Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

Champion Sebastian Vettel has named his new Red Bull challenger 'Abbey.'
Vettel's previous Red Bulls have been Kate, Kate's Dirty Sister, Luscious Liz and Kinky Kylie.
He revealed that at one point the new car was to have been dubbed "Everybody's Wife."
But that idea was dropped because it would have been too complicated to explain.
Vettel: "Initially we thought of Everybody's Wife but we binned it because these questions come and you have to explain."
"One of the guys gave the explanation that it might not be too sexy because it has a bit of a beak and needs a nose job, but it runs like a train!"

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Brothers, I wish a nice first race !
Seb go for triple !

Robert Kubica, photos were taken on 11 march:

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12/03/1963 happy birthday to john andretti american driver
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Pastor Maldonado 9th March 1985
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Happy Birthday to your 27th anniversary

Important info !

The 2012 rules changes at a glance:
The 2012 F1 season sees another raft of rules changes, tweaks and clarifications.
The extent of the revisions is not as great as it has been in recent years. Several of the alterations appear to be in response to specific situations which occurred last year.
Here’s a quick guide to how the F1 rules have changed in 2012.

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Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

News Roundup :

Pirelli to use 2010 Renault R30 as test car :
Pirelli have announced they will use the F1 car raced by Renault in 2010 for tyre testing. The R30 last ran in Kimi Raikkonen’s hands at Valencia in January. F1′s official tyre supplier said the car will be updated to simulate current aerodynamic loads and technical changes.
They added that in order to ensure testing is conducted in an impartial manner, the car will be run by staff who are not connected to a current Formula 1 team. The car will use a black Pirelli livery. Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “It was clear from an early point that we needed a more modern solution for our test car, as while the Toyota TF109 has served us extremely well, it is now three years old. “Technology as well as the regulations have moved on considerably since then, and the Toyota is no longer able to generate the same sort of forces that we need to simulate in order to meet the current requirements of Formula 1.
“At the top of our agenda is the need to treat the teams entirely equally, which is why the test team will be run independently and all the teams will be able to send an observer to the tests. “The final piece of the jigsaw will be to recruit a test driver, and we hope to announce this within a month ".

Maria de Villota joins Marussia as test driver :
Marussia has announced Maria de Villota has joined the team as a test driver. De Villota, daughter of former F1 driver Emilio de Villota, drove a Renault F1 car at Paul Ricard in France last year.
The 32-year-old raced in Spanish Formula Three from 2001 to 2005, recording a best finish of fifth. In the last three years she has raced in Superleague Formula for Atletico Madrid as well as in Spanish GT racing.
Team principal John Booth said de Villota will get to drive the team’s car later this year: “We are pleased to welcome Maria to our test driver programme, which will enable her to be integrated into a Formula One team environment and gain a vast amount of experience that will be useful to her career progression. “We will also provide Maria with the opportunity to sample F1 machinery later in the year, further adding to her racing credentials” .

France ready for return on calendar :
If it depends of the French government there will be again a French Grand Prix on the Formula 1 calendar next year . Given that the intention that there is alternately a race at Paul Ricard and Spa-Francorchamps will be held, this would imply that in 2013 no Grand Prix of Belgium on the program. ( )
I'll let Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial boss of Formula 1, know that we are ready for it .We have discussed about the finances with each other and he agrees," told the French sports minister David Douillet to RMC Sport. "It is now waiting for our Belgian friends, since our project is based on the alternation of French and Belgian Grand Prix. They have some contractual issues with Ecclestone to discuss. However, we are ready." In 2008 was the last time that a French Grand Prix was held at Magny-Cours.

Ferrari holds summit/top consultation on new car :
On the verge of the season there is at Ferrari at the highest level a big meating to discuss about the F2012, which during the tests have not produced the desired performance. Meanwhile, the engineers of the team are busy to analyze the results of the tests to see where the car can still be improved .
The negotiation was Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali and the most important of Ferrari engineers present . "I found a very focused and determined team," said Di Montezemolo after the meeting. "I saw at Domenicali and the ingineers that they have a strong desire to show what they are really worth ,and to react to the not quite gone according to plan testing. I would like to say that after qualifying in Melbourne than we can only say something about how we stand relative to the others, you can now only speculate. And regardless of how it goes later in Melbourne, I would like to remind everyone that we are on the verge of the longest ever Formula 1 season start . Even with the first race you have no real conclusion .

