massa* 1:17.536, 3. Rosberg* 1:17.566, 4. Button 1:17.857, 5. Grosjean 1:17.961, 6. Raikkonen 1:17.977, 7. Bianchi 1:18.004, 8. Vettel 1:18.045, 9. Vergne* 1:18.160, 10. Gutierrez 1:18.465, 11. Hamilton 1:18.476, 12. Di Resta 1:18.562, 13. Ricciardo 1:18.877, 14. Webber 1:18.953, 15. Rossiter 18.966, 16. Hulkenberg 1:19.331, 17. Bottas 1:19.508, 18. De La Rosa* 1:19.887, 19. Maldonado 1:20.350, 20. Van Der Garde* 1:20.882, 21. Pic* 1:20.934, 22. Chilton 1:21.012, 23. Razia 1:21.226
* = no lap time that constitutes a high fuel load

The interesting thing here is that, in lots of aspects, the list is what most in F1 initially suspected by the end of last week.
Button's time here is calculated from the basis of his fastest lap on day one, which Massa described as "incredible" because it was done on hard tyres, on a dirty track and on the first day of the car's life. So everyone thought the McLaren looked quick.
Likewise, the Ferrari was also obviously fast and the Lotus looked there or thereabouts - very consistent but not perhaps quite on the outright pace of the McLaren or Ferrari.

The big surprise is Red Bull, who appear to have some work to do. And the Mercedes - which is a fair bit faster than people expected, at least in Rosberg's hands.
Hamilton, meanwhile, is a long way down the list.
His times are anomalous. Unlike Rosberg, he did do a race run, and it was very slow. But perhaps that's not a surprise, as it was race pace that Mercedes struggled with in 2012.
And Hamilton's fastest single lap seemed disproportionately slow. But then it was his first proper day's running with a new team in a car with which he was not familiar, and we do not know how much fuel he had on board.
Of course, this is just one test and there is a lot of development to be done before the first race. So it would be wrong to think this will definitively predict the competitive picture in Melbourne on 16 March, let alone the destiny of the world championship.

But it certainly sets things up in an intriguing way.



TBWG

[TBWG]

F1 testing: Nico Rosberg on top on first day at Barcelona
By Sam Tremayne   Tuesday, February 19th 2013, 16:05 GMT


Nico Rosberg narrowly edged out Kimi Raikkonen to put Mercedes on top on the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

Both men found improvements after bolting on Pirelli's medium-compound rubber in the final 20 minutes of the day.

Rosberg, whose morning had been disrupted by lengthy gearbox checks, was the first to make his move. New overall bests in the final two sectors produced a lap of 1m22.616s and vaulted him to the top of the timesheets.

Minutes later Raikkonen staged his own late rally, but despite bettering Rosberg's sector two time he fell seven thousandths of a second short of putting Lotus on top.

Fernando Alonso, again on mediums, was another late improver.

On his first day in the Ferrari F138 last year's championship runner-up worked his way down to a 1m22.952s to end the day in third.

The flurry of late improvements knocked morning pacesetter and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel down to fourth.

The German had gradually improved his lunchtime best and was the first man to dip into the 1m22s bracket, only to be bumped down the order in theclosing stages.

Having launched its FW35 in the morning, Williams ended the day in fifth position courtesy of Pastor Maldonado, a racewinner at Barcelona last year.

The Venezuelan spent time at the top of the timesheets in the morning and racked up 85 laps in total, behind only Alonso in 110.

Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso STR8 shaded McLaren's Sergio Perez in the fight for sixth, while Paul di Resta - the day's third busiest man - was just two hundredths of a second down the road for Force India.

After bringing about the day's first red flag with an early out-of-fuel run, Esteban Gutierrez was ninth fastest and just over 2.5s off the overall pace for Sauber.

Charles Pic was the only other man to cause a stoppage, pulling to the inside of Renault due to a mechanical issue with his Caterham.

He dropped to 11th in the afternoon as Marussia's Max Chilton found improvements with the soft tyre.

