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[Frosty]

It seems to me that the 09 cars could be quite a lot faster than the 08 cars which is a bit of a surprise because quite a few people expected them to be slower!

[JackBauer]

It seems to me that the 09 cars could be quite a lot faster than the 08 cars which is a bit of a surprise because quite a few people expected them to be slower!

It happens all the time in F1. Regulations attempt to slow the cars down but teams get them back up to speed - you remember when everybody thought there would be a fall in lap times when the cars switched from v10 to v8 engines back in 2006? Where theres a will theres a way!

If they have a good car then BMW will be major title contenders. Kubica is just getting better and better and is a whole lot more consistent than other drivers on the grid at the moment. Some say Heidfeld got the better of him the season before. But how long has he been around compared to Kubica? After Rubens, Fisi, Jarno and Button hes the most experienced in F1.

I suppose with BMW as with any team it will come down to who the new car will suit better. Who knows? Heidfeld could shut up his critics very much like Massa did last year and Kubica may turn into this years Raikonnen. I don't think it will happen but you never know in F1! thats the beauty of it

[Gaz]

1. J. Button Brawn GP BGP 001 1:20.313 46
2. T. Glock Toyota TF109 1:21.046 +0.733 34
3. F. Alonso Renault R29 1:21.100 +0.787 28 pit
4. R. Kubica BMW Sauber F1.09 1:21.201 +0.888 30
5. S. Vettel Red Bull Racing RB5 1:21.242 +0.929 33 pit
6. N. Rosberg Williams FW31 1:21.482 +1.169 22 pit
7. G. Fisichella Force India VJM-02 1:21.572 +1.259 22 pit
8. L. Hamilton McLaren MP4-24 1:21.657 +1.344 27 pit
9. S. Buemi Toro Rosso STR4 1:21.955 +1.642 29
10. F. Massa Ferrari F60 1:22.326 +2.013 8 pit

[bud]

coureur team wagen tijd verschil #
1. J. Button Brawn GP BGP 001 1:19.127 93 pit
2. F. Massa Ferrari F60 1:20.168 +1.041 27
3. T. Glock Toyota TF109 1:20.410 +1.283 88 pit
4. F. Alonso Renault R29 1:20.863 +1.736 65 pit
5. S. Vettel Red Bull Racing RB5 1:21.165 +2.038 54 pit
6. R. Kubica BMW Sauber F1.09 1:21.201 +2.074 71
7. N. Rosberg Williams FW31 1:21.407 +2.280 36
8. G. Fisichella Force India VJM-02 1:21.545 +2.418 59 pit
9. S. Buemi Toro Rosso STR4 1:21.569 +2.442 72 pit
10. L. Hamilton McLaren MP4-24 1:21.657 +2.530 58 pit

[Stealthgate007]

coureur team wagen tijd verschil #
1. J. Button Brawn GP BGP 001 1:19.127 93 pit
2. F. Massa Ferrari F60 1:20.168 +1.041 27
3. T. Glock Toyota TF109 1:20.410 +1.283 88 pit
4. F. Alonso Renault R29 1:20.863 +1.736 65 pit
5. S. Vettel Red Bull Racing RB5 1:21.165 +2.038 54 pit
6. R. Kubica BMW Sauber F1.09 1:21.201 +2.074 71
7. N. Rosberg Williams FW31 1:21.407 +2.280 36
8. G. Fisichella Force India VJM-02 1:21.545 +2.418 59 pit
9. S. Buemi Toro Rosso STR4 1:21.569 +2.442 72 pit
10. L. Hamilton McLaren MP4-24 1:21.657 +2.530 58 pit

From this it looks like the worst is the best and the best is the worst.

[iPod]

Button P1 with a 1:19.127? A full second faster than the Ferrari? I know it's only testing but it's still really good news. They have made an absolutely amazing start. The good thing is that they put some nice mileage on the car too, which is pretty awesome. I can't wait to see how fast they are in Melbourne! Only 2 weeks to go now!!!

[Frosty]

LH Crashes after 58 laps!

[Stealthgate007]

You've got to be f'n kidding me...

[McLaren Fan]

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 937487.stm

McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has insisted McLaren will be title contenders in 2009, despite an apparent lack of pace in pre-season testing.

World champion Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen lagged behind their rivals in testing ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on 29 March.

But Dennis told BBC Sport: "Whatever performance level McLaren have today we will be a competitive racing team.

"That means we will be fighting for the world championship."

While Ferrari have been consistently fast during pre-season testing, McLaren appear to be some way off the pace of their main rivals.

During this week's test in Barcelona, McLaren's Kovalainen was more than two and a half seconds down on Nick Heidfeld's fastest time for BMW Sauber on Monday.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen topped Tuesday's timesheets, while another low-key showing for McLaren resulted in Kovalainen being 1.677 seconds adrift.

Over a string of consecutive laps, McLaren are also running behind Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota and the new Brawn GP cars, which only made their track debut on Friday.

