Testing continues at Sakhir with Schumacher and Massa


Maranello, 15th February 2006

Circuit: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir - (5.417 km)
Drivers: Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher
Cars: F2004 and 248 F1
Weather: air temperature 24/29 °C, track temperature 25/39 °C. Partially cloudy.

Third day of testing this week for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, working once again today at the Sakhir circuit, in Bahrain.

Today's schedule was centred on tyre testing, set-up work and electronics for both drivers. Felipe Massa, at the wheel of an F2004, fitted with a regulated power version of the V10 engine completed 92 laps, the quickest in 1'30"029. Driving a 248 F1, Michael Schumacher did 37 laps, the quickest in 1'32"229: because of a mechanical problem, the German had to stop running at the end of the morning session.

Testing continues at this circuit tomorrow, once again with Schumacher and Massa on track.

The first day of testing for the Renault F1 Team saw Giancarlo and Heikki make good progress with their programmes.


The morning dawned cool, but sunny, in Valencia as the Renault F1 Team prepared for the first day of this week?s test. Its competitors had begun working yesterday, meaning the track was already in good working order when the team began running.

As has become usual this winter in Valencia, the start time was pushed back by one hour to 1000, to allow the teams to make the most of the lunchtime period when track conditions are often at their best. It was exactly 1004 when both of the R26 chassis nosed out of the pits, and headed for an exploratory installation lap.

Heikki Kovalainen then spent a busy morning completing a race simulation, and taking his RS26 V8 engine to full mileage. By 1300, the young Finn had already completed 90 laps, and reached his target for the powerplant. He therefore peeled into the pits, and the team set to work on a planned change of the unit. He completed his day?s running later on with a brake development programme, completing 115 laps in total.

As for Giancarlo Fisichella, his programme began fully just before lunch, when track temperature had risen enough to allow reliable results from the tyre and set-up testing he was scheduled to conduct. In spite of delays owing to minor problems on the car, and several red flags that interrupted running, he was able to complete a series of medium-distance runs as he tested new set-ups and the latest developments from Michelin.

At the end of a day which saw the Renault drivers finish third (HK) and fourth (GF) on the timesheets, Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk commented: "Heikki enjoyed a very good morning, and completed a race simulation without any problems. We then changed his engine, and completed a short brake programme this afternoon. Giancarlo had a more difficult time, with several small problems holding him up, and red flags interrupting his runs. In spite of this, we had a good day overall, and once again managed to do plenty of laps."

MF1 Racing Valencia Test - Day Two


Weather Conditions: Dry and Sunny
Driver: Christijan Albers
Chassis: M16-02
Engine: Toyota
Fastest Lap: 1.12.91
Number of Laps: 64
Distance: 255 km

Test Summary: Christijan Albers drove the new car today, concentrating mainly on tyre and weight distribution tests. Unfortunately, he lost some track time and was forced to return to the garage after coming into contact with a piece of debris on the track.

Quote: Christijan Albers - "Having not been at this track for six years, I had some difficulty remembering the circuit very well in the beginning. We made reasonable progress today but still need to find more performance. Every day we are getting closer, which is positive. Toward the end of the day it gets a bit more difficult to see on the track due to the low sun, but all in all, it was a good day."

Driver: Giorgio Mondini
Chassis: EJ15B-03
Engine: Toyota
Fastest Lap: 1.14.66
Number of Laps: 83
Distance: 331 km

Test Summary: Giorgio Mondini completed his objective of running more than 300 km today. Despite a number of red flags, he did an excellent job of working through the program that was set out for him.

Quote: Giorgio Mondini - "The car feels great, and I found it to be a very interesting day. The circuit has some great corners and is fun to drive on. I am satisfied with today?s performance. The objective was to complete over 300km, which we did with consistent times. I was very happy with the way things were explained to me and I hope the team gained some useful information, as well."

Alonso unimpressed by Rossi switch


MADRID, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso says he is unimpressed with his motorcycling counterpart Valentino Rossi's attempts at trying out on four wheels.

"I'm glad that Rossi has tested with Ferrari because that means they have lost valuable time preparing the cars for the show they put on," the Spaniard told a news conference at a promotional event in Madrid on Thursday.

"Let him come and drive. It will be good because there will be more media attention.
Until we see him race we won't know his true potential, but it will be very difficult for him. He might finish fifth or even get on the podium some time, but I could do the same on the bikes if I was given a bit of time to practise."

Rossi, winner in motorcycling's top category for the past five years, tested with Ferrari in Spain earlier this month and is seen as a serious prospect to switch from two wheels to four in the future.

