Oliver White
David Coulthard has continued the recent trend of upsetting the regulars at the top of the time sheets by setting the fastest lap in todays testing at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. It was a welcome upturn in performance, witnessed by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz who paid the team a visit today. Red Bull Racing had been wallowing towards the bottom of the time sheets, and fans the world over were worried that the new RBR3 would not be able to cut the mustard. That still may be so, but todays performance has certainly raised spirits in the ‘Bull camp before they head off to Bahrain for the final test prior to Melbourne. Coulthard’s team mate Mark Webber finished the day in eleventh, and although he was one second down on David, his placing was still an improvement over previous form.
Nick Heidfeld finished second, lapping just 0.003s faster than the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen ended the day in seventh, separated from his team mate by Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg. The Renault’s continued their up-and-down winter testing routine, this time finishing in only ninth and tenth positions, while Honda floundered in the bottom half of the timing sheet once again.
Vitantonio Liuzzi managed to get a few laps in his new Toro Rosso, having had his run yesterday aborted due to a red flag incident which halted proceedings at the track. Liuzzi propped up the timing sheets, but understandable wasn’t aiming to set a decent time as it was the first run with the all-new STR2 car.
1. Coulthard – Red Bull Racing – 1m21.855s
2. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m21.955s
3. Massa – Ferrari – 1m21.958s
4. Alonso – McLaren – 1m22.103s
5. Rosberg – Williams – 1m22.271s
6. Hamilton – McLaren – 1m22.292s
7. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m22.363s
8. Montagny – Toyota – 1m22.446s
9. Fisichella – Renault – 1m22.758s
10. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m22.783s
11. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m22.834s
12. Button – Honda – 1m23.061s
13. Barrichello – Honda – 1m23.257s
14. Wurz – Williams – 1m23.271s
15. Vettel – BMW – 1m23.571s
16. Schumacher – Toyota – 1m23.789s
17. Albers – Spyker – 1m23.947s
18. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m24.568s
19. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m26.296s
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