Tuesday times:
Pos  Driver             Team         Time                 Laps  Tyre*
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes     1m22.616s            54    Medium
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus        1m22.672s  + 0.007s  44    Medium
 3.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari      1m22.952s  + 0.336s  110   Medium
 4.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull     1m22.965s  + 0.349s  66    Medium
 5.  Pastor Maldonado   Williams     1m23.733s  + 1.117s  86    Soft
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo   Toro Rosso   1m23.884s  + 1.268s  73    Hard
 7.  Sergio Perez       McLaren      1m24.124s  + 1.508s  77    Medium
 8.  Paul di Resta      Force India  1m24.144s  + 1.528s  82    Medium
 9.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber       1m25.124s  + 2.508s  68    Hard
10.  Max Chilton        Marussia     1m26.747s  + 4.131s  65    Soft
11.  Charles Pic        Caterham     1m27.534s  + 4.918s  49    Hard

* Compound on which fastest lap was set


TBWG

[TBWG]

   
Barcelona F1 test: Perez puts McLaren on top on day two
By Matt Beer   Wednesday, February 20th 2013, 15:56 GMT

Sergio Perez put McLaren on top on day two of Barcelona Formula 1 testing.

The Wednesday afternoon session featured few changes from the opening part of the day, but the most significant came early on.

Perez's lap of 1m21.848s was achieved on a one-lap sprint on soft tyres, and deposed morning pacesetter Sebastian Vettel by 0.349 seconds.

Red Bull attempted a race simulation in the afternoon, albeit one punctuated by lengthy sessions in the garage.

Vettel then came to a halt just past on the pit exit when he rejoined after his third pitstop of the run because of a loose wheel.

But the Red Bull was swiftly revived in the garage and able to rejoin for the final minutes of the session.

Vettel's issue caused one of only two red flags all day, the second coming when Max Chilton parked his Marussia on track in the closing minutes.

After losing the entire morning while his Lotus underwent a gearbox change, Kimi Raikkonen managed 43 laps in the afternoon.

He jumped to third quickest with his first outing and remained there, half a second behind Perez.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso completed the top five, followed by Valtteri Bottas on his debut in the new Williams FW35.

Hamilton completed the most laps of the day with 121.

Today's times

Pos  Driver             Team          Time       Gap     Laps  Tyre
 1.  Sergio Perez       McLaren       1m21.848s           97   Soft
 2.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull      1m22.197s  +0.349   84   Soft
 3.  Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus         1m22.697s  +0.849   43   Medium
 4.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1m22.726s  +0.878   121  Hard
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari       1m23.247s  +1.399   76   Medium
 6.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1m23.561s  +1.713   98   Soft
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo   Toro Rosso    1m23.718s  +1.870   70   Medium
 8.  Paul di Resta      Force India   1m23.971s  +2.123   62   Medium
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg    Sauber        1m24.205s  +2.357   88   Medium
10.  Max Chilton        Marussia      1m25.115s  +3.267   67   Soft
11.  Charles Pic        Caterham      1m26.243s  +4.395   102  Medium

 TBWG  

[TBWG]

Alonso quickest in Barcelona
February 21, 2013 by Joe Saward
Fernando Alonso set the fastest time on the third day of the test in Barcelona, with a best of 1m21.875s, slightly slower than the fastest lap on Wednesday of 1m21.848s, set by Sergio Perez in his McLaren. Alonso completed 97 laps in his Ferrari and was three-tenths clear of the Sauber of Nico Hülkenberg, who did 91 laps and clocked a 1m22.160s. Romain Grsojean was third fastest in the Lotus after 119 laps, with a best of 1m22.188s, just a fraction slower than Hülkenberg. Fourth fastest was Nico Rosberg who clocked 108 laps in his Mercedes, with a best of 1m22.611s, which was just faster than Pastor Maldonado, who lapped the new Williams in 1m22.675s after 79 laps. The team also ran Valtteri Bottas in the morning and he set a 1m22.826s after 68 laps.

Jenson Button was seventh overall in the McLaren, with a lap of 1m22.840s after 71 laps, while Adrian Sutil made his F1 comeback with Force India and did a 1m22.877s after 78 laps. Mark Webber was next with a 1m23.024s in his Red Bull, which completed 108 laps during the day. Jean-Eric Vergne was a busy boy as well and completed 106 laps with a best of 1m23.366s in his Toro Rosso, while Max Chilton completed 58 laps in the Marussia to set a best of 1m25.690s and Giedo Van Der Garde was behind him in the Caterham, with a best lap of 1m26.177s after 93 laps.



TODAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver               Team           Time      Gap      Laps  Tyre
 1.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari        1m21.875s           97   Soft
 2.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber         1m22.160s  +0.285   91   Soft
 3.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus          1m22.188s  +0.313   119  Medium
 4.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes       1m22.611s  +0.736   108  Soft
 5.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams       1m22.675s  +0.800   79   Soft
 6.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams       1m22.826s  +0.951   68   Hard
 7.  Jenson Button        McLaren        1m22.840s  +0.965   71   Soft
 8.  Adrian Sutil         Force India    1m22.877s  +1.002   78   Soft
 9.  Mark Webber          Red Bull       1m23.024s  +1.149   108  Medium
10.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso     1m23.366s  +1.491   106  Soft
11.  Max Chilton          Marussia       1m25.690s  +3.815   58   Soft
12.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham       1m26.177s  +4.302   93   Soft

TBWG

[TBWG]

   
Barcelona F1 test: Mark Webber tops first day for Red Bull
By Jamie O'Leary   

Mark Webber put Red Bull on top of the timesheets on the opening day of Formula 1's final pre-season test at Barcelona on Thursday.

The Australian's 1m22.693s lap time was set on soft-compound Pirelli tyres with just seven minutes of running remaining and put him 1.655s clear of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.

After the late-morning rain left drivers with a wet track to tackle, rain tyres were the weapons of choice during the early afternoon running, with Webber recording a series of 1m44s laps.

Track conditions soon improved enough for intermediates, with Paul di Resta the first man to try the green-stickered Pirellis in his Force India.

Webber having lowered the pace to the 1m38s bracket, it was Felipe Massa who was the first to gamble on a switch to slicks, the Ferrari driver using medium-compound rubber to gradually bring the times down into the 1m30s.

By that stage conditions were dry enough to allow a range of tyre strategies to be deployed, with medium, soft and supersoft rubber all being used at various points during the afternoon.

A late red flag, caused when Massa's Ferrari stopped at the exit of Turn 9, led to a flurry of fast times during the 12 minutes that remained.

Webber and Hamilton initially exchanged the top spot before the Red Bull driver twice went quicker still to end the day on top.

Hamilton, who suffered a quick spin at Turn 1 while on pushing hard on slicks, was followed by Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso, the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and McLaren's Sergio Perez.

Hamilton completed more laps than anybody else. His total of 113 was one more than Massa. Perez was the only other driver to get into triple figures.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver             Team          Time         Gap     Laps    Tyre
 1.  Mark Webber        Red Bull      1m22.693s             90     Soft
 2.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes      1m24.348s  + 1.655s   113    Medium
 3.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso    1m25.017s  + 2.324s   59     Medium
 4.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams      1m26.458s  + 3.765s   85     Soft
 5.  Sergio Perez       McLaren       1m26.538s  + 3.845s   100    Hard
 6.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber        1m26.574s  + 3.881s   92     Soft
 7.  Paul di Resta      Force India   1m27.107s  + 4.414s   57     Medium
 8.  Felipe Massa       Ferrari       1m27.541s  + 4.848s   112    Medium
 9.  Max Chilton        Marussia      1m28.166s  + 5.473s   78     Medium
10.  Charles Pic        Caterham      1m28.644s  + 5.951s   83     Medium
11.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus         1m34.928s  + 12.235s  52     Medium


The 2013 grid according to TBWG   




Red Bull         Sebastian Vettel        Mark Webber

McLaren        Jenson Button             Sergio Perez

Ferrari              Fernando Alonso        Phillipe Massa

Mercedes         Nico Rosberg             Lewis Hamilton

Lotus Renault       Kimi Raikkonen        Romain Grosjean            

Force India          Paul DiResta             Adrian Sutil

Sauber               Nico Hulkenberg        Esteban Gutierrez

Scuderia Lollo Rosso Daniel Ricciardo    Jean-Eric Vergne                       

Williams             Pastor Maldonado      Valtteri Bottas

Caterham F1           Charles Pic           Giedo Ven Der Garde

Marussia               Max Chilton           Luiz Razia


Well with Force India finally naming Slasher Sutil as it’s second driver the grid for 2013 is complete, or is it Marussia driver Luis Razia has put in very little time at the testing days, suggesting his sponsorship dosh has got lost in the post!