Despite a few spins, the 27-year-old Italian acquitted himself well in testing and seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher said he has the talent to make it in Formula One.

Testing times - Feb 17th, 2006
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Development of the 248 F1 day with Michael Schumacher


Maranello, 17th February 2006

Circuit: Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir - (5.417 km)
Driver: Michael Schumacher
Car: 248 F1
Weather: Air temperature 18/22°C, track temperature 20/26 °C. Cloudy, very windy

Fifth day of testing this week for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, working once again today at the Sakhir circuit, in Bahrain.

The day's programme was centred on development of the 248 F1 and the Bridgestone tyres with Michael Schumacher at the wheel. The German driver completed a total of 92 laps, the quickest in a time of 1'32" 702.

Testing at this circuit will resume on Sunday 19th February: on track will be Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa.




Honda well prepared for opening GP in Bahrain


Having seen its two RA006 cars cover more than 4600kms and set the pace among the V8 runners during four days of testing in Bahrain, the Honda Racing F1 Team was encouraged by its achievements in the Middle East.

"It was good to be in Bahrain for our first test at this circuit, not only because it is the venue for the first Grand Prix of the year, but also because the circuit layout is technically very good to test the car and of course the weather is much warmer than in Europe! We have learnt a great deal about the car and the tyres this week to be really prepared for the first race of 2006," reported Mark Ellis, Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance.

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director at Honda Racing Development, was equally encouraged by the performance and reliability displayed by the latest specification of Honda RA806E V8 engine. He said: "The Bahrain circuit is quite hard on the engine and we have had a couple of problems as we seek to run the engines for longer at higher revs. On the other hand, two engines have run over 1000kms without any problems, so we are heading in the right direction. We have more improvements to come for next week in Barcelona."




Räikkönen on fire in Valencia


On the final day of testing in Valencia Kimi Räikkönen improved the best time set this year at the Ricardo Tormo track. The McLaren driver was the first to set a time under 1.10sec. which is half a second faster than current world champion Fernando Alonso.

Kimi Räikkönen completed 81 laps today at Valencia without any major problems. Giancarlo Fisichella was able to complete 83 laps, but his day was not without any problems. In the afternoon the Italian had to stop the Renault at the track with what looked like an electronic problem.

At the end of the day Tiago Monteiro caused a red flag as he spun into the gravel. His team mate, Midland test driver Adrian Sutil, also caused a red flag today.

1 K. Räikkönen McLaren 01:09.987 81
2 G. Fisichella Renault 01:10.921 83
3 H. Kovalainen Renault 01:11.071 161
4 D. Coulthard Red Bull 01:11.076 34
5 P. de la Rosa McLaren 01:11.245 113
6 A. Sutil Midland F1 01:13.027 73
7 T. Monteiro Midland F1 01:13.815 93

Huh...?

Huh...?

PMSL:D :D

-Dan

Hahahaha! That is gold :D

PMSL thats tops :p

'Mercedes engine is the least powerful on the grid'


McLaren could be losing as much as 35bhp to their Cosworth-powered rivals ahead of the new season with their Mercedes engine reputedly the weakest on the grid.

According to a specially-commissioned survey for F1-Racing magazine, Cosworth have been packing the heaviest punch in winter testing despite being the only privateer engine builder on the grid.

While Mercedes' 2.4 V8 engine is estimated to be revving a maximum of just 710bhp, Cosworth's is apparently reaching 745bhp, with Ferrari and Honda at 730bhp.

The unreliability of the Mercedes engine was the principal factor in McLaren’s failure to win either World Championship last season and earlier this week - a week which also witnessed Kimi Raikkonen enduring yet another engine malfunction - Mercedes boss Nobert Haug admitted that the team was struggling to compete.

Some teams are ahead of us, which we wouldn't mind but only if we had another month to prepare," he told Motorsport Aktuell magazine.

"We have not had a dream start. We are behind where we want to be."

Who thinks Williams has a chance of doing ok this year? :)

If the trend continues from Winter testing, I'd say they definately have chance of doing very well.

McLaren conclude Valencia testing


Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa today continued the week's programme of set-up work and component evaluation, which covered overall car development and specific work for the first three races.

Kimi, who set the fastest time of the day and week with a 1m09.987, completed over 320km, whilst Pedro racked up 450km over 113 laps. The Spaniard set the fifth quickest time of the day. Today's running took the total for MP4-21 to approx 5100km since its first shakedown on Monday 23rd January.

The test began on Tuesday with Juan Pablo Montoya and Pedro shaking down the second and third MP4-21 chassis, which arrived in Valencia from the McLaren Technology Centre over the weekend.

The two MP4-21s were debuting the new Team McLaren Mercedes chrome livery on track.

