De la Rosa Puts McLaren On Top in Barcelona

[davewilson]

Pedro de la Rosa again indicated McLaren’s strong form this Monday, leading the largest (18 cars) 2007 testing session so far.

The Spanish tester covered 76 laps aboard the new MP4-22 and posted a best time of 1:22.634, a mere 0.001 quicker than BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica in P2, the Pole justifying Felipe Massa’s recent declarations that BMW could be the team to beat in ’07.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso was third in the second McLaren, less than 0.1s off his compatriot teammate’s pace, while Alex Wurz gave another display of a possible Williams revival by carding the fourth-best time, 0.4s off de la Rosa.

Despite completing only 29 laps, Massa completed the top-five, just ahead of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn logged 79 laps as both scarlet cars suffered with electrical gremlins throughout the day.

Jarno Trulli, who last week admitted to have doubts about the TF107’s potential, clocked the seventh time, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the fastest of the two Renaults – his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was 11th. Nico Rosberg in the second Williams and BMW tester Timo Glock rounded out the top-10.

Honda and Red Bull continued to disappoint, with Christian Klien, David Coulthard and Mark Webber occupying slots 13 through 15. Rubens Barrichello in the second Honda suffered mechanical problems and was 17th, behind even the Honda-powered Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson. Adrian Sutil gave the new Spyker-Ferrari its first group test appearance and occupied the bottom of the charts.
Honda's struggles continued as Barrichello only managed 24 laps today.

Barcelona F1 testing times – Monday:

1) de la Rosa, McLaren-Mercedes (B), 1:22.634, 76 laps
2) Kubica, BMW-Sauber (B), 1:22.635, 60
3) Alonso, McLaren-Mercedes (B), 1:22.726, 56
4) Wurz, Williams-Toyota (B), 1:23.037, 44
5) Massa, Ferrari (B), 1:23.077, 29
6) Raikkonen, Ferrari (B), 1:23.215, 79
7) Trulli, Toyota (B), 1:23.239, 74
Kovalainen, Renault (B), 1:23.491, 55
9) Rosberg, Williams-Toyota (B), 1:23.602, 78
10) Glock, BMW-Sauber (B), 1:23.653, 61
11) Fisichella, Renault (B), 1:23.869, 79
12) Montagny, Toyota (B), 1:24.015, 64
13) Klien, Honda (B), 1:24.227, 51
14) Coulthard, Red Bull-Renault (B), 1:24.291, 80
15) Webber, Red Bull-Renault (B), 1:24.531, 83
16) Davidson, Super Aguri-Honda (B), 1:24.574, 66
17) Barrichello, Honda (B), 1:24.934, 24
18) Sutil, Spyker-Ferrari (B), 1:25.581, 83

The Stig

[Dare]

Pedro de la Rosa again indicated McLaren’s strong form this Monday, leading the largest (18 cars) 2007 testing session so far.

The Spanish tester covered 76 laps aboard the new MP4-22 and posted a best time of 1:22.634, a mere 0.001 quicker than BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica in P2, the Pole justifying Felipe Massa’s recent declarations that BMW could be the team to beat in ’07.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso was third in the second McLaren, less than 0.1s off his compatriot teammate’s pace, while Alex Wurz gave another display of a possible Williams revival by carding the fourth-best time, 0.4s off de la Rosa.

Despite completing only 29 laps, Massa completed the top-five, just ahead of Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn logged 79 laps as both scarlet cars suffered with electrical gremlins throughout the day.

Jarno Trulli, who last week admitted to have doubts about the TF107’s potential, clocked the seventh time, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the fastest of the two Renaults – his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was 11th. Nico Rosberg in the second Williams and BMW tester Timo Glock rounded out the top-10.

Honda and Red Bull continued to disappoint, with Christian Klien, David Coulthard and Mark Webber occupying slots 13 through 15. Rubens Barrichello in the second Honda suffered mechanical problems and was 17th, behind even the Honda-powered Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson. Adrian Sutil gave the new Spyker-Ferrari its first group test appearance and occupied the bottom of the charts.
Honda's struggles continued as Barrichello only managed 24 laps today.

Barcelona F1 testing times – Monday:

1) de la Rosa, McLaren-Mercedes (B), 1:22.634, 76 laps
2) Kubica, BMW-Sauber (B), 1:22.635, 60
3) Alonso, McLaren-Mercedes (B), 1:22.726, 56
4) Wurz, Williams-Toyota (B), 1:23.037, 44
5) Massa, Ferrari (B), 1:23.077, 29
6) Raikkonen, Ferrari (B), 1:23.215, 79
7) Trulli, Toyota (B), 1:23.239, 74
Kovalainen, Renault (B), 1:23.491, 55
9) Rosberg, Williams-Toyota (B), 1:23.602, 78
10) Glock, BMW-Sauber (B), 1:23.653, 61
  Fisichella, Renault (B), 1:23.869, 79
12) Montagny, Toyota (B), 1:24.015, 64
13) Klien, Honda (B), 1:24.227, 51
14) Coulthard, Red Bull-Renault (B), 1:24.291, 80
    Webber, Red Bull-Renault (B), 1:24.531, 83
16) Davidson, Super Aguri-Honda (B), 1:24.574, 66
17) Barrichello, Honda (B), 1:24.934, 24
    Sutil, Spyker-Ferrari (B), 1:25.581, 83

The Stig
[/quote

Webber has to be disapointed and what's up with Toyota?all
that money spent and no improvement year to year

Always thought de la Rosa should have been a driver not a tester

[romephius]

As Alsonso was quoted in another post "times don't really matter in testing, because teams are running different programs, the real 'test' comes in march, at melbourne

[Wizzo]

How much relevance do you guys put on testing times?

[Ian]

Another difficult one wizard, we know they have to properly test them but don't you also think there could be a bit of flannel too to throw the others off a bit

[davewilson]

I think testing is just that......At the moment they all have Brand New cars and different set-ups to iron out.
Some will be testing say the Aero side,while others will doing different things....

It does look good to be at the top,but at this stage i dont feel it is the be and end all.
It is all new at the moment, for all the teams,early days.

What you say is true Ian,there are more red herrings flying around in this sport than any other,but all teams have spy's and generally know what the others are up to.

The Stig