CIRCUIT INFO

Probably the most famous and recognizable circuit on the F1 calendar – and the last throwback to the era of street racing, the Monaco Grand Prix was first staged in 1929 and after being included in the first Formula One world championship season in 1950 and has been an ever-present feature on the calendar since 1955.

The race is considered as a ‘must win’ race for drivers, a combination of being technically difficult but also extremely glamorous and high profile. The circuit is one of the most demanding with no margin for error as the Armco barriers that line the track are at some points just inches from the cars. Triple world champion Nelson Piquet described it as similar to “trying to cycle round your living room”.

The circuit itself has remained virtually unchanged, the Rascasse turn was slightly altered for the 2003 race but the major change was in 2004 when the formerly cramped pit complex was replaced and spectator capacity was increased.

Prior to the race, construction of the circuit takes around six weeks, dismantling takes just three. Monaco is the only race on the calendar not to have a podium, the traditional winners’ celebration taking place on the steps of the royal box.

Despite the dangerous nature of the circuit and although there have been numerous serious accidents there has to date only been one death, in 1967 when Lorenzo Bandini died as result of burns. The most famous accident must be that of Alberto Ascari, one of only two people to end up in the harbour.

Graham Hill was often referred to as Mr Monaco as he won five races in the 1960s; this was surpassed by Ayrton Senna who holds the record of six Monaco wins.

NOTE:

At the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix Lorenzo Bandini lost control of his Ferrari after clipping a guardrail. The car overturned and hit a hay bale and caught fire. Bandini suffered horrendous burns and died of his injuries three days later.

Out of all the drivers on track, Kimi Raikkonen holds the most pole positions on the Circuit de Catalunya (2005 and 2008) and yet most Facebook fans have voted for Fernando Alonso to get pole in 2013.

Q1 started and Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso took to the track first. Followed closely by his teammate Jean-Éric Vergne and the pair of Williams. Last year, Pastor Maldonado took his Williams to the top and won the race. Also, last year in Spain, Maldonado became hero for a week when the Williams garage caught fire and the photo of him piggy-backing his cousin with a broken leg out of the smoke and fire came out. Apparently, Pastor Maldonado had been shouting at a picture of himself with last year’s winning trophy to motivate himself for qualifying. Not something that you would hear of and seems somewhat strange but whatever motivates you…

Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have headed out with eight minutes to go, but both Mercedes and McLarens are staying put in the garage. The moment that Fernando Alonso hit the track, the crowd started cheering. If you have ever been to a Formula One race, you are quite aware that it is so loud that earplugs are recommended. You can just imagine how loud the fans are cheering to be heard over the sound of 22 engines on track. Being Alonso’s home race, it could be the main reason why the Spaniard was favourite to get pole position.

As Q1 came to and end, the heat was turned up for the drivers in the drop out zone. Towards the top of the top half of the time sheets, another story was playing out. We heard a message from Williams to Pastor Maldonado which says: “Button behind you, don’t let him through.” Shortly after, a message played from McLaren’s Jenson Button saying: “Massively held up by the Williams. Got to get a penalty for that.”

In the last few seconds of Q1, Esteban Gutiérrez put forth an amazing effort from van der Garde, who was five-hundredths quicker than Bianchi and four-tenths ahead of Caterham team-mate Pic.

The first period of qualifying completed and the drivers that failed to make the cut after round one:

17) Bottas 1:23.260s
18) Maldonado 1:23.318s
19) van der Garde 1:24.661s
20) Bianchi 1:24.713s
21) Chilton 1:24.996s
22) Pic 1:25.070s.

Q2 started and Gutiérrez was first out on track. The young Mexican driver was trying to set a quick lap and obtain a good finishing position as he and his team were aware that there was going to be a grid penalty being handed to him after qualifying.

As Q2 rolled forward, it was all about 16 drivers trying to hit the mark of 1.22s estimated that would get them through to Q3.

A big surprise as McLaren’s Jenson Button failed to make it into the top ten shoot out… again. Languishing in P14, a 0.565s slower than Perez. It’s the first time that he’s been out qualified by his Mexican team-mate all year. But Sergio Perez set an amazing time and rocketed up to seventh with a lap of 1m21.790s.

Another possible penalty that could come out of qualifying: Massa appeared to hinder Webber through Turn 12 in Q2. It’ll be interesting to see what the stewards make of that after the session.

A frenetic end to the second segment. Here is the list of eliminated drivers:

11) Ricciardo 1:22.127s
12) Vergne 1:22.166s
13) Sutil 1:22.346s
14) Button 1:22.355s
15) Hulkenberg 1:22.389s
16) Gutierrez 1:22.793s.

Top Ten Shoot Out and the racing begins. Or the lack there of. Five minutes left in Q3 and only five drivers had hit the track and set times. Q3 always sets forth the argument for qualifying tyres. If the teams and drivers were not so concerned for tyre wear and conservation for the race. Let them have tyres, we say. Let the fans enjoy qualifying and let there be racing.