De la Rosa: "Without financial backing is a difficult story" :
The team of HRT hopes to grow this year, but money is needed and the Spanish team excels currently not in finding wealthy sponsors and partners. Fact that from economic point of view of Spain ( and other worlds ) it helps not. HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa realizes it. "It's crisis time and did not go unnoticed in Formula 1. The budgets for sponsoring fall. But without financial injection is a difficult story for us. We need sponsors, investors who believe in our project , so we can grow. It is clear that we need the money hard, but first we need to improve the base so it pays to invest in us. "
"Our wait a difficult year. We should not be afraid to admit that we are currently the worst team in Formula 1, but our ambition is to change that. Our goal is to finish as no longer to come last on the measurement and the gap to the pole position to reduce, "concludes De la Rosa on television channel Antena 3.

Red Bull Racing talking in the summer about future Webber :
Mark Webber and Red Bull Racing will be sitting around the table in a couple of months with each other to discuss about 2013. The Australian has a contract that expires and starts excited to begin the new year, but promises about next year is something that Christian Horner will not do at the moment.

Ferrari asks Whiting for clear guidelines for exhaust gases :
The Ferrari team has Charlie Whiting race director at the FIA, asked to clearly define what is and is not allowed with mufflers and exhaust. The request is a direct result of the back of the new Red Bull Racing RB8 . The reigning world champion introduced for the last two days of testing in Barcelona a new package, including a revised layout for the exhausts and slots in the floor behind the side-pods. This raises the suspicion that rivals Red Bull Racing still sends the exhaust gases towards the direction of the diffuser , something that is no longer aloud . Ferrari is however not not at ease and asked Whiting to clear guidelines. Technical Director Pat Fry: "It's all about what exactly re-ingested exhaust gases are and it's up to Charlie Whiting to describe that in detail .

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Pre-season tests are completed. It is difficult to make judgments on the cars because we do not know many things (for example: drs, Kers, tyres strategies) and especially with how much fuel the cars have tested. All are working especially at the rear zone of the cars. Many important also the exhaust exits for recovering the lost downforce, now that exhaust blown diffusers are banned.
Red Bull: is obviously very fast, well balanced and stable through corners, but during these tests there were problems. Perhaps to maintain their lead over rivals, they took risks on reliability?
McLaren is a very good car, surely the best aesthetically. Interesting the rear zone. This year seems even closer to Red Bull.
Ferrari: so many new things, so much work still to do. Alonso and Fry have already said that at start of this season we will suffer a bit.
Mercedes: much better than last year. However remains a problem. Tyre wear is too high, but the new car and the team are strong
Lotus: despite problems they have had the other week to the chassis, appears to be a fast car. Even Force India has achieved enough good times.
Toro Rosso, Sauber and Williams more or less on the same level.
A little more back there is the Caterham. Petrov has brought a new important sponsor.
Marussia and HRT have unveiled their new Formula 1 cars only today.
of course these are only my opinions, after these tests.

HRT F112:

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Marussia MR01:

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News + The Last Testing Times + little info ! :

Nico Rosberg declares Mercedes quick enough to "annoy" top Formula 1 teams in early 2012 races :
Nico Rosberg is confident that Mercedes will be able to "annoy" Red Bull Racing and McLaren early in the season, after his pre-season testing programme wrapped up at Barcelona yesterday. Rosberg will not drive the new W03 again until it arrives in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, having completed his two days of testing at Barcelona. But the German is convinced that the team is in a position to improve on its fourth place finish in the 2011 constructors' championship.

