Oliver WhiteThe second of the final test of the pre-season wrapped up earlier, and this time Fernando Alonso managed to set the fastest lap in the Renault R29. Alonso posted a time in the 78 second frame and was 0.055s faster than the chasing Rubens Barrichello. Alonso lost a lot of time during yesterday’s session after an accident meant he had to wait in the garage for most of the afternoon. Today though, the Spaniard was enjoying a more productive time, completing 103 laps to become the second busiest driver of the day.
I’m happy with the day as we did more than a 100 laps which was our target for my final day of winter testing. This has been the first time we have run on a really hot track and the information we have from today will be very useful for the first few races, which are usually very hot. Fernando Alonso.
Alonso’s comment of running on a hot track mirrors that of Barrichello’s from yesterday. It seems the warm weather is helping the teams gain further insight into the behaviour of their cars, and one has to wonder if those who aren’t taking part in Jerez are missing out on valuable data. After all, Australia will be hot and Malaysia will likely be very hot and very humid.
Just because the Brawns weren’t on top today doesn’t meant they didn’t look competitive. Rubens Barrichello narrowly missed out on the top spot, and when Jenson Button took over the car in the afternoon, the Briton immediately looked fast, posting a third quickest time that was just 0.5s shy of his team mate’s. Fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton kicked off McLaren’s last test session, and posted a time 0.6s shy of Button’s. The final position went to Nico Rosberg of Williams, who was a further 0.25s down, although did manage an impressive 123 laps.
Jerez Test
|
Lap Time
|
Laps Set
|
|
| 1. |  Fernando Alonso Renault |
1m18.343s | 103 Laps |
| 2. |  Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP |
1m18.398s | 62 Laps |
| 3. |  Jenson Button Brawn GP |
1m18.892s | 12 Laps |
| 4. | Lewis Hamilton McLaren |
1m19.513s | 85 Laps |
| 5. |  Nico Rosberg Williams |
1m19.783s | 123 Laps |
This all just gets more interesting by the day, doesn’t it. Only a week or so until Melbourne – can’t wait !
So close up front, but Brawn seems to be for real for now. I guess Fernando had enough of running down in the time sheets and decided to strut his stuff.
Perhaps a bit off topic, but Alonso’s helmet in that picture look an awful lot like Piquet’s…perhaps he should go back to the blue?
It’s so hard to judge.
Funny how Piquet hasn’t decided to strut his stuff yet. Or maybe he has? The Renault is proving to be an odd car. Alonso seems to be able to put somewhere near the top, while Piquet keeps finding himself towards the bottom.
It actually quite annoying. I have to keep double checking every time. It’s gonna be fun when the pair are running close together on track this year.
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