Three minutes left and the cars hit the track again. All set to leap frog for pole until the chequered flag drops.

A minute and a half left and all tens cars were out on track. Rosberg´s current pole time of 1:20.842 was about to be shattered. As the chequered flag dropped, the time was lost… By Nico Rosberg himself. Setting a new fastest lap of 1:20.718. Rosberg ends up two-tenths clear of team-mate Hamilton, ensuring a Mercedes lock-out on the front row tomorrow!

Vettel ends up third in the Red Bull, with Raikkonen fourth, Alonso only fifth in front of the home fans, and Massa sixth. Grosjean is seventh in the other Lotus, ahead of Webber, Perez and di Resta rounds out the top 10 after a sensational session.

So it’s Mercedes up front with the Red Bulls, Ferrari‘s and Lotus drivers all chasing them. It should be an epic race tomorrow!

Nico Rosberg	P1
Lewis Hamilton	P2
Sebastian Vettel	P3
Kimi Räikkönen	P4
Fernando Alonso	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Romain Grosjean	P7
Mark Webber	P8
Sergio Perez	P9
Paul di Resta	P10
Daniel Ricciardo	P11
Jean-Éric Vergne	P12
Adrian Sutil	P13
Jenson Button	P14
Nico Hulkenberg	P15
Esteban Gutiérrez	P16
Valtteri Bottas	P17
Pastor Maldonado	P18
Giedo van der Garde	P19
Jules Bianchi	P20
Max Chilton	P21
Charles Pic	P22

Nearly one year after teams were subject to intense protests in Bahrain, Formula One was back in town for the weekend. Just when the violence within the country seemed to be subsiding, it all flared back up again the moment the paddock was opened to set up.

Even with protests from the people and heavy road blocks all along the main roads, Formula One was here to stay.

Nico Rosberg snatched Mercedes’ second pole position in a row in Bahrain on Saturday, when his lap of 1:32.330s beat Sebastian Vettel’s best of 1:32.584s in the Red Bull.

Vettel  1:32.746sRosberg, a mear 0.121 seconds behind Vettel with a 1:32.867s
Button (the final driver in Q3) nearly a second behind with 1:33.702s
Grosjean losing out on Q3 by six-hundredths of a second with 1:33.762s
Perez came up short in the second McLaren with 1:33.914s (0.152 seconds later)
Ricciardo, just six-hundredths of a second behind with a 1:33.974s
Hulkenberg was just two-thousandths of a second later on a 1:33.976s for Sauber.End of Q3 and Rosberg beat Vettel by 0.254 seconds with Alonso a further 0.083 seconds behind. Lewis Hamilton and  Mark Webber qualified fourth and fifth, but are demoted five and three places as a result of grid penalties.

That means Ferrari‘s Felipe Massa will start fourth ahead of Force India’s Paul di Resta. Adrian Sutil qualified seventh and will start sixth, ahead of Webber, Lotus’s Kimi Räikkönen who qualified ninth) will start in P8 ahead of Hamilton and McLaren’s Jenson Button.

 

Nico Rosberg	P1
Sebastian Vettel	P2
Fernando Alonso	P3
Felipe Massa	P4
Paul di Resta	P5
Adrian Sutil	P6
Mark Webber	P7
Kimi Räikkönen	P8
Lewis Hamilton	P9
Jenson Button	P10
Romain Grosjean	P11
Sergio Perez	P12
Daniel Ricciardo	P13
Nico Hulkenberg	P14
Valtteri Bottas	P15
Jean-Éric Vergne	P16
Pastor Maldonado	P17
Charles Pic	P18
Jules Bianchi	P19
Giedo van der Garde	P20
Max Chilton	P21
Esteban Gutiérrez	P22

Q1 107% Time 1:39.379

Note – Webber, Gutierrez qualified P5 and P18, dropped 3 and 5 grid places respectively for collisions at previous round. Hamilton qualified P4, dropped 5 places for unscheduled gearbox change.

 

CIRCUIT INFO

Located in the middle of nowhere, the circuit has been described of having all the charm of an airport departure lounge, although some of the more modern airports might be offended by the comparison.

Like many sporting arenas in the Middle east, its existence is down to the enthusiasm of enthusiast Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and funding from government-backed investment companies. A racing enthusiast, the Crown Prince is the honorary president of the Bahrain Motor Federation.

As is the case with many of the new generation of circuits, BIC was designed by Hermann Tilke and contains five different track layouts within the complex. Work started in late 2002 and was completed in time for the first Grand Prix in March 2004. There were changes made ahead of the 2010 race to try to improve the event as a spectacle but these achieved little.

Being surrounded by sand dunes, one of the major worries has been sand on the track which can reduce tyre adhesion considerably as well as affect engines and other parts. Although the organisers sprayed the surrounding sand with an adhesive to keep it in place and although this keeps the majority of the sand off the track, the organisers regularly sweep the surface during a race weekend.

