Sunday, 28 February 2010 00:00
As the truncated but frenetic winter testing month reaches its end, itv.com/f1 summarises each team's position heading for Bahrain.
We've also compiled the full stats from the winter so far to show which teams are looking swift and which are struggling as they pack up and depart for the Middle East.
McLaren
Driver schedule: Thurs/Sat - Button, Fri/Sun - Hamilton
Best time: Hamilton, 1m20.472s, Sun
Day by day results: (Thurs to Sat) 5th, 8th, 3rd, 1st
Total laps: 432
Lewis Hamilton leaves Barcelona as the fastest man of the week thanks to his blistering times on the final day - and it wasn't just his qualifying simulation that impressed, with his long-run times also attracted jealous stares from rivals.
Jenson Button's programme didn't give him chance to set quite such a stunning pace - and Saturday's showers didn't help in this respect - but he was still increasingly confident and comfortable in the MP4-25.
Mercedes GP
Driver schedule: Thurs/Sat - Rosberg, Fri/Sun - Schumacher
Best time: Rosberg, 1m20.686s, Sat
Day by day results: 3rd, 7th, 1st, 6th
Total laps: 442
After the avalanche of early publicity it had thanks to retrieving Michael Schumacher from his sofa, Mercedes was a fairly low-profile presence at the first few tests - not suffering too many problems, not struggling, but not really frightening the front-runners either.
Indeed after his first day in the car this week Schumacher reiterated his feeling that early wins were unlikely - but as he probed the data and watched team-mate Nico Rosberg set the pace on Saturday, the multiple champion started making more optimistic noises, which he backed up with a promising long run on Sunday.
Red Bull
Driver schedule: Thurs/Sat - Webber, Fri - Vettel, Sun - Vettel/Webber
Best time: Webber, 1m20.496s, Sun
Day by day results: 1st, 5th, 8th, 2nd/5th
Total laps: 420
Red Bull unleashed its pace this week, with Mark Webber showing the team's hand by going for an early low fuel run and initially leaving rivals standing on Thursday.
Very strong times from both drivers on low fuel on the last day reiterated the team's strength, although its heavy times were less awe-inspiring, and a few reliability niggles remained, making Saturday in particular a trial.
Ferrari
Driver schedule: Thurs/Fri - Alonso, Sat/Sun - Massa
Best time: 1m20.539s, Massa, Sun
Day by day results: 7th, 2nd, 5th, 3rd
Total laps: 436
Ferrari isn't looking head and shoulders above its rival anymore, but it can still start the season with plenty of confidence.
Alonso's Friday performance was particularly ominous, the double champion impressed in both high and low fuel configurations.
Williams
Driver schedule: Thurs/Fri - Hulkenberg, Sat/Sun - Barrichello
Best time: Hulkenberg, 1m20.614s, Fri
Day by day results: 2nd, 1st, 4th, 7th
Total laps: 364482
Previously in testing Williams's programme had been all about reliability and getting Cosworth settled on its F1 return.
But at Catalunya it started to show what it could do speed-wise too, and Hulkenberg's times on Thursday and Friday showed that it could be a real dark horse at the start of the year. There were a few minor niggles, and a couple of spins for Rubens Barrichello, but overall Williams looks in good shape.
Renault
Driver schedule: Thurs/Sat - Petrov, Fri/Sun - Kubica
Best time: Petrov, 1m22.523s, Sat
Day by day results: 8th, 9th, 6th, 10th
Total laps: 300
Not a great test for Renault, with a few technical problems - including suspension and gearbox issues getting in the way.
The plan to bring in and thoroughly evaluate an aero upgrade on Sunday was hampered by the latter gremlin, although at least Vitaly Petrov managed some good dry mileage and a qualifying practice this time.
Force India
Driver schedule: Thurs/Fri - Liuzzi, Sat/Sun - Sutil
Best time: Sutil, 1m20.611s, Sun
Day by day results: 6th, 4th, 7th, 4th
Total laps: 314
After a fairly quiet week, Adrian Sutil switched to qualifying trim for the final afternoon and got quicker and quicker - eventually ending up within half a second of pacesetter Hamilton.
Although that time was set when the track was at its least dusty, it still bodes well, and with both drivers revelling in the car, Force India seems set to start the year snapping at the leaders' heels again.
Toro Rosso
Driver schedule: Thurs/Fri - Alguersuari, Sat/Sun - Buemi
Best time: Buemi, 1m21.413s, Sat
Day by day results: 9th, 6th, 2nd, 9th
Total laps: 408
Plenty of race practice for Toro Rosso this week as it got its young drivers as well prepared as possible.
All went fairly smoothly, and Sebastien Buemi also gave a little hint of the team's giant-killing potential by taking second place on Saturday just before the rain shower.
Virgin
Driver schedule: Thurs/Sun - di Grassi, Fri/Sat - Glock
Best time: Glock, 1m25.942s, Fri
Day by day results: 10th, 11th, 11th, 12th
Total laps: 161
Another very tough test for Virgin, hampered by Lucas di Grassi crashing early on the first day and technical problems - including the hydraulic issue it hoped to cure at this test - still refusing to go away.