TBWG

[TBWG]

   
Grosjean fastest in Barcelona
by Joe Saward
The Barcelona track was wet this morning and then in the afternoon, when the track was dry, there were a number of red flags. Romain Grosjean set a best laps of 1m22.716s, after 88 laps. Jenson Button was second for McLaren with 72 laps and a best of 1m23.181s and Pastor Maldonado was third for Williams, with a 1m23.628s lap after 75 laps.

Fourth fastest was Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, which completed 65 laps with a best of 1m23.743s, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber, which completed 79 laps, with a best time of 1m23.744s. New Force India signing Adrian Sutil was next with 62 laps and a best of 1m24.215s ahead of Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso, which clocked 1m25.598s after 75 laps. Giedo Van der Garde was ninth in his Caterham, with a best of 1m26.316s after 48 laps, while Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso did not go for times and concentrated on long distances runs. Rosberg did 120 laps with a best of 1m26.655s, Alonso 102 laps with a best of 1m27.878s.



TBWG

[TBWG]

   
Bianchi replaces Razia at Marussia
by Joe Saward

Luiz Razia's Formula 1 career has come to an end before it even began. It appears that the Brazilian's sponsored failed to deliver the money that they had promised and that meant that Marussia decided to go down another route and signed up Ferrari protege Jules Bianchi, who was left out of the F1 field when Force India decided to go with Adrian Sutil. Bianchi will be the fourth Frenchman in F1 this year.



TBWG

[TBWG]

   
 

Barcelona F1 test summary: Rosberg and Mercedes on top
By Jamie O'Leary   


The new-look Mercedes squad gave itself huge cause for optimism at Barcelona by ending Formula 1's final pre-season test of 2013 on top of the timesheets.

Team newcomer Lewis Hamilton - who claims to be loving life after leaving his former job in Woking for one in Brackley - set a blistering pace on Saturday, which was bettered by team-mate Nico Rosberg one day later.

Rosberg's 1m20.130s lap was set on the soft tyre and left him 0.3s clear of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and others claimed that the Mercedes performance could not be taken as conclusive proof of its pace due to the uncertainty over what fuel load the F1 WO4 was running.

Alonso's final-day time was good enough for second overall with Hamilton's Saturday pace securing him third, ahead of Felipe Massa and Jenson Button.

While the long-run pace of both Sauber and Force India on Sunday was fractionally adrift of what Button's McLaren managed, both also showed good single-lap pace with Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil in the top seven.

Lotus once again suffered reliability problems and also lost Kimi Raikkonen for a day due to illness. This allowed reserve driver Davide Valsecchi to share the E21 with Romain Grosjean - the Friday pacesetter - on Saturday.

Williams introduced Red Bull-style sidepods as part of a major aerodynamic upgrade, leaving Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas delighted with the extra downforce on offer.

Friday's big-news story meanwhile was the late-night arrival of Jules Bianchi at Marussia, Luiz Razia having lost his drive over a sponsor shortfall.

The team many expect to lift the winning constructors' trophy in two weeks' time, Red Bull, failed to show its hand, Mark Webber's pace-setting time on the opening day the only indicator of the RB9's true speed.