HRT to run at Barcelona on Monday with new F1 car :
HRT will be able to run its 2012 car on Monday at the Barcelona circuit, the Spanish squad confirmed on Sunday evening. The team was hoping to join its rivals for the four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya, but was unable to get there in time. HRT said, however, that the new F112 will take to the track tomorrow taking advantage of the filming days regulations. Indian Narain Karthikeyan will be the man in charge of driving the car, but Pedro de la Rosa and reserve driver Dani Clos will also be at the track following the proceedings. The test will have to be carried out with demo tyres, as rules stipulate teams cannot using proper racing tyres during filming days. The running is also limited to 100km.

Webber plays down RB8 changes :
Mark Webber attempted to play down the scale of the revisions rolled out on Red Bull's RB8 on the penultimate day of testing. As revealed by Sky Sports F1 on Friday night, the World Champions flew out a brand new chassis to Barcelona in time for Saturday morning which featured a number of key developments - headlined by a completely reworked exhaust layout. The first appearance of Webber in the car on the track caused something of a stir amongst the media but, after completing 70 laps in it during the course of the day, the Australian claimed it wasn't that different to the previous configuration he ran two days before. "We had a pretty good run today and once again we learned a lot," he said. "However, I suppose the thing that everyone's obviously asking about is the changes we made to the car but I have to say the car was not massively different to the one I drove on Thursday.
"We went through our normal programme, nothing drastic happened, and we just keep working away.

Ferrari look in turmoil as Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are gagged :
Ferrari have gagged their two drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa from talking to the media amid rising speculation that things are not well with the biggest team in F1.It was the major talking point on the penultimate day of the final testing session in Barcelona as the teams made frantic last-minute adjustments before the opening race of the season, which will take place in Melbourne a week next Sunday. Ferrari however dominated the gossip, just as they had done on Friday night when a tweeting rumour suggested that Massa had been sacked by the team. Those stories were completely unfounded. But the Italian press has reacted angrily to the gagging of Alonso and Massa. Massa was due to talk here after his final drive of the weekend in Barcelona, while double world champion Alonso was expected to speak on Sunday.
Ferrari said on Twitter: "We're not very popular in the press room at the moment as we've announced that there will not be any drivers' press meetings at this test. The decision has been taken to keep the whole team fully focused on the job and there is not any polemic intent behind it."
It was a particularly unpopular decision not just with the Italian but also the Spanish media; Alonso is mobbed whenever he is in action in his native Spain.

Kimi Raikkonen quickest as F1 winter testing comes to an end at Barcelona :
Kimi Raikkonen ensured that Lotus finished pre-season Formula 1 testing on top as nobody was able to beat his morning time on the final afternoon at Barcelona. Most of the field spent the afternoon focusing on race simulations, meaning that Raikkonen's 1m22.030s lap, set inside the final 20 minutes of the morning, was unlikely to come under fire.
The Lotus driver's race simulation was among the most impressive of the day as he completed a 65-lap run on four sets of Pirelli tyres; three soft, one hard. During these stints he suffered performance drop-off of no more than 1.8s on any given set of tyres. While his drop-off figures were the best of the race simulations, his overall pace was still shy of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, which seemed to have a 0.2s advantage on any given lap of a stint. With nobody improving, Fernando Alonso retained second spot in the times - 0.220s down on Raikkonen.
The Ferrari driver's race run was affected by a couple of red flags caused by Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber - which suffered an engine problem and stopped between Turns 4 and 5 – and Vitaly Petrov's Caterham, which took a trip through the gravel at Turn 4 with half an hour to go. Bruno Senna remained third overall, despite the Brazilian being replaced by his team-mate Pastor Maldonado for the afternoon. Maldonado completed 48 laps – which included two stints on supersofts – putting him ninth. Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and Kobayashi were next up, ahead of Hamilton, Petrov and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes, which focused on a succession of 10-lap runs on soft tyres.
Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso and the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel brought up the tail of the field. Vettel completed just six laps right at the end of the day; his RB8 having to be cured of gearbox problems that had also restricted his morning running.

