Rosberg fastest on Saturday at Barcelona - Formula 1 news - GPUpdate.net


Nico Rosberg has registered the best lap time in Spain as the penultimate day of pre-season testing was staged at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. The German Mercedes driver topped the timesheets with a best effort of 1:20.686 despite suffering a stoppage with 45 minutes to go.

With Mark Webber and Nico Hülkenberg having topped the timesheets on the first two of four days in Spain, the weather took a turn for the worse as the weekend began, with the mass crowds unfortunately having to resort to raincoats and umbrellas at some points due to rain showers during the afternoon.

With air temperatures in the early teens and track temperatures in the late teens, however, conditions did not come anywhere near as close to the poor weather witnessed in Jerez last time out. With installation laps beginning as usual at 9am, Jenson Button brought proceedings to a halt for ten minutes from quarter past the hour as the McLaren stopped in the last sector due to a sensor problem.

With the rain making an appearance at 11am, Kamui Kobayashi was the first to be caught out in the downhill braking zone of the left-handed Turn 5 hairpin; the Japanese driver slid off the circuit before rejoining through the gravel trap.

The Sauber's off-track move was followed by a spin for Rubens Barrichello's Williams 15 minutes later as the former Brawn driver's reverse parking into the gravel caused the day's second stoppage; a final stoppage for the Brazilian just before the conclusion of the session confirmed that the day ended under red flags once again.

Stoppage is also a work likely to be associated with Red Bull Racing today as Sebastian Vettel had completed only three laps by 3pm when the German finally returned to the track...just in time for the next rain shower.

Fastest man Rosberg came to a halt at Turn 6 in the last 45 minutes of the session before Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso stopped at Turn 15 a quarter of an hour later, with both incidents resulting in 10-minute red flag periods. Virgin Racing, having investigated the cause for Lucas di Grassi's Thursday crash and welcoming company Chairman Sir Richard Branson to the circuit today, ran into trouble in the afternoon when a standard car check revealed a fuel leak.

 

For me, the biggest question mark is Lotus.

How will they perform??

They have two veteran and crafty drivers. But they are a new team and wrecked several times during the test sessions.

Also, Kov has admitted a lack of downforce.

I want to add Kov and/or Trulli to my Fantasy lineup but am not sure how they will do.

Oh . . . The horror . . . The horror.

 

Yeah, I really want Lotus to do well this season too. I don't think they'll have a particularly strong start, but hopefully the team will learn a lot this year and finish the season strong.

It's also nice to see all these great photos! Did the FIA ban wheel covers this year?

 

When did Ferrari start using the shark fin?

 

yessir

this is the first time they have implemented it. if you notice it's not a traditional "shark fin" design.

 

I noticed that they began using it in 2008-2009. It wasn't exactly the same but very similar.

They alternate the long fin for a shorter one based on the circuit and conditions.

I have an F1 Technical Analysis book from 2008-2009 that shows the way the car changed from race to race.

 

Oh ok. It was weird seeing it on a Ferrari at first.

 

Yeah. I am looking at my book right now.

Check out the car from Hokenheim, Valencia and Fuji 2008-2009.

They used the longer fin design in those 3 races.

 

yes, they copied red bull (as did many others) last season with the traditional "shark fin" but this new design is not considered a "shark fin" but an integrated fairing (it's just easier to keep calling it that). this is a wholly new design and you might see it spread around the paddock fairly quickly. the problem of crosswinds is still an issue though when using these type of aerodynamic devices.

 

I like that. Integrated Fairing. Just rolls off the tongue.