PaddockSpy-Grand Prix Blog

Toyota’s Timo Glock was the driver to beat on Wednesday, as this week’s four-day Bahrain test session continued. In windy conditions, Glock’s best lap of 1m 32.492s put him over four tenths of a second clear of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

The German, who took over testing the TF109 from team mate Jarno Trulli, focused his attentions on set-up work and covered 132 laps. He will continue to drive for the Japanese team at the Sakhir circuit on Thursday.

"That was another good day for us,” he said. “We didn't have any major problems and we again made it through a lot of work. It has been a bit tricky to drive today because there was a lot of wind. But in the end I'm happy that we did so much work and it's positive that we found some useful directions to work with."

Massa also evaluated a variety of set-ups, as he returned to the test track for Ferrari. Despite gearbox problems in the morning and electrical issues in the afternoon, the Brazilian completed a race simulation in the F60, and covered a total of 105 laps. He will test again on Thursday.

Completing the Bahrain line-up was Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber. Heidfeld spent the day trying different set-up solutions, but also found time to evaluate tyre options and carry out some practice starts. Although he covered 82 laps, his F1.09 stopped on track twice with mechanical problems.

“Obviously that cost us some track time,” the German explained. “But despite this I managed to run for 444 kilometres and we made good progress with the development of the car. We are still learning about the car and have already identified a few areas where we can make improvements.”

Testing continues in Bahrain on Thursday.

Unofficial Wednesday times from Bahrain:
1. Timo Glock, Toyota, 1:32.492
2. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:32.917
3. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:32.993

source: www.formula1.com

With the guessing games regarding the empty Toro Rosso seat now over, Sebastien Bourdais is looking a lot more relaxed. And with the early pace of Red Bull’s RB5 boding well for the forthcoming STR4, he awaits the new season with relish. The ever-frank Frenchman reveals how hard work, cost cuts and Dietrich Mateschitz helped him retain his drive, and shares his thoughts on KERS, the 2009 changes and his fellow drivers…

Q: The confirmation has arrived at last, but you were left guessing for quite some time. What do you think helped swing the decision in your favour?
Sebastien Bourdais: I think it’s a combination of different things. First of all, the fact that there’s been a lot of cost-cutting measures in F1, so the financial aspect of the problem became a bit less of a priority, although for sure the team’s budget has been reduced. But then the costs have been dramatically reduced as well. And then obviously there is (Red Bull owner) Dietrich (Mateschitz). At some point he said, well there is a little bit of money missing, but we want you and an end to the waiting. He’s been more than influential on this.

Q: Your problems last year with the STR3 forced the engineers to look into many options, and although it did not fully turn to your advantage, at the end of the season the team had a pretty good idea of the car’s potential. Was all that hard development work one thing that helped you retain the drive?
SB: I believe what (Toro Rosso team principal) Franz (Tost) has always said - the fact that they wanted me back in the car because stability in the team is very important, to know what their driver needs is very important. The fact that they worked really hard to try solutions, although we could not really fix it because it was really a conceptual problem, has nothing to do with the fact that I’m still there. I think I’m still here because they believe there is some potential that was left on the side of the road last year, and that we can do better this year.

Q: Late last year you said that aside from a drivers’ pace, his ability to bring in sponsorship money will decide who gets the Toro Rosso drive. Has that changed?
SB: Yes, like I said, it obviously has changed. The cost-cutting measures have really defined the budgets in F1, which has played into my favour dramatically. And obviously a lot more than me bringing money, because we haven’t really been able to find anything.

Q: What was your plan B? You must have looked at other options…
SB: Plan B was either to only do Peugeot or to also find something in the United States, which we came quite close to doing. But it took so much time that eventually the Toro Rosso deal was finalised beforehand. I always said, being a professional driver, the worst thing that could happen to me, apart from the fact that I could not be a Formula One driver in 2009, would be to not have a job. That’s what I tried to prevent.

