Rain hits Spanish testing

With just a few weeks to go until the season opening Australian Grand Prix, the penultimate group test at Jerez today was hit by heavy rain ensuring that the lap times around the 4.428km Spanish test venue remained over ten seconds adrift of those recorded in the dry yesterday.

With the conditions proving tricky, the times today do not particularly reflect the pace expected come Melbourne and one notable name missing from the timing screen today was Felipe Massa who was scheduled to run for Ferrari for the second day of the test.

Timo Glock suffered an off into the gravel trap in the morning session, but still topped the timesheets in his Toyota TF109. Glock completed 89 laps, his fastest of 1:30.979s coming on his 83rd lap of the day.

Robert Kubica was second fastest in his BMW Sauber, just four-tenths shy of pace-setter Glock while Nico Rosberg posted the third best time just a fraction slower in his Williams Toyota.

Giancarlo Fisichella was again back behind the wheel of the brand new Mercedes-powered Force India as the Italian veteran was able to put another 54 laps on the VJM02 package.

For the second straight day Sebastien Vettel was left stranded on circuit as his Renault-powered RB4 let him down. Vettel, who set the pace yesterday in the dry with a best lap of 1:19.055s, had to be content today with the fifth best time.

Heikki Kovalainen took over testing duties at McLaren Mercedes from Pedro de la Rosa and set the sixth fastest time ahead of Nelson Piquet in the Renault.

Testing continues on Tuesday.

Jerez - 02/03/2009
1 . T. Glock - Toyota TF109 - 1:30.979 (+ 0.000 ) - 89 laps
2 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 1:31.327 (+ 0.348 ) - 70 laps
3 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW31 - 1:31.451 (+ 0.472 ) - 114 laps
4 . G. Fisichella - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 1:31.547 (+ 0.568 ) - 54 laps
5 . S. Vettel - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 1:32.220 (+ 1.241 ) - 102 laps
6 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 1:33.371 (+ 2.392 ) - 91 laps
7 . N. Piquet - Renault R29 - 1:33.476 (+ 2.497 ) - 66 laps
8 . F. Massa - Ferrari F60 - No Time (+ N/A ) - 0 laps.

Earl ALEXANDER
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The British-based F1 teams, including Red Bull Racing, must be thinking it’s time to return to 'the good old days' and carry out winter testing at Silverstone.

While England basked in unseasonably warm and sunny weather, Jerez circuit was hit by heavy and continuous rain.

The original plan had been for the team and Sebastian Vettel to carry out development testing of RB5 in the morning, before tackling a race simulation in the afternoon.

The wet track saw the morning programme replaced with a run through of pit lane procedures and pit stops. This proved useful as this was the first time with the new car.

Despite stopping on track with a mechanical problem, Vettel later successfully completed the race distance.

Vettel was fifth fastest, putting in 102 laps in total.

Tomorrow, Mark Webber takes over behind the wheel, for the remaining three days of this five day session.

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With the day washed out by heavy rain, the McLaren Mercedes programme was necessarily limited by the poor conditions.

Heikki Kovalainen, who unfortunately seems to bring the wet weather with him whenever he tests MP4-24, spent the day evaluating different brakes and set-ups and set the sixth fastest time.

The rain allowed the team to sample Bridgestone’s new-compound intermediate tyre, but offered limited insight into its performance as the persistent rain meant the day was spent largely running on extremes.

The team also spent time assessing optimum KERS deployment in the wet conditions, which proved highly productive as 91 laps were completed in total.

Kovalainen remains with the test team on Tuesday.

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On a completely wet track, BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica today concentrated on set-up work.

It was the first time the team had the opportunity to collect data on the F1.09 in wet conditions as the team spent two weeks in Bahrain while many others remains in Europe to test.

However, the conditions activated a water-activated false electrical alarm which caused Kubica to stop on the track.

For the rest of the day the car ran without any problems, giving driver and engineers the chance to gain more knowledge about the 2009 car on unchanged wet tyres.

Kubica completed 70 laps, recorded the second fastest time of the day, and also carried out a few race start simulations.

"Because of the reduced downforce, the F1. 09’s behaviour in wet conditions is quite different to last year’s car," Kubica explained. "There’s less grip, which makes the car slide more."

