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[scotty]

Currently going on at Silverstone for Williams, Marussia and HRT... All other teams will test at Abu Dhabi at the end of the season.

Any thoughts on what is happening there thus far?

Or perhaps more pertinently, anyone else think that Williams, running test driver Bottas who has already had a lot of mileage in this seasons car, might be making a shrewd move by running here?

Weather has been dry so far.

[Nin-Chin]

F1 will make a return to Magny-Cours next month, marking the first time the sport has used the French track since 2008. The officially titled Circuit de Nevers will welcome a Young Driver test session between Tuesday 11 and Thursday 13 September.

Preferring to use the French track for the test instead of travelling to Abu Dhabi in November, Ferrari will be joined by Mercedes and Force India.


“I am thrilled to be able to confirm that Formula 1 cars will return to Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours next month,” says Serge Saulnier, Chairman of the Board at the venue. “We have worked tirelessly to upgrade the venue, which has just been homologated to F1 standards for another four years, and I am certain that the teams and drivers will appreciate the work that has been put in.

“What’s more, this is an extremely positive step forward as we seek to return Formula 1 racing to our circuit. With Magny-Cours a candidate to host future French Grands Prix, it will be fantastic to showcase the track and our staff’s know-how to the high-calibre F1 personnel who will be on-site.”

Magny-Cours hosted the French Grand Prix on 18 occasions from 1991, with Felipe Massa winning the last race for Ferrari after team-mate Kimi Räikkönen suffered a broken exhaust in 2008. The September test is likely to be met by criticism from rivals of the trio of teams which will be attending, who will argue that they are looking to gain a competitive advantage for the handful of Grands Prix still to run in the 2012 season.

[scotty]

Thanks for posting... used up my sodding allocation of news from Autosport for the month!

Good to see F1 back at Magny Cours, i like that track.

[LewEngBridewell]

The tears of times gone by will be awaken in the eyes of the neighbouring cows.... the only residents within reach of the circuit.

[vaptin]

Binachi giving a strong showing, despite being the Force India reserve driver, he is on Ferrari's development program and drove a Ferrari for day 1 and 3, with a Force India on day two, topping the times by some measure on all three days. Ferrari have been nurturing him for a few years now and it seems have bullied Force India into giving him track time, he's not had the best results, but often down to bad luck, he's clearly very fast.


Unofficial Thursday test times from Magny-Cours:
1. Jules Bianchi, Ferrari, 1m 16.985, 138 Laps
2. Rodolfo Gonzalez, Force India, 1m 18.018, 79 Laps
3. Brendon Hartley, Mercedes, 1m 18.671, 87 Laps
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/ ... 13798.html

Unofficial Wednesday test times from Magny-Cours:
1. Jules Bianchi, Force India, 1m 16.467, 117 Laps
2. Sam Bird, Mercedes, 1m 17.482, 125 Laps
3. Davide Rigon, Ferrari, 1m 17.925, 163 Laps

Unofficial Tuesday test times from Magny-Cours:
1. Jules Bianchi, Ferrari, 1m 18.070, 87 Laps
2. Luiz Razia, Force India, 1m 18.535, 65 Laps
3. Sam Bird, Mercedes, 1m 19.094, 95 Laps

[scotty]

The most important thing to come from these tests are the mileage these teams have gotten on car upgrades, especially Mercedes who ran some significant new exhaust and rear wing parts. These 3 teams might have pulled a nice trick from attending this test, i dunno why other teams thought it'd be good to wait... they won't get so much benefit from testing car updates.