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[EwanM]

Sandstorm stops testing at Sakhir

By Pablo Elizalde Thursday, February 12th 2009, 14:54 GMT


Testing at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain was forced to be cancelled on Thursday following another sandstorm.

While the three teams working there were hindered by the wind and the sand yesterday morning, today conditions were worse and they were unable to work at all today.

Kimi Raikkonen, Jarno Trulli and Robert Kubica were allowed to complete an installation lap each, but there was no more action during the day.

"I've never seen a sandstorm in the desert before so this is a new experience for me," said Trulli at the end of the day.

"It's obviously a pity that we have been stuck in the pits both yesterday and today. I went out for one installation lap in the morning and the track was covered in dust.

"My first test in Portugal was also heavily disrupted by the cold and the rain so I'm itching to have a real run in the car. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to do more work."

The poor conditions have meant a significant hit to the three teams, who believed the extra expenses of travelling to Bahrain would pay off with good weather.

Toyota's technical chief Pascal Vasselon had said ahead of the test that going to Bahrain was the best option for any team.

"For us testing in Bahrain is just the best value for money," said Vasselon. "There is a risk in Europe in the winter of spending your time in conditions that are totally irrelevant in terms of the tyre working window. And this can put in doubt any kind of set-up result you get, because the tyres are not working in the right window.

"For us it is just common sense to test in Bahrain. We would be ready to drop one of the two European test sessions to spend more time in Bahrain. It is the best value for money and the best preparation for the rest of the season."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73247

[Gaz]

lewis is fast niiice

[scotty]

It looks like Hamilton was running an '08 rear wing today, so for Vettel to be a mere 0.001s off is very encouraging! I hope this RB5 can actually deliver and give us a new team challenging at the front.

[Denthúl]

It looks like Hamilton was running an '08 rear wing today, so for Vettel to be a mere 0.001s off is very encouraging! I hope this RB5 can actually deliver and give us a new team challenging at the front.

It was the same story yesterday with Kovalainen. The RB5 does indeed look pretty quick, so maybe all of this radical stuff that Adrian Newey has come up with (such as using pull-rods instead of push-rods on the rear suspension, or the v-shaped thing on the nose) will pay off. The more I look at this car, the more it comes close to challenging the BMW for beauty. I'm a little worried about the reliability of it, though. But let's see how things go, eh?

[7UpJordan]

It looks like Hamilton was running an '08 rear wing today, so for Vettel to be a mere 0.001s off is very encouraging! I hope this RB5 can actually deliver and give us a new team challenging at the front.

It was the same story yesterday with Kovalainen. The RB5 does indeed look pretty quick, so maybe all of this radical stuff that Adrian Newey has come up with (such as using pull-rods instead of push-rods on the rear suspension, or the v-shaped thing on the nose) will pay off. The more I look at this car, the more it comes close to challenging the BMW for beauty. I'm a little worried about the reliability of it, though. But let's see how things go, eh?

Yes, it would be a shame because Neweys cars have always been unreliable - except during his time at Williams.

Nakajima's been doing another full race simulation today, and tomorrow Nico's back in the cockpit and I would like to see him really open up the taps and throw it around.