Testing Not Returning

FIA President Jean Todt's proposals to reintroduce a limited amount of mid-season testing are likely to be rejected by most teams.

Todt's intentions are to allow teams to develop new drivers, as well as develop their current car.

However, most teams feel that this will significantly increase costs, which was the main reason testing was banned in the first place.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has stated that the teams need to think of the smaller teams with lower budgets, as this suggestion would impact them the most.

Ferrari, on the other hand, are backing Todt's plea, claiming that Formula One is the only sport in the World where participants cannot practice!

For more on this story, visit www.autosport.com

Testing Analysis

Bernie Ecclestone has often talked about introducing an Olympic style medal system into Formula One, where the driver with the most gold medals at the end of the season would win!
This suggestion has not paricularly impressed drivers, teams or fans, however Ecclestone still believes it is an option.

Now that all the pre-season tests have been completed, we have assessed the results and present the results below in a format that Mr Ecclestone would appreciate!

The list is headed up by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who was the quickest driver on four occassions.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso falls fifth in the table, which is surprising, as he has looked comparable to the Red Bull's over the winter. However, the Spaniard has finished in the top three six times this year - more than anyone else.
Equally surprisingly, former World Champion Lewis Hamilton appears at the bottom of the list, having only been the third quickest driver on two occassions.

All three Force India drivers (Sutil, Di Resta and Hulkenberg) along with McLaren's Gary Paffett also finished in the top three earlier in the year, but have not been included as their times were set using the 2010 cars.

How much will the race results reflect the testing results? Just two weeks until we can find out!

Testing, Barcleona - 12 March 2011

Just five drivers headed out onto a very wet Barcelona track today, for the final day of pre-season testing.

Times were well off the pace today, due in part to the almost monsoon conditions, and only three drivers actually set times, with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso venturing out only for a handful of installation laps.

The fastest time of the day was set again by Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, who despite completing the most laps of anybody, still only recorded thirty or so laps, just over half a race distance.

Second quickest was Pastor Maldonado for Williams, with his best time about half a second slower than Rosbergs.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was third today, although he seemed happy and was upbeat about his team's chances when speaking to the press, saying "I'm positive. I love racing, I'm looking forward to racing".

For more details on today's testing, visit www.autosport.com

Hispania May Not Test 2011 Car

Hispania today officially revealed their 2011 car to the World at Barcelona today. Computer generated images of what the car would look like had previously been shown on the team's website, but this was the first time the finished product had been displayed in public.

However, unfortunately for the struggling team, parts of the car have not arrived at the track as they have been delayed in customs upon arriving in Spain.

The team are not yet sure whether the parts will arrive in time for them to get the car out on the track on Saturday, as it is the last day of pre-season testing before the season starts in Australia later in the month.

Drivers Narain Kartikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi have been able to paricipate in testing, using the 2010 car fitted with 2011 Pirelli tyres.

For more information, and to see the new car, visit www.autosport.com

Testing, Barcelona - 11 March 2011

There was a bit of a surprise at Barcelona once again today, as veteran Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of any of the pre-season tests at the circuit this year. Mercedes have introduced a package of upgrades, including a revised front wing, so this performance will certainly be encouraging for the team.

Fernando Alonso was second quickest of the day, although the Ferrari driver's best time was almost four tenths of a second behind the seven time World Champion.

Nico Rosberg set the third fastest time, as he replaced team mate Schumacher later on in the day. Rosberg's time was particularly impressive, however, as he only clocked just over 20 laps, in comparison to Alonso who recorded over 140!

For a more in-depth look at the testing results, visit www.autosport.com

Testing Results, Barcelona - 10 March 2011

The headlines were made today by Sauber new-boy Sergio Perez, who took set the fastest lap of the day - this time without cutting the chicane!
There is little doubt that he was running on low fuel, as much of his morning was taken up practicing qualifying runs, however his time - second quickest of the week - was impressive by anyone's standards!

Second was Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who lapped the track more than anyone else as Ferrari continue to pile on the testing miles.

Third was Mark Webber, who acheived his best time in a light, but not empty car, as he was able to stay out for a few more laps after clocking his best.

For a more detailed round-up of today's events, visit www.autosport.com

Testing Results, Barcelona - 09 March 2011

Once again, Red Bull topped the timesheets today, with some consistent driving and a few quick laps from reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastien Buemi was second quickest for Toro Rosso, but he was half a second off the German's pace.

Vitaly Petrov acheived another top three for Lotus-Renault with another productive test session.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton set the fourth quickest time of the day, despite only recording half as many laps as the top three. However, he echoed his team mate's previous comments, saying that he did not expect to be challenging for the title this season.

For more, see www.autosport.com

Testing Returns To Barcelona

The final week of pre-season tests began today - held in Barcelona instead of Bahrain as originally planned, due to the unstable political situation in the Country.

Red Bull's Mark Webber set the fastest time of the day, which was faster than anyone managed to acheive at the track a month ago.

Second was Jenson Button, although he was quick to admit that his McLaren team will not be quick enough to compete with Ferrari or Red Bull in the first race in Australia in under three weeks time.

Vitaly Petrov took third for Lotus-Renault, running in the afternoon in place of his team mate Nick Heidfeld who only drove in the morning due to suffering from a cold.