1. Kimi Räikkönen: Lotus E20: 1:22.030 laps 121
2. Fernando Alonso: Ferrari F2012: 1:22.250 + 0.220 laps 114
3. Bruno Senna: Williams FW34: 1:22.296 + 0.266 laps 53
4. Nico Hulkenberg: Force India VJM-05: 1:22.312 + 0.282 laps 101
5. Kamui Kobayashi: Sauber C31: 1:22.386 + 0.356 laps 72
6. Lewis Hamilton: McLaren MP4-27: 1:22.430 + 0.400 laps 115
7. Vitaly Petrov: Caterham CT01: 1:22.795 + 0.765 laps 101
8. Michael Schumacher: Mercedes GP W03: 1:22.939 + 0.909 laps 100
9. Pastor Maldonado: Williams FW34: 1:23.347 + 1.317 laps 48
10. Daniel Ricciardo: Toro Rosso STR7: 1:23.393 + 1.363 laps 100
11. Sebastian Vettel: Red Bull Racing RB8: 1:23.608 + 1.578 laps 23

Little info : So this was the final test day ,the Teams will pack in all there stuff and it will be flown to Melbourn (Australia ) for the 1st Grand Prix of the new season witch will start on friday the 16th at 02.30u with the 1st free practice session followed at 06.30u with the 2nd free practice session

Ps: There will also be a F1 Games here on the forum (again ) this season , but this season there will be a little game allready on saturday followed with the regular " Formula 1 Top 3 Voting ,the points that are scored on saturday will be added with the spoints that are scored on race day ...hope to see you F1/Motorsport fans there also

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Jos Verstappen 4th March 1972
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Happy Birthday to your 40th anniversary

Short News + Test Times day 3 :

Perez quickest on rain-hit third day of testing :
Sergio Perez was fastest for Sauber in the third day of the final test at the Circuit de Catalunya. Perez set his fastest time on soft tyres, edging Jenson Button by nine-thousandths of a second. The McLaren driver used the same compound for his time.
Third-placed Daniel Ricciardo used super-soft tyres to set a best time just six-hundredths of a second slower than Perez.
Felipe Massa used the same rubber to set the day’s fourth-best time, with a 1’22.413 in the Ferrari. The Italian team set tongues wagging by cancelling their media activity at the track over the weekend, meaning their drivers will not be quizzed by journalists.
A 1’22.446 for Paul di Resta, also on super-soft tyres, gave him the fifth-fastest time.
McLaren and Red Bull ran new upgrades for their cars. Button had a quiet morning and logged just 44 laps by the end of the day.
Kimi Raikkonen also had limited running as the team made changes to the steering on his Lotus E20.
Rain fell at the circuit in the second half of the afternoon session, limiting the teams’ opportunity to run on slicks. However several drivers were able to do race simulations before the track became wet.
The session ended with the top nine drivers covered by less than nine-tenths of a second.
In marked contrast to yesterday there was just a single red flag during the session, caused by Bruno Senna’s Williams.
Meanwhile HRT confirmed they will not run in the final day of testing tomorrow. They are now aiming to give the F112 its first run in a filming day at the track on Monday.

1. S. Perez : Sauber C31 : 1:22.094 laps 114
2. J. Button : McLaren MP4-27 : 1:22.103 +0.009 laps 44
3. D. Ricciardo : Toro Rosso STR7 : 1:22.155 +0.061 laps 131
4. F. Massa : Ferrari F2012 1:22.413 +0.319 laps 122
5. P. di Resta : Force India VJM-05 : 1:22.446 +0.352 laps 108
6. B. Senna : Williams FW34 : 1:22.480 +0.386 laps 111
7. H. Kovalainen : Caterham CT01 : 1:22.630 +0.536 laps 64
8. M. Webber : Red Bull Racing RB8 : 1:22.662 +0.568 laps 70
9. N. Rosberg : Mercedes GP W03 : 1:22.932 +0.838 laps 129
10.K. Räikkönen : Lotus E20 : 1:25.379 +3.285 laps 43

Tomorrow will be the last day of testing before the Teams go to Melbourn (Australia ) !!!!