However, Dennis underlined the importance of not reading too much into testing times, when comparisons can often be skewed by each team's individual programmes.

"The objective is to go to Australia and be the most competitive car there, not to come out of every single test at the top of the timesheets," he said.

"Testing is about a disciplined approach to making the car go faster and you have to ignore the performance of the other teams."

The raft of rule changes for the new season means the MP4-24 is vastly different to Hamilton's 2008 title-winning car, with reduced aerodynamics and slick tyres.

McLaren have raised eyebrows by running last season's rear wing - which is much taller and narrower than the 2009 version - during early testing in Portugal and Jerez.

We had a strategy for this year to leave it to the last possible moment to produce our aerodynamic package

Although the McLarens are now only using this season's component in Barcelona, Dennis conceded the development of the car is a little behind schedule.

"We lost some time," stated Dennis, who stepped down as team principal at the end of February, handing over the reins to Martin Whitmarsh.

"We had a strategy for this year to leave it to the last possible moment to produce our aerodynamic package for the Australian Grand Prix.

"That in itself gave us some production challenges and we have really only started to run the car in the last day with the Australian aero package.

"We ran the 2008 rear wing because it was more relevant in its performance to the wing that we are going to have in Australia.

"It doesn't mean you are lost or that you don't know what you are doing.

"Whereas our main competitors are finishing testing in two days we still have the ability to test next week in Jerez.

"When we get to Australia that will be the first measurement of everyone's performance.

"We expect our car to go faster with every Grand Prix and we expect to maintain our pace to allow us to win the world championship."

The 2009 season begins in Melbourne with first practice at Albert Park on 27 March.

[McLaren Fan]

From: F1 Fanatic:

Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren was at the bottom of the testing times today, 2.6s slower than Nick Heidfeld’s BMW.

McLaren haven’t shown much pace in the pre-season build-up so far, and speculation abounds as to whether the MP4-24 is a dud, or whether they’re ’sandbagging’ to fool the opposition. Let’s put the theories to the test.
The ‘they’re just slow’ theory

After the MP4-24 hit the track for the first time murmurs from Woking suggested the car producing more drag than computer simulations had suggested it would.

The sight of McLaren mechanics conducting flow-vis tests (applying liquid to the car to study how the air moves around it at speed) fuelled suggestions that what they expected from the new car and what they got were not in agreement with each other.

On top of that McLaren have spent most of the tests so far using a 2008-specification rear wing. Was this because of some defect in the 2009 design?

This could be a huge and fundamental setback for the team of the type that plagued Renault in 2007 - the team went from world champions one year to non-winners the next.
The ‘they’re sandbagging’ theory

The problem with testing is it’s hard to find out what each team is doing, and how much fuel they’re running with. At F1 Insight yesterday Steven Roy had heard a rumour that Kovalainen was persistently backing off to avoid setting quick times in Spain.

The theory that McLaren were hiding their pace is bolstered by a story on Autosport drawing attention to McLaren’s radical new floor arrangement (not shown in the picture above). Craig Scarborough explains:

A triangular section of floor is missing between the forward part of the floor, which follows the curve of the sidepods, and a squared off edge just ahead of the diffuser. [...]

A diffuser creates its downforce at two points: firstly at the kick-line between the diffuser/floor, then secondly at its leading edge. By effectively moving this leading edge backwards, McLaren are also moving the downforce it creates towards the rear. This may be part of a McLaren strategy to focus downforce production on the front wing and diffuser, as both devices are efficient at creating downforce with little drag.

This in turn could explain why McLaren have been using their 2008 wing for so long. The team had said they were using it to ’simulate 2009 downforce levels’: so perhaps they were expecting to get a lot more downforce from the final configuration including the shaped rear floor and final specification rear wing?

Lewis Hamilton will be hoping it’s the latter - or his world championship title defence might not last very long.

Are McLaren stealthily playing down the performance of their car? Or are they set for another uncompetitive season as they had in 2004 and 2006? Share your thoughts in the comments.

[JackBauer]

It's natural for a team to downplay their problems. Any organisation would do the same thing if they came up against criticism.

I think we need to keep it into perspective that this is only testing. McLaren may in fact have a problem but they do have an extra test session next week (whereas i believe ferrari dont) in order to run race simulations and make their final preparations.

[EwanM]

I don't think they are playing Stealth to anything. It now appears more than likely Mclaren will be off the pace at the start of the season. They'll improve though as the season progresses no doubt.

[Gaz]

Not good, i perfered it when they kept quiet but i doubt Ron would call a double bluff.

if its another close seaon Mclaren can't be off the pace for a few races..

[Bruno_Brazil]

BGP, BGP...

I was anxious for the season start...now I'M CRAZY !!!

I just can't wait anymore...AHHHHHHHHH

[Denthúl]

The team also said that they knew Lewis would pass Glock and win the championship. I didn't believe that, either...