At the close of the session, it appeared that Sauber's Sergio Perez would take the headlines with a blistering time, significantly quicker than Webber's, however it later emerged that the Mexican had cut the chicane, and therefore the time would not count.

For more details on today's session, visit www.autosport.com

Testing - Ferrari vs McLaren

So far this year, Ferrari have racked up approximately twice as many testing miles as McLaren have managed.

However, this is believed to be down to a difference in philosophy, with McLaren opting to do a large amount of their testing on their simulator, behind closed doors.

McLaren Managing Director Jonathan Neale told journalists that his team have a 'disciplined' approach to winter testing.

www.f1fanatic.com has published a very interesting graph which shows the amount of testing miles undertaken by each team in the pre-season tests to date. To read the full article and view the graph, click HERE

Barcelona Testing - Final Day

Felipe Massa finished on top at the completion of the final Barcelona test (for a few weeks anyway), showing that Ferrari will surely be a force to contend with at the commencement of the new season.

Second quickest was Mark Webber but he was almost a second slower than the Brazilian.

Sebastien Buemi continued Toro Rosso's good form with the third quickest time of the day.

The teams are likely to return to Barcelona instead of Bahrain for the final pre-season test, before the season begins in Australia.

For more, see www.autosport.com

Bahrain Grand Prix Off

It has been confirmed that the Bahrain Grand Prix has been canceled by the race organisers.

It is unclear yet whether the race can be held later in the year due to the busy schedule.

It is suggested that the final test session will be held at Barcelona, instead of the increasingly unstable Bahrain.

The first race of the season will now be held in Australia, as it has been in the past.

For more, see www.autosport.com

Testing Day 3 & Bahrain Update

With a possible sign that Mercedes troubles are not as bad as originally thought, Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in today's Barcelona test.

Vitaly Petrov was second fastest for Lotus-Renault, with Lewis Hamilton putting a McLaren in the top three for the first time in a while.

Also, Autosport are reporting that the decision as to whether the Bahrain Grand Prix will go ahead will be made tomorrow, so many people interested in both Formula One and International politics will be waiting on this decision with great interest.

For more, see www.autosport.com

Testing Day 2 & News

Day two of Barcelona testing saw a similar result to the previous test, with Vettel once again the fastest.

Alguersuari was second fastest, with Alonso third, however they were within a second of the reigning World Champion, unlike Friday's times.

In other news, Michael Schumacher has said that he believes his Mercedes team can win a race, but he doubts they have enough for the Championship.

Legendary Formula One star Nikki Lauda has voiced his concerns regarding the Bahrain Grand Prix, saying that democracy should come before sport.

For more, see www.autosport.com www.bbc.co.uk/sport and www.bild.de

Testing Updates

Just to give you a brief update of what had been happening at Jerez over the last few days:

Thursday, Felipe Massa was fastest for Ferrari with claims that Mercedes were struggling.

Friday, lots of incidents, including an accident for Perez in the Sauber, and several spins for Petrov in the Lotus-Renault.
Schumacher finished fastest, however there were rumours that his Mercedes was running on low fuel!

For more see www.bbc.co.uk/sport

Testing - Day Three

As Thursday's test session in Valencia came to a close, it was Lotus-Renault's Robert Kubica who stole the headlines.

The Pole acheived an unofficial time of just over 1 minute 13, which was the fastest lap of anyone over the three testing days.

The next quickest 2011 cars were Mark Webber for Red Bull, Felipe Massa for Ferrari, Pastor Maldonado for Williams and Sergio Perez for Sauber. However, the 2010 cars of Adrian Sutil's Force India, Jenson Button's McLaren and Timo Glock's Virgin filtered inbetween.

Testing will commence again later in the month at Jerez, except for Team Lotus who will continue testing tomorrow after missing Tuesday's session.

For more information, see www.autosport.com

More Testing

The second test session of the year took place today.

On the whole, the (unofficial) positions were similar to yesterday, however, Fernando Alonso did manage to record two laps quicker than the best Sebastien Vettel could offer.

Heikki Kovalainen took the new Team Lotus car to the track for their first run. However, the day was hampered with mechanical problems, and the Finn couldn't get within seven seconds of the Ferrari.

For a run down of times, see www.autosport.com

Testing Begins

Testing starts today in Valencia.

For a live news feed, visit www.bbc.co.uk/sport

Pre-Season Testing

The first official pre-season test session will take place on Tuesday in Valencia.

Although only one team, Ferrari, have unveiled their 2011 car, more teams are due to follow suit on Monday. Therefore, there may be a mix of 2010 and 2011 cars on track, but how much can you actually tell from testing results?

A couple of things to consider:
> Some teams, particularly Ferrari, are famous for 'sand-bagging' in testing. Meaning they do not run their car at it's full potential, often running high fuel loads, as they like to keep their cards close to their chest and not reveal how quick the car actually is.
> Also, in testing prior to the 2010 season, the Sauber team drew critisism from some, including Martin Brundle, for apparently running their car very lightly with little fuel. This may have been in order to make their car seem more competitive, possibly in an attempt to entice more sponsors.

As fuel loads are not published, it is not always possible to predict how well a team will do in a race situation based on testing results. However, you can often get a pretty good indication.

Fortunately, the Formula One Results Predictor is aware of all of this and this will be taken into account when predicting the results for the first race!