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

Toro Rosso from yesterday:

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Short News + Test Times :

Senna Helmet auctioned for a small 90,000 euros :
A helmet that during the year 1993 has been worn by Ayrton Senna went under the hammer at an auction at the Silverstone circuit for a small 90,000 euros The helmet is signed by the triple world champion and also has a certificate of authenticity from McLaren, the team which the Brazilian then came out.Besides the helmet, which eventually yielded 88,500 euros, was also an overall of the 1994 deceased Senna auctioned. It was sold for less: the new owner had to put down 42,200 euros for the racing suit .

Di Resta happy with progress at Force India :
The Force India team has had so far a trouble-free winter behind them with the new car. Paul di Resta who completed on Thursday almost one hundred laps with the VJM05 and wrote the seventh time on his name, is a happy man.

Pirelli reveals new test car soon :
Tire supplier Pirelli has finally managed to get a new car for testing to take home. The Italian tire manufacturer will not say until next week or the week thereafter which car it is testing. Pirelli will first notify the teams.

Hulkenberg: "Better now problems than later in Melbourne" :
Force India was the least active team in Barcelona today. The VJM05 was just after the lunch break affected by a problem with the drive and that was the end of the day for Nico Hulkenberg. "I have rather now problems than later in Melbourne."

Grosjean tops the times again in disrupted session :
Romain Grosjean headed the testing times for a second day in a row at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The start of the session was delayed due to fog. The morning running was repeatedly interrupted by a series of red flags.
Michael Schumacher caused two of them in his Mercedes, and Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Vettel and Vergne all stopped on the track as well.
In addition to the fog, there was a further red flag for debris. Nico Hulkenberg caused the eighth and final red flag after the lunch break.
In between the red flags, Vergne posted a lap of 1’23.126 on soft tyres to go fastest. He had just switched to super-softs for another effort when his car stopped on the track, and after that was missing for much of the remainder of the session.
But late in the session Grosjean beat his time with a 1’22.614, also set on soft tyres.
Vettel used medium tyres to post the third-fastest time later on in the day. Fourth fastest was Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari, setting a 1’23.447 on hards, before running a race simulation in the afternoon.
Heikki Kovalainen used super-soft tyres to set the fifth-fastest time, 1.2s off Grosjean’s pace. He, Alonso and Grosjean did the most running, each completing more than 100 laps.
Kamui Kobayashi lost over an hour with an hydraulic leak. But Hulkenberg lost a significant amount of time when his car stopped with a driveline issue, limiting him to just 33 laps.

1. Romain Grosjean : Lotus E20 : 1:22.614 laps 124
2. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso STR7 : 1:23.126 + 0.512 laps 45
3. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing RB8 : 1:23.361 + 0.747 laps 85
4. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari F2012 : 1:23.447 + 0.833 laps 125
5. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham CT01 : 1:23.828 + 1.214 laps 104
6. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber C31 : 1:23.836 + 1.222 laps 77
7. Nico Hulkenberg : Force India VJM-05 : 1:23.893 + 1.279 laps 36
8. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP W03 : 1:23.978 + 1.364 laps 79
9. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren MP4-27 : 1:24.111 + 1.497 laps 65
10. Bruno Senna : Williams FW34 : 1:24.925 + 2.311 laps 48
11. Pastor Maldonado : Williams FW34 : 1:25.801 + 3.187 laps 2

Testing continues tomorrow

Kind Regards
Shaky- Schumi

Rubens Barrichello gave up from further competing in F1 and moved to Indy Car.
The Brazilian driver in Formula 1 debut in 1993. Since that time, started in 322 races. He won 11 of them. He was vice-champion in 2002 and 2004.

News + Testing Times of the 1st day of the last test session before the season begins !