While the facilities are superb, the heat means the only spectators are housed in the main stands – to try to watch from anywhere else would mean risking frying – and as a result the atmosphere on large sections of the circuit is too often eerily quiet.
The circuit itself consists of 20 slow to medium-speed corners which means cars need to be set up for good traction.

In 2007, it became the first active Grand Prix circuit to be named as an FIA Centre of Excellence for safety. The land around the circuit is currently being developed to provide much-needed hotels (the nearest large hotels are in Manama) as well as facilities for industry, education and entertainment in a project reportedly costing US$2billion.

Fernando Alonso‘s win at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday announced the Ferrari driver as a strong contender for the Formula One championship after a comfortable victory.

Alonso took the lead for good with 13 laps to go and won by 10 seconds ahead of Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen. Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished third, just two tenths of a second ahead the hard-finishing Sebastian Vettel.

After retiring early last time out in Malaysia three weeks ago, the Ferrari star drove a flawless race to win the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. It was Alonso’s 31st victory of his career, drawing him level with Nigel Mansell on the sport’s all-time win list, leaving only Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna ahead of him.

Hamilton led away from pole while Raikkonen dropped back to fourth place behind the two Ferraris. Hamilton couldn’t break the DRS gap and on lap five, both Ferraris found a way past; Alonso using DRS over the finish line and Massa following him through into turn one.

The first seven drivers on the grid had used the highly-degradable soft Pirelli rubber in Q3, giving them an early advantage in the race, but knowing they would be forced into pitting early. As for the six drivers behind (Button, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Di Resta, Sutil, along with McLaren’s Sergio Perez), they all started on the medium compound.

The leaders quickly ditched their fragile soft-compound Pirelli tyres – Hamilton and Rosberg on lap 5, Alonso and Raikkonen on lap 6, and Massa on lap 7.

And as the pit stops were playing out, there was a collision at Turn 14 as Esteban Gutierrez ran in to the back of Adrian Sutil, taking both out of the race. A large list of drivers – Vettel, Webber, Raikkonen, Button, Romain Grosjean, Valtteri Bottas and Max Chilton – were all under investigation for using DRS under the resulting yellow flags*, with the FIA still unable to disable it from race control.

At this point of the race, Vettel was starting to make his way up through the field from P9. Likewise, Webber (who started the race from the pits after a disastrous qualifying session) was also making his way up from the back of the grid. Though his run to the front was curtailed on lap 16 when Jean-Eric Vergne, of Toro Rosso, cut across him. Webber suffered damage to the front of his car and was called into the pits. But shortly afterwards the call, the Australian inexplicably lost a right-rear tyre. Several cars had to swerve as the tyre rolled across the track.

A lap later, Räikkönen also had contact at Turn 6, getting forced onto the kerbs and grass under braking by Sergio Perez and running into the back of the McLaren. Both drivers continued as Räikkönen finished the race with a damaged front wing and hole in the nose of his Lotus.

As the race unfolded, and as has become the way so far this season, it all became about making the tyres last, pitting at the right time and knowing when to attack and when to try and ease a little. During the middle session of the race, much seemed to calm down as the lead jumped from driver to driver and with each pit, fans started to take heed to which driver had used (or not used) both tyre compounds.

Alonso eventually surrendered his lead — nearly 20 seconds by then — to Vettel when he went in for a change of tyres. But the Spaniard took it back again on lap 43 of 56, darting inside the Red Bull. Alonso was in full flow now, clocking the fastest lap time of the race, as Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton scrapped it out for the other two podium places.

But just as many fans thought it was over, Vettel needed to pit again. On lap 52, he did so, rejoining the action in fourth, as he attempted to chase down a podium place.

Behind Vettel, Button finished a creditable fifth, given the still ongoing limitations of his McLaren. Button was followed by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo in his Toro Rosso, Di Resta, Lotus’s Romain Grosjean and Hulkenberg in 10th, with Marsussia’s Max Chilton 17th.

The provisional result leaves Vettel leading the championship by just three points from Raikkonen, nine points from Alonso and twelve from Hamilton.

A few titbits of post race information:

*The stewards investigated several drivers after the race for possible use of DRS under yellow flags – notably Vettel, Webber, Raikkonen, Bottas, Ricciardo and Chilton – but decided not to issue any penalties.

With the loss of his rear tyre on track, Webber and Red Bull were fined 5000 Euros.

Webber will be penalized for causing the collision, with stewards relegating him three grid places at next weekend’s Bahrain GP. Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez also received a five-place grid penalty for crashing into the back of Adrian Sutil (to be taken in Bahrain).

Fernando Alonso	Winner
Kimi Räikkönen	Second
Lewis Hamilton	Third
Sebastian Vettel	P4
Jenson Button	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Daniel Ricciardo	P7
Paul di Resta	P8
Romain Grosjean	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Sergio Perez	P11
Jean-Éric Vergne	P12
Valtteri Bottas	P13
Pastor Maldonado	P14
Jules Bianchi	P15
Charles Pic	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Nico Rosberg	Retired (Suspension)
Mark Webber	Retired (Wheel)
Adrian Sutil	Retired (Collision)
Estaban Gutiérrez	Retired (Collision)

Kimi Raikkonen opened his 2013 campaign with a victory at the Australian Grand Prix, beating Fernando Alonso to victory by 12.4s.

