McLaren already a second quicker than yesterday, the car improving nicely! Lotus remind me of Sauber in 2010 testing and Torro Rosso in 2011 testing, everyone said they will be the team to look at because of their testing times, then come the first race, well you know.
The difference being that this is Raikonnen and not some second-rate journeyman, he has skills far above most of the drivers in the field, remember him hustling that dog of a ferrari to win spa when by rights that car should never have been near the podium!
Not to spark up a massive debate but similar to the BBC live feed, who do you think would be the best driver in identical cars?
After Schumacher's work yesterday I'm not sure what more Mercedes can learn about the tyres. Using the 2011 car is starting to look like a monumental waste of time to me.
If Lotus are pulling these lap times on their hot laps in the last test and have good average pace on long runs in the last test I then I will think they could get a few podiums. But not the 1st and 2nd test
Mercedes with a 1.17.613 showing the advantage of having a blown diffuser and a car they already know. I'm interested to see their new car at the next test, they're definitely a dangerous team.
11:46 Good news for Ferrari as Alonso completes his fastest lap of the day: a 1m20.412s 11:47 The F2012 is still a little twitchy in the corners 11:48 For the record, Alonso's time is also Ferrari's best lap at Jerez this week, some four tenths better than Massa's best from yesterday Still a bit of catch up work for Ferrari to do then. Mercedes can afford to go all out and not give anything away, in that sense they'll have a greater understanding of the tyres... just on the wrong car
HRT did fail their crash test. It was the roll hoop apparently: http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/hrts-battles-on/