Plans to lower Formula 1 pit lane speed limit rejected by FIA :
Formula 1's governing body has rejected a move by teams to lower the pit lane speed limit during races. Most teams backed a proposal to lower the limit from 100km/h (62mph) to 60 km/h (37mph) in the interest of safety.
But race director Charlie Whiting has told them he feels there is no need to make the change as there is no evidence that the current arrangement is unsafe.
The speed limit is 60km/h during practice, but is raised for qualifying and the race.
The move was proposed following an incident in sportscar racing. A mechanic was killed at Zolder in Belgium last year when the car he was working on suffered a brake failure as it was approaching the pit.
But the FIA felt that incident was caused by a mechanical failure rather than excessive speed. Their view is that there have been no pit-lane accidents in F1 that have been caused by excessive speed since the current limits were introduced. A number of measures are already taken to increase safety in the pits during qualifying and the race.
No guests or media are allowed in the pit lane, apart from television pit-lane reporters and photographers under strict restrictions, and pit crews are only allowed out of the garages when they are getting ready for a stop.
A secondary consideration was that lowering the speed limit in the pits would have an effect on the strategies the teams employed during the races. It would most likely lead to them doing about one less pit stop in each race - which would be counter to the approach the sport is taking with tyre supplier Pirelli in trying to encourage multi-stop races.
The FIA also considered what the cars would look like travelling down the pits at 60km/h during the race and felt that they would appear too slow.
The rules contain a clause that allows Whiting to recommend to stewards a lowering of the pit-lane speed limit at any event if he feels there is a safety risk.

Pedro de la Rosa hopeful HRT can still run on Sunday :
Pedro de la Rosa is hopeful that his HRT team can get its new car ready to run for the first time at Barcelona on Sunday.
The Spanish outfit only passed its final crash test last weekend, and it is now facing a race against time to complete the F112 before this week's final pre-season test ends. De la Rosa said the plan was still focused on trying to get the car ready for Sunday - although he suggested there could be an opportunity for a straight-line test or filming day on Monday if it was necessary. "The fact is that the goal this day is to try and get to Sunday," de la Rosa said during the latest FOTA Fans' Forum in Barcelona on Wednesday night. "The crash test was passed last Sunday, and since then the team has been building the car. "We are in the car build phase, and if we come to Sunday fine. If not, then we have the possibility to do a new test on Monday."
De la Rosa said that he was positive HRT would make good progress over the campaign – even though it was facing such a rush to get its car ready for the first race.De la Rosa also revealed that HRT would consider adding KERS to its car later this season. "The car is designed to use KERS, but the team has decided to start without KERS. During the season, once we have more time to test and be in Europe, then we can make the decision to use it or not. But the main thing is the car is designed around KERS."

Pirelli open to the idea of making softer tyre more aggressive :
Pirelli is open to the idea of making its softer tyre more aggressive later this year if the compound does not deliver the high levels of degradation it is hoping for. After its experiences so far of testing the new-for-2012 compounds, Pirelli is happy with the performance differential between its compounds - which it estimates being between 0.4-0.5 seconds - but fears that its soft tyre may not degrade as much as it had hoped for. Although data from testing can sometimes be misleading, and the true race situations in warmer conditions may provide a different picture, Pirelli is ready to look at different options.
When asked by AUTOSPORT about the degradation levels of the tyres, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery, said: "I think we would probably like to see more on the softer compound, much more aggressive degradation, but ask me the same question after we have been in 50 degrees in Malaysia on a hot circuit.
"I think you have to be careful about drawing too many conclusions and I think it will be better when we have some race data." Last year the softer tyre proved so consistent and quick that it became the default option at every race. That is why Pirelli wants it to degrade more – because then it forces teams to be more risky with their strategy.

Drivers favor of more test days in a year :
The drivers seem to agree/voted in favor when it comes to the number of opportunities to test during a year. During the FOTA Fans' Forum spoke Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa and Pastor Maldonado unanimously for more test days. They do not plead for release, but the number of now is too little. De la Rosa went hard to give a answer. "I have always made strong for more testing. People always thought I did that for myself, but now the young drivers who are victims. The current situation is not good for Formula 1. To give an example, at the end of 2011, I did not think of that if one of the regular drivers from McLaren had failed and that I should have stept in, I was not ready for that, that can never be the intention for a third rider".
Petrov joins those words. "It is in this way very difficult to be in a rhythm. We must give young drivers more chances, they now get simply too little time to get accustomed to Formula 1. I personally noticed this when I made my debut, even six test days in the preparation were not enough to fully prepare me. "Maldonado adds: "Not only do young drivers need more testing, but everyone."