After qualifying everyone seemed to expect a Red Bull domination, but that went very wrong right from the beginning. Sebastian Vettel led confidently, but Mark Webber immediately fell from second to seventh as the pair of Ferraris, driven by Felipe Massa and Alonso burst into second and third places (ahead of the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg), which sandwiched Raikkonen’s Lotus.

Raikkonen soon disposed of the silver arrows, and began his chase of the three breakaway leaders.

It was Raikkonen’s long second stint, which was the key to his success as he kept up with Vettel and the two Ferraris (who led the race early on). Raikkonen remained out on track preserving his tyres as the cars around him adopted three-stop strategies. Before the race was over, Alonso managed to shuffle his way ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa and Vettel.

Lap seven, Vettel was the first of the lot to change to the supersoft Pirelli tyres. He was soon followed by the current race leader Massa on lap eight, then Alonso. Raikkonen held off his first pit till lap nine. That left Hamilton in the lead and he stayed there until lap 12, where Rosberg led briefly before Adrian Sutil.

Sutil (making his first start since 2011) stayed in the front of Vettel, Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen until pitting on the 21st lap. Sutil, who had started 11th for Force India on medium compound tyres, seized the initiative. For the second race in succession, a Force India led.

As the race progressed, Raikkonen caught up with Alonso, who pit for a second time (before Sutil’s first). The following lap saw Sutil and Vettel come together and undercut allowing Alonso to jump them both, while a slightly later stop for Massa dropped him behind the pair and left Raikkonen clear in the lead.

But once Alonso had passed Sutil, Raikkonen upped his pace and was able to keep the Ferrari at arm’s length and even pull away in the closing laps.

Hamilton looked good on track early on as his Mercedes went 12 laps on the supersofts, but though his lap times were competitive (at times), the Mercedes lacked the sheer pace to run with the ‘big boys’. He was, however, able to reel in Sutil, as the German struggled for the final 12 laps on the supersofts.

After his disaster in the opening few laps, an unhappy Webber fought back to sixth, setting some fastest laps on the way. He also was able to pass Sutil in the closing stages. Sutil managed to cling on for seventh after a great comeback, as team mate Paul di Resta looked as thought he might have made a move on his teammate, until a moment on the final session dropped him back.

McLaren had a deeply troubled outing on the Albert Park Circuit as Jenson Button was the first to swap from supersofts to mediums as early as the fourth lap. Button ran in the lower midfield, fighting with Lotus’s Romain Grosjean for much of the race (after the young Frenchman made a terrible start). They stopped racing when they finally crossed the finish line within 1.1s of each other.

F1 rookie, Jules Bianchi drove a great race for Marussia to beat his Caterham rivals; Charles Pic finished a lap further down than his fellow Frenchman. Behind them, Marussia’s Max Chilton and Caterham’s Giedo van der Garde had a fantastic scrap over 17th place where the English rookie finally beat his Dutch counterpart comfortably.

Eighteen cars finished the 58-lap race around the Albert Park Circuit with two retirements by Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, while Pastor Maldonado encountered car trouble on the circuit.

Kimi Räikkönen	Winner
Fernando Alonso	Second
Sebastian Vettel	Third
Felipe Massa	P4
Lewis Hamilton	P5
Mark Webber	P6
Adrian Sutil	P7
Paul di Resta	P8
Jenson Button	P9
Romain Grosjean	P10
Sergio Pérez	P11
Jean-Éric Vergne	P12
Esteban Gutiérrez	P13
Valtteri Bottas	P14
Jules Bianchi	P15
Charles Pic	P16
Max Chilton	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Daniel Ricciardo	Retired (Exhaust)
Nico Rosberg	Retired (Electrical)
Pastor Maldonado	Retired (Spin)
Nico Hülkenberg	Retired (Fuel System)

With what has seemed like an eternity, Formula One has finally come back. And Mother Nature had a wonderful welcome in mind. Heavy rain fell prior to the start of the session – the storms were severe enough to knock out TV coverage for a time – and ensured the first part of qualifying was delayed on three occasions, until finally getting underway half an hour late.

Q1 and Rosberg emerged as the fastest man on track despite all the accidents scattered about. Massa, Gutierrez, Maldonado, van der Garde and Pic were each involved in their own accidents, ending their qualifying session early.

Caterham’s Charles Pic set a time in Q1 outside the 107% mark but with the torrential rain, it is sure that the steward’s will allow him to race on Sunday.

After a somewhat long break between Q1 and Q2, the drivers and cars reemerged on track. You’ve seen qualifying stopped before it’s even started but to have qualifying run on two different days is something completely different.