Combined times
Pos Driver                  Team            Time        Gap
 1. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes        1m20.130s
 2. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari         1m20.494s  + 0.364s
 3. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes        1m20.558s  + 0.428s
 4. Felipe Massa            Ferrari         1m21.266s  + 1.136s
 5. Jenson Button           McLaren         1m21.444s  + 1.314s
 6. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber          1m21.541s  + 1.411s
 7. Adrian Sutil            Force India     1m21.627s  + 1.497s
 8. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus           1m21.658s  + 1.528s
 9. Paul di Resta           Force India     1m21.664s  + 1.534s
10. Pastor Maldonado        Williams        1m22.305s  + 2.175s
11. Valtteri Bottas         Williams        1m22.468s  + 2.338s
12. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull        1m22.514s  + 2.384s
13. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber          1m22.553s  + 2.423s
14. Mark Webber             Red Bull        1m22.658s  + 2.528s
15. Sergio Perez            McLaren         1m22.694s  + 2.564s
16. Romain Grosjean         Lotus           1m22.716s  + 2.586s
17. Charles Pic             Caterham        1m23.115s  + 2.985s
18. Jules Bianchi           Marussia        1m23.167s  + 3.037s
19. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso      1m23.223s  + 3.093s
20. Davide Valsecchi        Lotus           1m23.448s  + 3.318s
21. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso      1m23.628s  + 3.498s
22. Max Chilton             Marussia        1m24.103s  + 3.973s
23. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham        1m24.235s  + 4.105s

Distance by driver
    Driver                  Team             Laps Kms
 1. Nico Rosberg            Mercedes         251  1168
 2. Lewis Hamilton          Mercedes         230  1070
 3. Fernando Alonso         Ferrari          222  1033
 4. Felipe Massa            Ferrari          206  958
 5. Max Chilton             Marussia         202  940
 6. Sergio Perez            McLaren          201  935
 7. Charles Pic             Caterham         199  926
 8. Nico Hulkenberg         Sauber           197  917
 9. Jenson Button           McLaren          194  903
10. Esteban Gutierrez       Sauber           191  889
11. Romain Grosjean         Lotus            186  865
12. Giedo van der Garde     Caterham         174  809
13. Jean-Eric Vergne        Toro Rosso       173  805
14. Adrian Sutil            Force India      171  796
15. Paul Di Resta           Force India      169  786
16. Sebastian Vettel        Red Bull         165  768
17. Daniel Ricciardo        Toro Rosso       152  707
18. Pastor Maldonado        Williams         151  702
19. Mark Webber             Red Bull         149  693
20. Valtteri Bottas         Williams         147  684
21. Jules Bianchi           Marussia         136  633
22. Kimi Raikkonen          Lotus            50   232
23. Davide Valsecchi        Lotus            16   74 

Distance by team
    Team             Laps         Kms
 1. Mercedes         481          2239
 2. Ferrari          428          1992
 3. McLaren          395          1838
 4. Sauber           388          1806
 5. Caterham         373          1736
 6. Force India      340          1582
 7. Marussia         338          1573
 8. Toro Rosso       325          1512
 9. Red Bull         314          1461
10. Williams         298          1387
11. Lotus            252          1173


TBWG

[JimNasium]

Melbourne, Australia

[JimNasium]

P2 Finished

[TBWG]

Well folks if you are into F1 and want another years cut & paste plagiarism then you are in the right place!


Another new GP year starts and after the first days Oz practice all the regular offenders are more or less where you would expect them to be, although Sutil seems to be on the pace despite a years holiday. but it looks like Macca have some work to do! 


P1 & P2 times courtesy of Jim Nasium.

TBWG

[TBWG]

   
Melbourne goes grey

by Joe Saward

Bad weather ruined the third practice session in Melbourne on Saturday, with rain arriving 17 minutes into the session. Romain Grosjean set the fastest time, 0.071s ahead of Fernando Alonsio's Ferrari, with Felipe Massa right behind him. Paul di Resta was fourth but the times were not very significant in that behind Kimi Raikkonen were the two Toro Rossos, with Dan Ricciardo ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne. Adrian Sutil was eighth with Nico Hulkenberg and Estaben Gutierrez behind him. Nico Rosberg was 11th with Sebastian Vettel 12th, although the German was told to park his car by the team towards the end of the session. Mark Webber was 13th, followed by Jules Bianchi, Giedo Van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas, Max Chilton and Lewis Hamilton.


The Qantas girlies say we hope Buriram expats fans are looking forward to Qualy?

TBWG

[JimNasium]

P3 Finished

[Somnat]

TBWG ... how did GROSJEAN seem to be going in practice?

First time I have ever had a wager on F1 and picked him for a podium finish.