Teams not prepared to authorize complete customer cars :
The concept of customer cars continues behind the scenes, but it is unlikely in the near future to buy complete cars from other teams . The resistance against it in the paddock is large. Eric Boullier of Lotus: "It belongs to the challenge of Formula 1, to build a car himself. There is some discussion about the option of a customers car before, but it is currently simply not addressed .Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug: "A HRT should not be a Ferrari, Lotus may not be a McLaren . That's just not Formula 1, but that would have bin the case , It is no solution for this sport, otherwise we already had taken that path ".

Ecclestone: "Australia Grand Prix least viable of all" :
Ecclestone: "Australia Grand Prix least viable of all" Published on March 1, 2012 at 2:05 p.m. Bernie Ecclestone increased the pressure on the organization of the Australian Grand Prix The commercial boss of Formula 1 requires a night race for Melbourne for the followers in Europe to meet with a better start time for the race and threatens not to renew the contract. Ecclestone told in The Age also: "We have a contract until 2015 and we will respect it. After that we don't know it. If our roads and Melbourne divorce, we say Australia probably goodbye. I don't see Adelaide or another city take over the organization . The race in Australia is from our perspective is the least viable of all the Grands Prix. we have other locations that can take the place of Melbourne , but we do not want that. but I cant let other attractive offers pass to keep Australia just on the calendar .

Barcelona Day 1: Lotus is back and immediately quickly with Grosjean :
Romain Grosjean made sure Lotus' return to testing was a positive one by going fastest on day one of the final pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona. The Frenchman waited until there was less than 30 minutes remaining for the day before he set the benchmark time of 1m23.252s, using a set of Pirelli's soft tyres to eclipse Jenson Button's fastest time from the morning's session.
Faster times were a rarity in the afternoon sessions, with teams opting to use the stable track conditions to go for longer runs. Grosjean was one of only two drivers to improve after lunch, the other being Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber.
However, Webber was only able to shave a tenth off his best morning time, leaving him behind Button and Perez - both with morning times – in fourth for the day.Behind Webber it was Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes driver the busiest of the day with 128 laps for the day, mostly completed over long stints. Jean-Eric Vergne was sixth fastest, with Toro Rosso dedicating much of the last hour to pitstop practice.
Felipe Massa had a busy afternoon, eventually completing 105 laps for the day, despite a lengthy stay in the pits after lunch. However, his best time was only good enough for eighth. Vitaly Petrov, subbing for the ill Heikki Kovalainen, was the second busiest man of the day, putting the new Caterham through 123 laps.
His reward was avoiding the bottom of the time sheets, with Petrov ending the day 0.711s clear of Pastor Maldonado, the Williams driver completing the least number of laps for the day with just 58.

1. R.Grosjean : Lotus E20 : 1:23.252 laps 73
2. J.Button : McLaren MP4-27 : 1:23.510 +0.258 laps 64
3. S.Perez : Sauber C31 : 1:23.820 +0.568 laps 118
4. M.Webber : Red Bull Racing RB8 : 1:23.830 +0.578 laps 102
5. N.Rosberg : Mercedes GP W03 : 1:23.992 +0.740 laps 128
6. J.Vergne :Toro Rosso STR7 : 1:24.216 +0.964 laps 113
7. P.di Resta : Force India VJM-05 : 1:24.305 +1.053 laps 98
8. F. Massa : Ferrari F2012 : 1:24.318 +1.066 laps 105
9. V.Petrov : Caterham CT01 : 1:24.876 +1.624 laps 123
10. P. Maldonado : Williams FW34 : 1:25.587 +2.335 laps 58

Testing continue tomorrow

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi