Teams take it to the edge in Barcelona

Fernando Alonso driving the "modified" Ferrari F10

Fernando Alonso driving the "revised" Ferrari F10 on day two at Barcelona

Feb.26 (YF1 & GMM) Day two of the Barcelona Formula 1 testing got underway, once again, with blue skies over Circuit de Catalunya. A strong wind prevailed early on as teams set about their test programmes with some interesting innovations ahead of next month’s 2010 opening Grand Prix in Bahrain.

Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes GP MGP W01

Back in the cockpit on the second day were: Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing), Robert Kubica (Renault) and Jarno Trulli (Lotus)

On the technical front Ferrari tried a McLaren-esque ‘shark fin’ engine cover on the back of Fernando Alonso’s F10 car on Thursday.

Astute observers also noticed a different nose and revised wheels on the red single seater at the Circuit de Catalunya, while insiders believe a brand new triple diffuser will be fitted when the Spaniard returns to the track on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton on duty in the McLaren MP4-25

“We had several new things in the car and we collected some data to see how they work,” the 28-year-old Spaniard confirmed. “Now we’ve got to understand how to exploit them.”

He lost some time in the morning with an electrical problem, and finished the day just seventh fastest.

Meanwhile the race to perfect ultra-fast pitstops in 2010 continues to heat up. With refuelling banned in 2010, the limiting factor in pistops this year will be the teams’ ability to jack up the car and change the tyres.

Pit stop practice are likely to be plentiful on the day

“Our record is 2.83 seconds,” said Williams’ test boss Dickie Stanford, according to Auto Motor und Sport.

Ferrari has introduced a new quick release-and-replace wheel nut, and Mercedes’ efforts to speed up pitstops is also evident.

The former Brawn team has been testing Ferrari-style traffic lights, and also mechanical quick-release jacks, in order to steer around the new ban on powered systems.

With Vitaly Petrov at the wheel, the Renault crew practiced dozens of real-world pitstops at Barcelona on Thursday, most in the realm of three seconds. Print This Article