Pre-Season 2012 Testing: Barcelona

Hey Welcome to the Barcelona test thread for the dates between the 21st February - 24th February.

Well lots surprises at the first test saw Lotus topping the timesheets and Fernando Alonso popping up on the last day of testing to top the timesheets.

Mclaren and Red Bull looked equally matched in the last test, but i think this second test will give us a big clue as to who's hot and who's not ahead of this season.

Confirmed line-ups:

Tuesday 21st:

Sebastain Vettel
Lewis Hamilton
Fernando Alonso
Michael Schumacher
Romain Grosjean
Nico Hulkenberg
Sergio Perez
Daniel Riccardio
Bruno Senna
Heikki Kovalainen
Charles Pic

Wednesday 22nd:

Sebastian Vettel
Lewis Hamilton
Fernando Alonso
Nico Rosberg
Romain Grosjean
Nico Hulkenberg
Sergio Perez
Daniel Riccardio
Valtteri Bottas - WILLIAMS
Vitaly Petrov
Charles Pic

Thursday 23rd:

Mark Webber
Jenson Button
Felipe Massa
Michael Schumacher
Kimi Raikkonen
Paul Di Resta
Kamui Kobayashi
Jean Eric Vergne
Pastor Maldonado
Vitaly Petrov
Timo Glock

Friday 24th:

Mark Webber
Jenson Button
Felipe Massa
Nico Rosberg
Kimi Raikkonen
Paul Di Resta
Kamui Kobayashi
Jean Eric Vergne
Pastor Maldonado
Heikki Kovalainen
Charles Pic

HRT - Will not be running at this test.
Mercedes and Marussia - Both will be launching their 2012 cars at this test.
Vitaly Petrov - he has replaced Jarno Trulli at Caterham for 2012
Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas will get his first taste of the 2012 car on Wednesday.

Weather Report:
Dry and Sunny with the possibility of clouds on Friday .

BRING ON THE TESTING .

I don't think there's anything in it! I suppose it's just the luck of the draw from the teams.

Comments like yours on many sites, would not make Jenson fans too happy.

Thanks HdRR, I made a little table that I find a bit easier to read than the list.

mmm good looking cars! (hence the sarcasm) Mercedes launched tomorrow at 7:20

Good close up of Mercedes front wing.Courtesy of Sky F1

Looks like the BBC aren't even reporting from the test today. I can't find anything on their website. What a joke they are.

And looks like they have the same exhaust layout still. Have we seen anyone else's yet? I.e. are there any clones cropping up?

Oh no Sky are saying Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham has broken down . Not a good start from them then!

Vettel fastest so far, from Hamilton.

Actually he was the first to drive it at its shake down test and them giving him more time backs up my theory that if it wasn't for cash flow constraints Bottas would be in that car this season. I still say he'll make his debut for them before 2012 is out.

Yeah i think this too. I'm hoping it's Maldonado and not Senna that has a stinker of a season and Bottas will replace him!

Link for you guys to follow F1 testing on:

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7524875/Barcelona-testing-day-one

Times from last years qually




Times from testing right now.



edit : Force India already half a second faster than last year

I finally found something on the BBC website. It's thrown in with all the other updates for eveything else sports related today. An extremely poor effort.

Nice to see McLaren banging in the miles already this year. Not like the teeth pulling they subjected their fans to last season during testing!

Lotus have packed up after 7 laps

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97606

I wonder if that'll harm their dark horse status they positioned themselves in after the first test?

I doubt it.They were running a brand new chassis today and found that they had some technical problems with this chassis.
They will have the other one tomorrow, the same one that they ran at Jerez .