The shakedown saw Juan Pablo and Pedro complete the required systems checks for the new cars, and then during the course of the afternoon both drivers began to complete longer runs. By the end of the day Juan Pablo and Pedro had covered around 600km in total.

Wednesday saw Kimi arrive in Spain to join Juan Pablo. The Colombian's focus for the day was completing a race distance, which included pit stop practice with the new cars. Kimi's programme saw him work on set-up programmes for the opening races over shorter runs, and the Finn set the second fastest time of the day.

Juan Pablo and Kimi continued testing together on Thursday, and they covered a total of 485km.

The test programme will switch to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona next week for a three day session with Kimi and Juan Pablo again driving two MP4-21s.

KIMI RAIKKONEN

"It has been an encouraging week at the test; I have covered good mileage in the MP4-21 in dry track conditions and worked through a number of development programmes with the team. Next week I will be in Barcelona for my final test before going to Bahrain, I have three days in the car there and I am looking forward to carrying on with the work from this week."

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA

"We have made some progress with our testing programme in Valencia. I have now reached a total of nearly 750km in the MP4-21 there this week, which included a race simulation on Wednesday. The car is constantly developing, but there is still a lot of work to do. Everyone in the team is working really hard at the moment and I feel we are moving in the right direction."

PEDRO DE LA ROSA

"I would say that the MP4-21 is definitely improving at the moment, we made a step forward this week and are looking to carry this momentum forward into the next test in Barcelona. I had two days in the car, including the shakedown on Tuesday, and covered over 860km."

Bit old now, but was looking back through the archives this arvo and spotted this pic...

http://www.mini2.com/forum/attachment110313.jpg

:cool:

If the trend continues from Winter testing, I'd say they definately have chance of doing very well.

Cosworth V8, tried and tested...

Who thinks Williams has a chance of doing ok this year? :)

I really want them to, but just don't want to get my hopes up to high and then have them before poorley...... I have been hurt before!!

-Dan

Williams might do well. I think that they had a big head start with the V8, so expect them to be pretty reliable.

In case you didnt know, check out the Sauber BMW website, you register online, take your old BMW WIlliams or Sauber (WHF buys that??) merchanise in to your dealer and they will give you a free BMW Sauber team hat.

The dealer will be allocated the hat once you register, so you have to register online. You get to keep your old hat too... ;) :)

I will be doing it when I get a chance...

Todd

Williams might do well. I think that they had a big head start with the V8, so expect them to be pretty reliable.

Todd

I am placing a lot of hope in the fact that cosworth really know what they are doing when it comes to V8's

-Dan

Williams might do well. I think that they had a big head start with the V8, so expect them to be pretty reliable.

In case you didnt know, check out the Sauber BMW website, you register online, take your old BMW WIlliams or Sauber (WHF buys that??) merchanise in to your dealer and they will give you a free BMW Sauber team hat.

The dealer will be allocated the hat once you register, so you have to register online. You get to keep your old hat too... ;) :)

I will be doing it when I get a chance...

Todd
I should get my **** into gear and do that :D.

I want Williams to do well this year, I really do.

Have I mentioned I love the orange Maccas?

Bit old now, but was looking back through the archives this arvo and spotted this pic...

http://www.mini2.com/forum/attachment110313.jpg

:cool:

I actually reckon it looks better than the chrome jobbie. :cool:

:indi:

It has a rough kinda no-bull look about it.

Like it is just made to race!!.. nothing fancy

-Dan

I should get my **** into gear and do that :D.


I just did it, it says you pick the hats up between March 13 and 24th or similar.

Dont miss out. It is a pretty nice way of getting a free $50 hat if you already have a BMW.Williams or Sauber jobbie... and you get to keep your old one... :)

Todd

Just printed out the forms for my Dad and I... nice way to get a free hat :D

Pictorial highlights from Valencia - 17th.

(pt. 1)

(pt. 2)

(pt. 3)

(pt. 4)

(pt. 5)


Last batch of highlights :)

NIIIIIIIIIICE!!!

-Dan

*PW*

From F1 magazine estimate of hp for teams

Max BHP Quali RPM Race RPM
1. Cosworth 2.4 V8 745 19,800 19,100
2. Honda 2.4 V8 730 19,300 18,500
3. Ferrari 2.4 V8 730 19,200 18,200
4. Cosworth 3.0 V10** 725 16,700 16,700
5. Toyota 2.4 V8 720 19,200 18,200
6. Renault 2.4 V8* 720 19,100 18,300
7. BMW 2.4 V8 715 18,900 18,100
8. Mercedes 2.4 V8 710 18,200 17,500