The McLaren F1 team missed out on winning the British Grand Prix on Sunday. Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen went from second place on the grid to a well-deserved victory. McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton had to do with second and third. Improvements are on the way though McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh has said.
McLaren will travel, alongside every other Formula 1 team, to Spa-Francorchamps for a three-day test. The teams will then travel to the Nürburgring for the German Grand Prix. The team will have a few updates on the car Whitmarsh told Reuters. "We've got new aerodynamic components and various other parts we are putting on the car. We will come out of that test (at Spa-Francorchamps) with a quicker car, and Ferrari will undoubtedly improve their car. So it's down to who improves their car the most in the next fortnight.
"I predict that we are going to see the fortunes swing either way in what's going to be a classic and exciting championship. We've now had nine races and 16 times we've had a car on the podium. That helps. It is so tight now in performance and reliability that any of us can trip up now and that would be very significant. If just one of your cars doesn't score points, then the pendulum swings very quickly."
The-Best wrote:Top 11 (latest update: 5:11)
1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren MP4-22 1:46.657 61
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari F2007 1:47.586 + 0.929 52
3 Ralf Schumacher Toyota TF107 1:47.878 + 1.221 56
4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber F1.07 1:48.220 + 1.563 64
5 James Rossiter Super Aguri F1 SA06 1:48.287 + 1.630 60
6 Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault R27 1:48.443 + 1.786 33
7 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing RB3 1:49.122 + 2.465 32
8 Nico Rosberg Williams FW29 1:49.288 + 2.631 60
9 Christian Klien Honda RA107 1:49.419 + 2.762 57
10 Giedo van der Garde Spyker F1 F8-VII 1:49.712 + 3.055 51
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso STR3 1:49.824 + 3.167 46
- Massa: "I don't like the new chicane, I think it's dangerous! Especially the new pit entry"
- Rosberg: "The chicane is decent, but that pitentry...You can't see what's going to happen. Is he going to drive on or is he going into the pit?"
Times:Lewis Hamilton put his British Grand Prix disappointment behind him to top the times on the opening day of testing at Spa-Francorchamps on Tuesday.
The McLaren driver, who finished third in his home race at Silverstone on Sunday, finished four tenths quicker than BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was third quickest for Ferrari, but was interestingly eight tenths slower than Hamilton.
Ralf Schumacher ended the day with the fourth fastest time, ahead of Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr who evaluated some new updates on the R27 that the team are hoping will lead to improvements in form over the next few races. The Brazilian caused one red flag in the morning when his car stopped just after the final chicane.
David Coulthard also caused a red flag when his Red Bull Racing car stopped out on the track just before 3pm, having also encountered gearbox problems earlier in the day.
But he still ended the day sixth quickest having not gone for the single-lap performance that some of the cars ahead of him had.
Behind Nico Rosberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi also caused a red flag in the morning when he lost some bodywork.
The Italian hands his Scuderia Toro Rosso car over to Sebastien Bourdais tomorrow, with the Frenchman now testing for two days as the team evaluate his potential for a race seat next year.
James Rossiter was ninth fastest for Super Aguri, ahead of Christian Klien in the Honda and Giedo van der Garde in the Spyker.
The teams were allowed two special 10 minute sessions of practice starts during the course of the day, as they finalised their settings for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Track map:zack wrote:can some1 post track changes?