Even with this break, the drivers were still fighting the wet track and the slippery white lines. With spray coming off the tyres, most of the drivers took to the track. With rain predicted in the short term forecast, everyone wanted to set a quick lap.

Q2 seemed to be more like a test run. For McLaren at least. Many of the teams and drivers were trying to come to a healthy understanding of tyres versus track. Not wanting to disappoint the fans in the season opener and wanting their new teams to do their best, teams seemed to be changing tyres every few laps or so. But once the track started drying out within the last few precious minutes of Q2, the times started to drop.

Q3 and the first Top Ten Shoot out of 2013 season began.

It seemed like qualifying was set to take shape as previous years. Drivers waiting for the very last second to head out on track and teams conserving tyres as much as possible. Seven minutes passed and there really was not much action on track. Three and a half minutes left and the drivers all pitted for soft tyres. The track had really dried out and each of the ten drivers were set to race for the podium.

Less than a minute left and that is when the action really began. With every driver that crossed the chequered flag, the pole seemed to pass from hand to hand. The moment that Red Bull’s Vettel crossed the start/stop line with a single second left, everyone knew that qualifying was over. The track was dry and the triple World Champion was set and went on to take the very first pole position in the 2013 F1 season.

Sebastian Vettel	P1
Mark Webber	P2
Lewis Hamilton	P3
Felipe Massa	P4
Fernando Alonso	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Kimi Räikkönen	P7
Romain Grosjean	P8
Paul di Resta	P9
Jenson Button	P10
Nico Hulkenberg	P11
Adrian Sutil	P12
Jean-Éric Vergne	P13
Daniel Ricciardo	P14
Sergio Perez	P15
Valtteri Bottas	P16
Pastor Maldonado	P17
Esteban Gutiérrez	P18
Jules Bianchi	P19
Max Chilton	P20
Giedo van der Garde	P21
Charles Pic	P22

Pre-season testing is over – in two weeks time, the first Grand Prix of 2013 will take place in Melbourne and Nico Rosberg signed off with the fastest time recorded this year in Barcelona, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

Fernando Alonso showed strong pace in the Ferrari as well, clocking a 1:20.494 on soft tyres towards the end of the morning, 0.364 secs behind Rosberg.

Jenson Button was third fastest with a 1:21.444 in the morning, before switching runs in the afternoon (ending with a lap count of 122). Nico Hulkenberg was not far off the McLaren on a 1:21.541, but in the afternoon had a ‘race simulation’ cut short due to a technical issue.

After missing Saturday’s test with food poisoning, Kimi Raikkonen returned to the cockpit of the Lotus but spent most of the morning in the garage due to a gearbox problem. He rejoined the session just before lunch, completing most of his running in the afternoon. By the end of the day, he had set a 1:21.658, which was good enough for fifth fastest, but the last two days have been far from ideal ahead of the first race in Melbourne in 11 days time.

Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas were seventh and ninth fastest respectively, as the team concluded their test programme happy with the reliability and performance.

There was some excitement sparked by Red Bull when they sent the triple World Champion out on a set of super softs before lunch, but it was just a constant speed / aero test with no true times being set. The team then spent the majority of their final afternoon running the unmarked tyre compound, as usual keeping their cards close to their chests.

Charles Pic was 10th quickest for Caterham, while rivals Marussia had both their race drivers in action, Jules Bianchi in the morning and Max Chilton in the afternoon. They finished 11th and 13th respectively as both ran through some final race weekend preparation and pit stop scenarios ahead of their F1 debuts in Melbourne.

Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo found himself sandwiched between the two Marussia drivers in the times as he finished 12th in the final day of testing in Barcelona.

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of pre-season testing at Barcelona on Saturday, clocking a lap almost a second quicker than anybody else in the last two weeks. The Mercedes driver set a rapid pace in the morning, producing a 1’20.558 to go fastest on soft tyres. A later tun on the same rubber produced a lap just a few hundredths of a second quicker.

On his final day of testing before making his Mercedes race debut in Australia, Hamilton completed 117 laps, (equivalent to 545 kilometres) to take his total pre-season mileage in the F1 W04 to 2,585 kilometres.

After two days of rain, the weather took a turn for the better with track temperatures reaching 30C by midday and the Circuit de Catalunya was bathed in sunshine. Most teams completed over 30 laps before lunch, but Lotus were among the exceptions, as an unwell Kimi Raikkonen was unable to drive the car.

Caterham’s Giedo van der Garde may have finished last on the timesheet (and cause one of the three red flags of the day), but the Dutchman was the day’s busiest driver, completing a very respectable 126 laps in the CT03.

Valsecchi was the cause of the first red flag in the morning session as his car halted on track after 16 laps. van der Garde caused the morning’s other red flag when a sensor failure brought him to a halt. Massa was the driver to bring out the third and final red flag of the day with the tyre issue.

Times

Romain Grosjean clocked the fastest time on day two of the final pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain on Friday. The French Lotus driver (who recorded his best lap on soft tyres in the afternoon session) became the first man to top the timesheets more than once this year, having previously set the quickest time on day two of the first 2013 test at Jerez.

Rain overnight meant that the teams were faced with a wet track to start with in the morning. Although it dried an hour or so before lunch, the cold temperatures meant conditions were never ideal for the teams. Nevertheless, Grosjean managed a 1:22.716 in the afternoon on soft tyres to finish the day 0.465s ahead of Jenson Button (who also improved on his best time in the afternoon session).

Pastor Maldonado was third fastest as he managed a 1:23.628 just before the rain hit in the final half hour. Reigning world champions Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull set the fourth-quickest time of the day. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was fifth, with the recently-appointed Adrian Sutil showing strong form on his way to sixth for Force India.

Daniel Ricciardo was seventh fastest in the Toro Rosso, just a tenth faster than Max Chilton’s Marussia. Chilton was in the car again despite being scheduled to split it with Luiz Razia. Later in the evening it was released that Razia was being replaced by Jules Bianchi (who has been a reserve driver for both Ferrari and Force India).

Giedo van der Garde was ninth fastest despite causing a late red flag. It was the third of the day after Ricciardo stopped early in the morning and Grosjean came to a halt just before lunch, while a late stoppage from Maldonado ensured the session finished under red flag.

The bottom two drivers on the timesheet were Mercedes‘ Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who were both concentrating on longer runs. They both completed race simulations during the afternoon when the track conditions were at their best.

Mark Webber sent Red Bull to the top of the time-sheets for the first time this year in the pre-season testing as it resumed at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. Webber set his fastest time of the day on soft tyres in the final half hour of the afternoon session, after rain had blighted much of the morning running.

After a wet start to the day and several heavy showers in the morning, a dry line started to emerge on track in the afternoon and the teams were able to run slicks for the final 90 minutes. After a morning spent on intermediates and full wets, the times dropped quickly with Webber on top when the chequered flag fell.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton clocked the second-fastest time. The 2008 world champion, who headed the times in the morning, completed 113 laps (the most of any driver on the day) with Jean-Eric Vergne third in the Toro Rosso. However, with representative lap times only really being set in the final few minutes, little could be read into the times.

The first red flag came just 17 minutes into the morning session when Romain Grosjean spun off at turn 12 and left his Lotus beached in the gravel. A second red flag came 20 minutes before the lunch break when Esteban Gutierrez went off at the high-speed turn three. The nose of the car ended up against the barrier but damage appeared to be minimal and the Mexican was back on track in the afternoon.

Williams’ rookie Valtteri Bottas was fourth fastest in the FW35. Marginally slower than Bottas were the Mexican duo of Sergio Perez (in the McLaren MP4-28) and Esteban Gutierrez (in the Sauber C32). Paul di Resta was seventh fastest for Force India.

Felipe Massa was eighth for Ferrari, but completed the second-most laps of the day, a full 112. And finally Marussia’s Max Chilton and Caterham’s Charles Pic rounded out the top ten, with Lotus’s Romain Grosjean a distant 11th for Lotus after having a minor off in the morning session.

Luiz Razia was absent again despite being listed as Marussia’s driver today (he missed the entire second test due to what he claimed were contractual “conflicts”). Razia was scheduled to kick off the final test, but when the garage doors opened it was Chilton at the wheel of the MR02 again. The team has remained quiet on the issue, and although Razia is also scheduled to share time with Chilton on Friday and Sunday, Marussia’s sporting director, Graeme Lowdon said it would be Chilton again in the car tomorrow.

It seems that Formula One is built around the idea of ‘the rumour’. Many fans dismiss them as just that, rumours. But every rumour has to start somewhere. It HAS to start with some small tidbit of information. Yes, sometimes it may be blown way out of proportions,  and sometimes not so much. But each year, the rumour mill starts up, and it is up to us, the fans and the media to make our way through it and try to decipher what is true, what is based on the truth, and what is an out and out lie.

Free practice one is only two weeks away. The F1 cars have barely even turned their engines over, and the mill has begun to run rampant.

First up is the idea of Marussia F1 Team’s Luiz Razia being left out of pre-season testing. Razia was scheduled to run for two of the four days in Spain, but Marussia said the programme was changed to exclude Razia because it made sense to keep Max in the car for consistency. The situation seems to be causing alarm within Brazil’s F1 media ranks, and raising doubts about whether the 23-year-old’s new contract is now in doubt, or whether Max Chilton is simply the clear and favoured ‘number 1’. Luiz Razia has confirmed recently that off-track “conflicts” caused him to sit out last week’s Barcelona test. It begs to question exactly what is going on with Marussia and their pair of rookie drivers.

Second on the rumour mill is Adrian Sutil and a possible secured seat with Force India. The German magazine Sport Bild said Sutil (the long-time Force India driver who sat out 2012 in the wake of the Eric Lux assault affair) has beaten the young contender Jules Bianchi to become Paul di Resta’s new team-mate. This rumour seems pretty legitimate, but with the whispers of an idea that Sutil may not be able to enter China , it would seem more logical of the up and coming team to choose the young French Bianchi.