Q: This season will see many changes. So far Toro Rosso have only tested the low-downforce configuration and slick tyres. Are you happy to go back to the tyres that you have driven on for many years?
SB: I think everyone is quite familiar with slicks. Obviously everyone has been driving on slicks in every series they were racing in prior to F1. It’s only in F1 that you met grooved tyres, so I wouldn’t say grooved tyres have been a huge problem for me. The problem was balance, and I was happy with the STR2 and not with the STR3, although it was a much quicker car. So everything needs to be put into perspective. It’s not a case of pointing to one particular problem. The problem is if you have oversteer and you don’t like oversteer in slow corners, and for sure, grooved tyres didn’t particularly help that. Every car has a different characteristic and my weakness was that I could not adapt to the STR3 and deal with the behaviour and the balance of the car. That goes against me, and all I can hope for is that the new car will be stronger at the rear and I can use myself a bit better.

Q: What about the other changes? What’s your opinion on KERS? So far, you haven’t had the chance to test it, but have you gleaned any information from the other drivers who have?
SB: No. I can’t say that I have a really close relationship with the other drivers in the paddock - not close enough to be able to discuss this kind of thing with them. Obviously the only one I am close to is Sebastian Vettel and he has not even tried it yet because it’s not been plugged in. It’s one of those things that we’ll have to discover and tune on our own. I think if you try to understand it from others, since it will be a different system, they could tell you anything, including misleading things. I wouldn’t really trust many people, other than my team members, on this! (laughs)

Q: Red Bull Racing launched their 2009 car this week. The STR4 will be very similar to the RB5. What’s your impression of the car?
SB: It’s one of the nicest looking cars in the paddock, so that’s good. It seems to be well born and it looks like it’s got a lot of potential, so hopefully it will confirm that in the future.

Q: When will the STR4 be unveiled?
SB: It should be ready in the first week of March.

source: www.formula1.com

After spending two days dodging sandstorms, Ferrari, Toyota and BMW Sauber were finally able to carry out some productive running as their four-day Bahrain test concluded on Friday. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was the fastest man around the Sakhir circuit, clocking a best time of 1m 33.325s.

Raikkonen covered 105 laps in the F60, despite a brief hydraulic problem in the afternoon, and focused on evaluating set-up options. The Finn also tested the Italian team's KERS device.

"The track was very slippery in the morning, due to the sand, but we managed to go ahead with our programme," Raikkonen said. "My first day with the new F60 on a dry track was extremely positive. I immediately had a good feeling although it's still too early to say where we are compared to our competitors."

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, meanwhile, finished the day in second. Working on set-up and tyre evaluations in the TF109, Trulli completed 127 laps.

“After the interruptions of the last two days, we enjoyed fine weather with perfect sunshine throughout the sessions,” explained Toyota’s chief engineer Dieter Gass. “There was still some wind which made the comparisons harder, but we were able to get through a lot of laps.

“We looked at different tyres and some set-up development directions. It is not often that we get through two race distances in a day so that bodes well for our reliability. Overall it has been a positive end to the week."

Tester Christian Klien was in action for BMW Sauber. Klien, who took up the third slot on the timesheets, concentrated on set-up work and tried different tyre compounds in the F1.09. With the car running for 125 laps, the engineers were able to collect a great deal of data and Klien was pleased to get his first taste of the team's 2009 machine.

“In the morning the track was still slightly wet as a result of being cleaned after yesterday’s sandstorm,” said the Austrian. “Because of this it took some time to build up a proper grip level. That gave me the opportunity to get used to the BMW Sauber F1.09, which I drove for the very first time. In the afternoon the track conditions were much better and we were able to go ahead with our test programme as scheduled.”

Ferrari, BMW Sauber and Toyota will stay in Bahrain over the weekend and resume testing at the Sakhir track on Monday.

Unofficial Friday times from Bahrain:
1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:33.325
2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:33.429
3. Christian Klien, BMW Sauber, 1:33.666

source: www.formula1.com