Jumat, 13 Maret 2009

Barricello Keeps Brawn on Top


The final day of the group test at Circuit de Catalunya was briefly delayed this morning due to the foggy conditions. The ten runners were however soon out on the 4.655km Spanish Grand Prix circuit, and once again it was a Brawn Mercedes that ended the day at the top of the timesheets.

Rubens Barrichello took over testing duties of the new BGP001 today from Jenson Button, the Brazilian veteran proving every bit as effective as his British team-mate. Barrichello completed 110 laps, his best time of 1:18.926s coming on his 102nd tour.

Barrichello’s time eclipses Button’s Wednesday best by just over two-tenths of a second and while undoubtedly the time was recorded on a low fuel run, it underlines the raw pace of the new challenger.

Nico Rosberg upped the pace for in his Williams Toyota, setting the second fastest time of the day eight-tenths off the ultimate pace. The time shows a big improvement with the FW31, lapping three-tenths clear of the similarly powered TF109 of Timo Glock and some 1.6 seconds quicker than yesterday.

Sebastian Vettel was back behind the wheel of the Red Bull Renault to wrap up the Milton Keynes-based team’s pre-season test programme and set the fourth fastest time ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Renault.

Alonso was however restricted to just 64 laps today as the R29 suffered an engine failure mid-afternoon bringing out the red flags due to oil being laid down from the pit lane to turn five.

Felipe Massa lapped half a second of his Wednesday best in the Ferrari F60, ending the day sixth fastest ahead of Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber.

McLaren has struggled for pace all week in Barcelona, as they did last week at Jerez. The team will be mildly encouraged by the pace today however as it lifts them from the bottom end of the timesheets to eighth, albeit almost two seconds off Barrichello’s best time.

Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais shared the new Toro Rosso Ferrari with the former putting in 62 laps and setting the ninth fastest time and the latter just 27 laps and the 11th best time. Giancarlo Fisichella split the STR duo in tenth in the new Force India Mercedes.

While this is the end of the Barcelona group test, Brawn Mercedes, McLaren Mercedes, Renault and Williams Toyota now travel to Jerez to start another test programme commencing Sunday morning.

Barcelona - 12/03/2009
F1-live.com
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Hamilton honoured at Buckingham Palace


Although his attention is now firmly focused on his campaign for the forthcoming season, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton took time to reflect on his title-winning success of 2008 on Tuesday, as he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace in London. World champion Hamilton was named in the New Year Honours list in January in recognition of his services to motor racing.

“To go to the Palace today and meet Her Majesty The Queen was an incredible experience, following what has been an intense, exciting and unbelievable 12 months of my life,” said the British driver after receiving his award. “I’m so proud of the reception I have received from everybody in the United Kingdom.

“People’s enthusiasm and support - even during the tough times - really kept me going and helped me through an extremely demanding year. To be recognised alongside the people who make an outstanding and selfless contribution to society, is truly humbling and I’d like to thank Her Majesty The Queen, her Government and the British public for bestowing this honour on me.

“I’d also like to thank my family for sharing my dream and helping to make it a reality. Last but not least, I’d also like to thank my team - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - for taking a chance on me when I was 13 years old. I still can’t believe I’m in Formula One and that I’m now a world champion - it’s incredible.”

Hamilton was honoured alongside around 120 others, as the Queen officially oversaw the investiture in the Palace’s State Ballroom.
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Barcelona day four - dazzling Barrichello ends test on a high


The potent pace of the Brawn BGP 001 continued to impress at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday, as this week’s multi-team test - the last before the season opening Australian Grand Prix later this month - drew to a close.

Rubens Barrichello finished fastest in the newly-launched car, clocking a best time of 1m 18.926s to finish eight-tenths of a second ahead of Williams’ Nico Rosberg.

Third quickest was Toyota’s Timo Glock, who covered 128 laps. Glock’s programme focused on the TF109’s set-up, and even though he stopped on the circuit with a mechanical problem on his last lap, the German was pleased at the end of the session.

"That was another useful day to round off our good winter of testing,” he said. “We did more work on set-up and long runs and everything went well until the very last lap! Still, overall the car feels strong and we seem to have good pace so we can look forward to Australia. Of course we'll only see the real results on Saturday in Melbourne but everyone at Toyota can be happy with our work so far.”

More details to follow.

Unofficial Thursday times from Barcelona:
1. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn BGP 001, 1:18.926
2. Nico Rosberg, Williams FW31, 1:19.774
3. Timo Glock, Toyota TF109, 1:20.091
4. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB5, 1:20.576
5. Fernando Alonso, Renault R29, 1:20.664
6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari F60, 1:20.677
7. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber F1.09, 1:20.740
8. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-24, 1:20.869
9. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso STR4, 1:21.013
10. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India VJM02, 1:21.045
11. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso STR4, 1:21.629

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