One of the most talked about rumours in the F1 paddock if the idea of Ross Brawn’s future with Mercedes. With the deification of Paddy Lowe from McLaren to Mercedes, many fans and media alike are waiting to see if Brawn will keep to his word and leave the team. It is stated that Brawn will remain with the team… for now. Brawn said last month in the wake of revelations: “Paddy is not coming. I want to see how things go before I make a final long-term commitment. If I choose to leave the team then Paddy will come. We’ve got a plan. We have a fall-back plan. It’s as simple as that.”

One great round that is on-again, off-again is the idea that Honda wants, and has plans, to come back to Formula One. Newest revelations indicate that Honda has been working on a project to make an appearance in F1 in 2014. With Honda revealing its all-new turbo V6 ‘power unit’ for next year, near Paris, Renault’s Jean-Michel Jalinier said he “definitely” expects more engine makers to enter F1 under the 2014 rules.

One very sad idea that has started being passed around is the rumour coming from the old Hispania Racing Team’s headquarters. Assets of the newly-defunct formula one team HRT have been bought. Reports indicate that Teo Martin, a well-known automotive component recycler, has bought most of the valuable parts left over in the wake of the Spanish team’s demise. Martin has apparently bought the 2011 and 2012 single seaters, a show car, a truck, tools, machinery, furniture and other assets. And everything that can be recycled and sold, that was still in HRT’s possession has been sold, everything but the engines (which have been returned to Cosworth) and the gearboxes ( which were rented from Williams). As many of the readers may know, this writer is a major supporter of the smaller teams in the paddock, the teams that some consider the future of Formula One.

The best bit of information (which we here hope is true) is that Danica Patrick IS NOT interested in swapping her closed cockpit NASCAR to the open wheeled world of Formula One. Speculation the 30-year-old American could have a future on the Grand Prix grid was kindled by her high-profile pole position for NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup opener at Daytona. She said she has ‘never been really interested’ in exploring any F1 options. ”It is speculation in the media,” she added, “but it has never been seriously discussed.”

As the final day in Barcelona came to an end, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes clocked the fastest lap of day four with a time of 1m 23.282s in cold and wet conditions.

Heavy downpours resulted in the first two hours of running being infected by red flags, as all the drivers had issues keeping their cars on the slippery circuit. However, track conditions did improve and, in a flurry of activity before lunch, Hamilton jumped to the top of the time-sheets with a short run on medium-compound tyres.

Within the morning session, there were no fewer than five red flags, with six cars encountering problems. First up was Felipe Massa, who slid off in into the gravel at turn four just ten minutes in to the day’s running. He was followed by Giedo van der Garde (who ran wide out of the final corner and stopped just before the barrier).

With rain continuing to lightly fall, Esteban Gutierrez was the next driver to cause a stoppage on track as he ended up in the gravel at turn five. And yet, strangely enough, his wasn’t the only car that needed recovering as Mark Webber, in his RB9, came to a halt between turns nine and ten at the same time.

No sooner had the pit lane light gone green then Jean-Eric Vergne followed Gutierrez’s move and soon was seen going into the turn five gravel trap on his out lap.

Even with ending the day on the top of the time-sheet, Hamilton managed to cause a red flag himself late in the day as his car stopped between turns five and six (most likely as part of a low fuel test) while the only other stoppages in the afternoon were caused by Gutierrez (running off in to the gravel at turn four) and Jules Bianchi (stopping on the pit straight hence bring the test to an end a few minutes early).

Jenson Button ended up with the second-quickest time of the day for McLaren, with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne in third.

Jules Bianchi did his chances a lot of good in hopes of landing the second seat at Force India by ending the day in fourth place, while Esteban Gutierrez clocked the fourth-fastest time for Sauber. Giedo van der Garde took advantage of the day’s weather conditions to deliver Caterham’s best position on the timesheets in testing so far in a cool sixth spot.

Filling out the final position in the top ten where Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Marussia’s Max Chilton and Lotus’s Romain Grosjean.

Catching many teams and fans by surprise was the William’s team. With their full team with them today on track, Williams decided to focus mainly on pit-stop practices instead.

Though the rain fell today (and even some reports of small hail), it did allow the teams to run Pirelli’s Intermediate and Full Wet tyres, another very useful opportunity ahead of the unpredictable weather often encountered within the opening races.

*** McLaren have announced that they will remain in Barcelona for a second session next week (February 28 – March 3). Driving duties will be split Sergio-Jenson-Sergio-Jenson, and the car will run in Melbourne specifications for the first time.

Local hero Fernando Alonso topped the time sheets on day three of this week’s pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona on Thursday.

Despite very cool conditions throughout the first four hours of running, Alonso set a best time of 1:21.875 as he tried out the soft compound Pirelli tyres for the first time. Thursday was the double champion’s final day in the F138 car this week, after having his first run in it only on Tuesday, with Brazilian Felipe Massa testing on Friday.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg clocked the second-quickest time of the day and, like Alonso, did it on a short run before lunch when his C32 was fitted with soft tyres. Ending the day less than 0.3s slower than the Ferrari.