Kubica will again be at the wheel of the F1.09; from Wednesday on Nick Heidfeld will take over testing duties.

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Ferrari had hoped to test 2010 tyres today, following in the footsteps of BMW Sauber and McLaren Mercedes who ran the tyres on Sunday.

However, it seems as if this year the clouds follow the team around the globe for its test sessions.

Today heavy rain fell at Jerez and the team opted not to run Felipe Massa as scheduled.

Massa is expected to return to the cockpit of the new F60 on Tuesday.

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The weather hampered proceedings as Toyota continued this week's test at Jerez.

After a largely clear session of running yesterday, the heavens opened before the start of Monday's action and the rain persisted for the whole of the day.

With temperatures only just making it into double figures it was a cool day's work for Timo Glock who set the fastest time of the day on a 1:30.979s, despite an off in the morning.

The team were however able to run through a full programme of wet weather work.

Timo Glock
"It tends to be difficult to carry out meaningful testing when there is so much rain. The conditions made things tricky again today but at least it stayed consistently wet so we were able to go through some work on set-up and tyres."

"It also gave me a chance to get used to pushing the TF109 in these conditions and we put more mileage on the car. It felt good again, just like in Portugal last month, so I'm happy with the day. "

Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis
"Wet weather usually makes it hard to carry out comparative testing but today was a very interesting day because the track stayed consistently wet throughout the sessions."

"That allowed us to do some useful work on set-up and tyres so we made the most out of the running time. The TF109 continues to be reliable and we were able to carry out a full day's work, collecting some helpful data."

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Bahrain is hoping to capitalise on the global recession by attracting more European visitors than usual to the Grand Prix next month.

According to the local Gulf Daily News, some tickets for the 2009 event at Sakhir have been slashed by more than 40 percent.

"We expect that a lot of businesses that would normally travel to far away races will be looking carefully at Bahrain," Chief Executive Martin Whitaker said.

"Ultimately, yes they will be looking at their cash flow, but at the same time they will be looking at maybe not travelling to Australia, China and Malaysia, but considering the shorter haul route to Bahrain," he added.

Source: GMM
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A spokesman for Emirates has denied speculation linking the Dubai based airline with title sponsorship of the rescued Honda F1 team.

We reported a rumour on Monday that the company, the eighth largest airline in the world, might back the Brackley-based team in 2009 following reports of a Ross Brawn-led management buyout.

In the media recently, Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum has been quoted as strongly backing the concept of sports sponsorship: "We believe sponsorships are one of the best ways to connect with our passengers. ”

"They allow us to share and support their interests and to build a closer relationship with them."

But an Emirates spokesman is quoted as saying in the Dutch media: "We are currently not seeking new sponsorship agreements."

Source: GMM
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Scuderia Toro Rosso today began the closed-door shakedown programme for its new 2009 challenger, the Ferrari-powered STR4 at Adria Raceway.

Contrary to earlier reports, the new car is being shaken down by Sebastien Bourdais and not new rookie team-mate Sebastian Buemi.

In addition, we previously reported that the test would take place on Wednesday but the test had been brought forward one day.

“The programme has changed,” a spokesperson told ESPN Racing-Live.com. “Bourdais is doing the shake down today. Being a private close door test, things can easily change.”

The team is expected to take part in the Barcelona group test which begins next Monday.

Earl ALEXANDER
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Renault team boss Flavio Briatore has made clear his expectation that Nelson Piquet impress in 2009.

Piquet, 23, had a poor debut last year, scoring 42 fewer points than team-mate Fernando Alonso, who won two races.

In an interview with Italian radio, Briatore spoke glowingly of the French squad's double world champion, praising the Spaniard's ‘incredible determination’ involving a winter cycling programme of 200 kilometres per day.

Turning his attention to Piquet, however, the Italian mogul added: "At the moment he would not win the world championship in a Renault or a Ferrari.”

"He is a mysterious character," the Spanish news agency EFE quotes Briatore as saying. "His last name is not going to make him any faster. "

Referring to the same radio interview, the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport also quotes Briatore as saying: "I have tried once again to develop a young guy into an established driver.”

"This year will show us whether we chose the right young guy," the 58-year-old added.

E.A, Source: GMM
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