Following a chaotic Candian Grand Prix, things went back to normal as testing resumed at the Circuit de Catalunya on June 12, 2008. Canadian GP winner Robert Kubica and other podium finisher David Coulthard were the only regular drivers on hand for the first day of testing. Test drivers on hand included Gary Paffett for McLaren, Luca Badoer for Ferrari, Gp2 drivers Sebastian Buemi for Red Bull, Kamui Kobayashi for Toyota, and Romain Grosjean for Renault. Former Super Aguri driver Anthony Davidson was back at a Formula One wheel for Honda and Nico Hulkenberg for Williams Toyota.
GP2 Asia Champion Romain Grosjean had his first full day behind the wheel of the Renault, and completed only 60 laps after suffering an engine problem in the morning. This test is important for the Renault team as they have to take a decision on whether to continue development on the R28 or start focusing on next year's car. Badoer topped the times with a 1:22:412 followed closely by Kubica who did a 1:22:682 while the Red Bull's of Coulthard and Buemi came in 3rd and 4th respectively. Testing finished early with the final hour being disrupted by rain.
Day two saw the return of most of the regular drivers with Luca Badoer topping the times once again with a 1:21:013, a full second faster than the first day. Pedro De laRosa's McLaren finished second with a 1:21:374 with Timo Glock clocking a 1:21:574 in third place. Nelson Piquet, under pressure for his seat, finished a mammoth 129 laps before suffering engine problems. Grosjean also suffered the same problems yesterday, which could be a worry for the Enstone based team.
Day three saw Renault's Nelson Piquet topping the timesheets with a 1:20:076 followed by the Mclaren Mercedes of Pedro De la Rosa. While this was a definite confidence booster for Piquet, he was also quick to admit it was probably done with qualifying in mind.
Overall it was a useful test for most teams, with rain not playing too much of a role in the proceedings. McLaren Mercedes are confident that they have the fastest car on the grid and feel they have improved vastly in the high speed corners, where they were losing out to the Ferrari last year.
It is important to know that teams normally have a race team and test team. The test team have a separate team taking them from test to test to ease the burden off the race team. Obviously the teams with more money have the advantage of having more personnel at their disposal for a separate test team. Testing also provides teams to look into the abilities of various drivers, not only their speed but their technical feedback too. Drivers like Raikkonen prefer to stick to the driving side and dont get too involved in the technical side of things. Michael Schumacher was known for his involvement in the technical side of things, which helped him to be probably the most complete driver ever in Formula One, with Alain Prost a close second. Amongst today's drivers, the most complete driver would undoubtedly have to be Fernando Alonso. Alonso famously boasted last year that he brought six-tenths to the McLaren Mercedes, and this has been proved right as he has improved the Renault dramatically in the last couple of months.
Testing is an integral part of any team and the best time for teams to test out new parts, new designs and even new drivers. Let us see who has gained most from the test last week, when we head to Magny-Cours this weekend..
Monday, June 16, 2008
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