Schumi testing the F2007 w/o TC next week!

[Arrows_F1]

or they did so good times and they don't want that everybody has high expectations to them for the start of the season osweat:

[Suntrek]

Or maybe they're just so slow that they're ashamed to show the times? :?

I think so too

[schuey323]

I really can't understand why Honda is so slow. Someone must have left, I just don't get it. Ross Brawn isn't Jesus, they can't hope for him to make "everything better".

[Lilellatho]

Yeah, I know what you mean. It baffles me that teams with huge budgets like Toyota and Honda manage to come up with such c**p cars. I mean, where the hell does that money go?
Honda had a very good '04 and a reasonable '06 seasons so I really expected more from them last year. And now they seem to have produced an even worse car than last year's...
I just can't understand how can they get it so wrong.

[Jayarem]

I think the reason Honda are so behind this year is that the car is a completely new concept, whereas most of the other teams are using evolutions of their previous cars. It seems as though Honda are pinning all their hopes on being able to catch up in 2009 with the new regs :|

[iceman1]

Final Rankings From Autorsport Magazine :

Drivers

The fastest time from each test was used as the base fugure i.e. the 100% time. The amount each driver was away from that time has been averaged. Times more than 104% off fastest have been ignored.

................................%
Raikkonen...........100.393
Kovalainen..........100.601
Massa.................100.625
Hamilton.............100.719
Rosberg..............101.006
Alonso................101.158
Nakajima............101.305
Vettel.................101.395
Webber..............101.400
Kubica................101.448
Coulthard...........101.580
Piquet................101.643
Glock..................101.717
Bourdais.............101.777
Heidfeld..............101.812
Fisichella.............101.906
Trulli...................102.058
Sutil....................102.152
Barrichello...........102.583
Button.................102.809
Sato....................103.200 (2 days testing)
Davidson.............103.894 (1 day testing)


Teams

Percentage figures indicate comparative performance gains or losses over the form shown before the 2007 season.

..........................%
Ferrari............+0.247
McLaren......... - 0.38
Williams..........+0.614
Renault...........+0.442
Toro Rosso .....+1.057
Red Bull .........+0.268
BMW ............. - 0.35
Toyota .......... - 0.217
Force India .....+1.855
Honda ........... - 0.359
Super Aguri ... - 0.92

[vmarichetti]

ferrari proving its mettle in testing!

[oliver1983]

He migth be helpfull, but do not spect for miracles, Massa might not be prepared for this challenge, i again, will hope for the best

[usernames]

so did Ferrari have any new parts in Bahrain GP like had been told? If so, maybe those new parts didn't fit Kimi's style all that well, and that's why he had trouble with setting up the car.

[Soyyo]

Michael Schumacher will be back at the wheel of Ferrari's formula one car as testing resumes at the Circuit de Catalunya next week, the F2008 will be equipped with simulated 2009 levels of downforce and Bridgestone's latest development slick tyre.

http://www.manipef1.com/news/2008/index.php?id=852

[Chubbs]

sweet 2009 downforce! might get a peek at what the cars will look like next year

[F1_STK]

2009 will be hard for all the teams..

[Soyyo]

In the next testing round at the Circuit de Catalunya, will Renault stop improving 2008 car and begin testing new parts for 2009?
Without including Ferrari, what other team would do 2009 part testing ?

[JoostLamers]

Slicks @ Barcelona
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.ph ... catID=3106

[AzShadow]

Massa flies on slicks at Barcelona

Felipe Massa set a blistering pace in Formula One's return to testing action, the Brazilian using slick tyres to finish over two and a half seconds in front of his closest rival at Barcelona.

Massa's best time of 1:18.339 put him 2.7 seconds ahead of Honda test driver Alex Wurz, who also set his best time on slick tyres.

The majority of the teams present at Barcelona were introducing new updates that will be raced for the first time when the European season kicks off in Spain later this month.

Massa's Ferrari team finally showed off a much rumoured radical new nose cone, with a hole on top of it, while McLaren tried a new rear wing - designed for 2009 regulations - and Renault tested several upgrades, including a new front wing.

McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa, who also tried out slicks, was third fastest, but over three seconds off Massa's pace. The Spaniard was the busiest man today with 113 laps covered.

Each team were allocated nine sets of slick tyres for the test, as Bridgestone continues work on preparing for the 2009 season, when grooved tyres will no longer be used.

All drivers, except BMW's Nick Heidfeld and Toyota's Timo Glock, tested with the new tyres today.

All the running done with slicks is outside the agreed testing mileage.

Despite not using the slick tyres, Heidfeld was fourth fastest, just a tenth behind de la Rosa, with Nelsinho Piquet down in fifth in the revamped Renault R28.

There were a total of four red flags today, caused by Glock, Piquet and Heidfeld spinning, and Williams's Kazuki Nakajima going off track late in the session.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:18.339 77
2. Wurz Honda (B) 1:21.059 75
3. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.566 113
4. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:21.679 105
5. Piquet Renault (B) 1:22.125 69
6. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.197 59
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:22.431 72
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:22.590 92
9. Liuzzi Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:22.846 91