The top teams are expected to be in the low 22's, possibly dipping into the 21's, so it looks as if nobody is showing their hand yet.
1 Webber Red Bull 1m22.544s 2 Button McLaren 1m23.782s +1.238 3 Heidfeld Renault 1m24.735s +2.191 4 Valsecchi Lotus 1m25.406s +2.862 5 Perez Sauber 1m25.443s +2.899 6 Hulkenberg Force India 1m26.030s +3.486 7 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m26.087s +3.543 8 D'Ambrosio Virgin 1m32.060s +9.516 New fastest laps for Button, Buemi and D'Ambrosio
The fastest lap of last year at Barcelona was 1.20.4 by L Hamilton so we are still 2 secs of the pace
I think Red Bull and Ferrari can go much faster. Possibly into the 1.21's - that said, they could have gone faster last year as well. So yeah 2 secs off the pace sounds right
2:15pm (ish) Update: 1 Webber Red Bull 1m22.544s 2 Button McLaren 1m22.910s +0.366 3 Heidfeld Renault 1m24.735s +2.191 4 Valsecchi Lotus 1m25.406s +2.862 5 Perez Sauber 1m25.443s +2.899 6 Hulkenberg Force India 1m26.030s +3.486 7 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m26.087s +3.543 8 Di Resta Force India 1m27.196s +4.652 9 D'Ambrosio Virgin 1m32.060s +9.516 10 Razia Lotus 1m34.467s +11.923
1 Webber Red Bull 68laps 2 Button McLaren 57laps 3 Heidfeld Renault 20laps 4 Valsecchi Lotus 50laps 5 Perez Sauber 57laps 6 Hulkenberg Force India 31laps 7 Buemi Toro Rosso 18laps 8 Di Resta Force India 7laps 9 D'Ambrosio Virgin 48laps 10 Razia Lotus 8laps
Worrying signs for McLaren. They started a race simulation this morning but their lap times were very slow. They had to abort it after the first stint. The first lap on heavy fuel was a 1:30.814 - and that was on soft tyres. Webber's race simulation on the 20th Feb started with a 1.29.7
Button did 2 installation/out laps before they set that time as well, possibly to simulate 1 lap quali wear. They've also got that big bulge on the nose and the test struts going to the wings so who knows how that effects the car.
1 Webber Red Bull 1m22.544s 72laps 2 Button McLaren 1m22.910s +0.366 66laps 3 Heidfeld Renault 1m24.735s +2.191 20laps 4 Perez Sauber 1m25.269s +2.725 77laps 5 Valsecchi Lotus 1m25.406s +2.862 50laps 6 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m26.004s +3.460 29laps 7 Hulkenberg Force India 1m26.030s +3.486 31laps 8 Di Resta Force India 1m26.785s +4.241 18laps 9 Petrov Renault 1m28.200s +5.656 8laps 10 D'Ambrosio Virgin 1m32.060s +9.516 57laps 11 Razia Lotus 1m34.467s +11.923 8laps
Im pretty impressed with Valsecchi, He has been getting F1 experiance with a few teams now and Im sure he will break into F1 very soon.
1 Perez Sauber 1m21.176s 2 Webber Red Bull 1m22.544s +1.368 3 Button McLaren 1m22.910s +1.734 4 Petrov Renault 1m22.937s +1.761 5 Heidfeld Renault 1m24.735s +3.559 6 Di Resta Force India 1m25.039s +3.863 7 Valsecchi Lotus 1m25.406s +4.230 8 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m26.004s +4.828 9 Hulkenberg Force India 1m26.030s +4.854 10 Razia Lotus 1m26.723s +5.547 11 D'Ambrosio Virgin 1m32.060s +10.884
From Autosport live feed: 16:03 Perez may have jumped the chicane to set his time Hope he didn't and the time is real
Autosport say he was fastest by 2 seconds in the final sector, so he definitely jumped the chicane. Sauber have looked strong throughout testing, up there with Torro Rosso and Williams IMO
Virgin 5 seconds off the pace of Lotus? If thats the margin on similar fuel and tyres, they've got a hell of a lot of work to do. Interesting that a GP2 driver could put that Lotus ahead of some other teams (albeit probably with less fuel) I think they're definitely improving. Can't wait to see how slow HRT are tomorrow - if they get out of the garage!