The best Virgin managed was 52 laps for Timo Glock on Friday - not ideal when other teams were easily reaching 100 tours on some days. Company boss Richard Branson dropped to watch testing for the first time and remained upbeat, though.
Lotus
Driver schedule: Thurs - Fauzy, Fri/Sat - Trulli, Sun - Kovalainen,
Best time: Trulli, 1m25.059s, Sat
Day by day results: 11th, 10th, 9th, 11th
Total laps: 313
No reason for the other teams to fear Lotus's pace yet, but it continues to do a sensible job, build up mileage and avoid too many dramas - just what a start-up squad constructed in five months needs to do.
It was the only squad to entrust any of the final test days to a reserve driver, with Fairuz Fauzy handling the opening test again.
Sauber
Driver schedule: Thurs/Fri - de la Rosa, Sat/Sun - Kobayashi
Best time: Kobayashi, 1m20.911s, Sun
Day by day results: 4th, 3rd, 10th, 8th
Total laps: 359
Sauber looks to have faded a little since its underdog heroics at the start of the month, partly because it has spent a lot of time on long runs since then.
The team did cause a few red flags this week too, but when all was going well it was in fine shape, with Pedro de la Rosa up with the front-runners on his days and Kamui Kobayashi within half a second of the pace on Sunday.
Combined testing times from Barcelona (laps in brackets)
1 HAMILTON McLaren 1m20.472s (227)
2 WEBBER Red Bull 1m20.496s (168)
3 MASSA Ferrari 1m20.539s (228)
4 SUTIL Force India 1m20.611s (160)
5 HULKENBERG Williams 1m20.614s (180)
6 ALONSO Ferrari 1m20.637s (208)
7 VETTEL Red Bull 1m20.667s (252)
8 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m20.686s (235)
9 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m20.745s (207)
10 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m20.870s (184)
11 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m20.911s (172)
12 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m20.973s (187)
13 LIUZZI Force India 1m21.056s (154)
14 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m21.413s (193)
15 BUTTON McLaren 1m21.450s (205)
16 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m21.571s (215)
17 PETROV Renault 1m22.523s (141)
18 KUBICA Renault 1m23.175s (159)
19 TRULLI Lotus 1m25.059s (172)
20 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m25.251s (65)
21 GLOCK Virgin 1m25.942s (83)
22 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m26.160s (78)
23 FAUZY Lotus 1m28.002s (76)
Teams' total mileage at Barcelona:
1. Mercedes - 1,271 miles
2. Ferrari - 1,254 miles
3. McLaren - 1,242 miles
4. Red Bull - 1,208 miles
5. Toro Rosso - 1,173 miles
6. Williams - 1,047 miles
7. Sauber - 1,032 miles
8. Force India - 903 miles
9. Lotus - 900 miles
10. Renault - 863 miles
11. Virgin - 463 miles
Drivers' total mileage from all of testing:
1. Felipe Massa - 2,315 miles
2. Rubens Barrichello - 2,122 miles
3. Nico Hulkenberg - 2,101 miles
4. Jaime Alguersuari - 2,054 miles
5. Robert Kubica - 2,045 miles
6. Fernando Alonso - 2,013 miles
7. Michael Schumacher - 1,995 miles
8. Nico Rosberg - 1,930 miles
9. Sebastien Buemi - 1,808 miles
10. Jenson Button - 1,786 miles
11. Lewis Hamilton - 1,778 miles
12. Pedro de la Rosa - 1,605 miles
13. Sebastian Vettel - 1,597 miles
14. Kamui Kobayashi - 1,570 miles
15. Mark Webber - 1,449 miles
16. Vitaly Petrov - 1,161 miles
17. Tonio Liuzzi - 1,145 miles
18. Adrian Sutil - 1,087 miles
19. Jarno Trulli - 883 miles
20. Timo Glock - 586 miles
21. Lucas di Grassi - 513 miles
22. Heikki Kovalainen - 457 miles
23. Fairuz Fauzy - 428 miles
24. Paul di Resta - 294 miles
25. Gary Paffett - 216 miles
Teams' total mileage from all of testing:
1. Ferrari - 4,328 miles
2. Williams - 4,223 miles
3. Mercedes - 3,924 miles
4. Toro Rosso - 3,862 miles
5. McLaren - 3,781 miles
6. Sauber - 3,176 miles
7. Red Bull - 3,046 miles
8. Force India - 2,527 miles
9. Renault - 2,261 miles
10. Lotus - 1,768 miles
11. Virgin - 1,099 miles
Number of fastest testing times - drivers:
Massa - 2
Rosberg - 2
Hamilton - 2
Webber - 2
Alonso - 1
Kobayashi - 1
Alguersuari - 2
Vettel - 1
Barrichello - 1
Button - 1
Hulkenberg - 1
Number of fastest testing times - teams:
Ferrari - 3
McLaren - 3
Red Bull - 3
Mercedes - 2
Williams - 2
Sauber - 1
Toro Rosso - 1
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