Romain Grosjean was the first of the day’s runners to complete a full race simulation, which included four pitstops. Thanks largely to that stint he also ended as Thursday’s busiest driver on 119 laps.

Others ran long-race simulations of their own, although some were interrupted when Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham stopped on the Turn 3 entry 15 minutes before the session’s end (Van der Garde had been one of the afternoon’s few improvers, and had just set his best time in the Caterham with a low 1:26s, before causing the stoppage).

Pastor Maldonado was the fifth fastest man on track after quite a busy morning (in which he completed a race simulation) before handing the FW34 over to his team-mate Valtteri Bottas at lunch. Bottas got within a couple of tenths of a second of Maldonado’s best time before he as well completed a race simulation (which was eventually cut short late in the day by Garde’s red flag).

McLaren’s Jenson Button (whose new Mexican team mate Sergio Perez was fastest on Wednesday) ended the second last day seventh quickest.

Adrian Sutil, returning to the cockpit of a Formula One car for the first time in more than a year with the hope of securing the lone Force India race seat, did an respective 78 laps with the eighth best time. Ahead of Australian Mark Webber in the Red Bull and Jean-Eric Vergne (who both broke into triple figures on the lap count).

*** Sutil will hand over to Force India’s 2012 reserve driver Jules Bianchi, his main rival for a 2013 drive with the team, for the final day tomorrow.

Times

Sergio Perez set the quickest time of the second day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya. Perez went 0.3s clear of the rest of the field early in the afternoon session after lapping in 1:21.848 on the soft tyre to set the fastest time of the test so far. He also managed to complete a total of 97 laps on what was a trouble-free day for McLaren compared to its rivals.

Sebastian Vettel clocked the second-fastest time for Red Bull. The reigning triple world champion had the fastest time when all of the teams had stopped for lunch, but the afternoon was less successful as a race simulation run was cut short when his RB9 came to a halt on track with a loose wheel after a pit stop, bringing out the red flags.

Kimi Raikkonen came third quickest despite missing out on the majority of the day’s running when he experienced a gearbox issue. After having completed just four laps, the stricken Lotus was unable to return to the track until there were less than two hours left in the day. Raikkonen managed to complete 43 laps with a best time of 1:22.697 set on the Pirelli medium tyre.

Lewis Hamilton set the fourth-fastest time in the morning and completed some longer runs in the afternoon. Hamilton and his team completed 121 laps – the most of anyone and nearly twice the length of the Spanish Grand Prix (which will be held in Barcelona on May 12)

Ferrari completed far fewer laps than on Tuesday with Fernando Alonso only doing 28 laps in the morning as an overheating exhaust seemed to confined him to the garage for a long time before recovering in the afternoon.

Williams-Renault FW35 Tech Specs

Chassis construction:
Monocoque construction laminated from carbon epoxy and honeycomb surpassing FIA impact and strength requirements

Front suspension:
Double wishbone, push-rod activated springs and anti-roll bar

Rear suspension:
Double wishbone, pull-rod activated springs and anti-roll bar

Transmission:
Williams F1 seven speed seamless sequential semi-automatic shift plus reverse gear, gear selection electro-hydraulically actuated

Clutch:
Carbon multi-plate

Dampers:
Williams F1

Wheels:
RAYS forged magnesium

Tyres:
Pirelli, Fronts: 245/660-13, Rears: 325/660-13

Brake system:
AP 6 piston calipers all round, carbon discs and pads

Steering:
Williams F1 power assisted rack and pinion

Fuel system:
ATL Kevlar-reinforced rubber bladder

Electronic systems:
FIA SECU standard electronic control unit

Cooling system:
Aluminium Oil, Water, KERS, and gearbox radiators

Cockpit:
Six point driver safety harness with 75mm shoulder straps & HANS system, removable anatomically formed carbon fibre seat

Engine:
Renault RS27-2013 2.4L V8, 900 V angle, 32 valves, aluminium block and pistons, nitrided alloy steel crankshaft with tungsten alloy counterweights, titanium connecting rods, 8 butterfly throttle system, 18000 rpm maximum speed

KERS:
Williams F1 battery, MGU and electronics

Weight:
FIA Minimum

Dimensions:
Overall length: 5000mm
Overall height: 950mm
Overall width: 1800mm

2013 Drivers

Team	Williams
Nationality	Venezuelan
Podiums	1
Points	46
Grand Prix entered	39
World Championships	0
Highest race finish	1 (x1)
Highest grid position	1 (x1)
Date of Birth	09/03/1985
Place of Birth	Maracay

Team	Williams
Nationality	Finnish
Podiums	0
Points	0
Grand Prix entered	0
World Championships	0
Highest race finish	0 (x0)
Highest grid position	0 (x0)
Date of Birth	28/08/1989
Place of Birth	Nastola