2009 Winter & Mid-season testing (Results and Pictures)

[JoostLamers]

McLaren didn't have an engine failure yesterday, the rear wing was overheated, because it was a 2008 rear wing, the are closer to the exhaust then the 2009-wing, because that one, as we all know, is higher (and uglier). Today Hamilton crashed his (2008) rear wing against the wall, so the had to replace it.

[shailf1]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA0tOIfjSfA[/youtube]
Hamilton spun and listen to the reaction of the people...

[swca92]

I like that,as long as its not abuse I don't mind it at all.You get far worse at football matches.

[shailf1]

Jerez Test Update: Hamilton Crashes Out

It just goes from bad to worse for Lewis Hamilton and McLaren in Jerez. After Wednesday's woes, the Englishman's MP-24 broke down earlier this morning and he has now crashed out of the test. He's fine but his car isn't. Meanwhile, Kimi is suffering back pain, shot a red light and went off in the gravel..



Lewis Hamilton has emerged unscathed from a high-speed crash in testing at Jerez.

The McLaren driver appeared to lose control of his MP-24 into turn four at the circuit on Thursday afternoon, hitting the wall and ripping off the car's rear wing in the process.

Although Hamilton was able to climb out of the car without assistance, and required no further medical attention, the crash is only the latest in a long line of mishaps to have befallen the team during the last forty-eight hours as they prepare for the new season.

Hamilton had to sit out most of Wednesday morning due to an engine failure, while his car also broke down earlier on Thursday. He is not expected to run again today - the last day of the test - following his accident.

[JoostLamers]

No engine failure, as I said in my previous post, and Hamilton had an accident because of a sudden rush of wind today

[JoostLamers]

In the morning Hamilton came to a stop without fuel in his McLaren, McLaren did this on purpose, to check how effective the fuel tank was. Just read that on a Dutch site.

[swca92]

I don't believe that.You wouldn't stop the car on the track and lose track time to check the fuel tank when you could pull the car in the pits the previous lap without losing anything.Also its surely dangerous to deliberately runa car out of fuel when cars will be much faster than an out of fuel car? I don't buy that explanation

[phil1993]

But Macca STILL using aero paint

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/3/8986.html

[iceman1]

1. BMW Sauber BMW Sauber F1.09 7.512,375
2. Ferrari Ferrari F60 7.109,254
3. Toyota Toyota TF109 6.658,668
4. Williams Williams Toyota FW31 4.716,012
5. McLaren McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 4.229,928
6. Renault Renault R29 3.810,612
7. Red Bull Red Bull Renault RB5 3.334,284
8. Toro Rosso Toro Rosso Ferrari STR3 3.300,492
9. Force India Force India Mercedes VJM02 996,300

[Fergie1]

Dear god, please make McLaren fast.
Amen.

[will_ferrari]

Dear god, please make McLaren fast.
Amen.

hehehe

[why so serious]

McLaren shouldn't be that slow. It's just impossible. They are surely sandbagging, playing hide and seek. Yet, it seems to me that it's not a proper way to be prepared for a season in which you won't have any test session at all. Macca fans should pray as Fergie does that McLaren won't get lost under so much sand!

[megasyxx]

from what i've read before, most mclaren cars made have a natural tendency for oversteer. with the new regs. of having that teeny-tiny rear wing, they may have some problems with the car's balance. - and are now finding ways to resolve that. -- just my opinion though.

[JoostLamers]

www.mclaren.com:
"Today’s programme started with the controlled on-track draining of the tank to assess the effectiveness of MP4-24’s fuel collection. For the remainder of the day, the team worked on tuning the car’s set-up before the session ended prematurely at 15:30 when a sudden gust of wind swept Lewis off the track and into a tyre barrier. While the impact was only a mere 44km/h, the car went in rearwards, doing enough to dislodge the rear wing and lightly damage the car’s rear-end. With insufficient time to effect repairs before the end of the session, the team opted to finish early in order to commence preparations for next week’s four-day Barcelona test."

[swca92]

McLaren,come up with plausible excuses.Lewis crashed because there was a gust of wind-What if that happens in a race? You see really bad winds at Silverstone and cars don't crash.And how come no other team are running cars out of fuel to test fuel tanks?