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http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/2/10386.html (http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/2/10386.html)

Unofficial Monday test times from Valencia:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:12.574, 102 Laps
2. Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber, 1:12.784, 74 Laps
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:12.947, 40 Laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:13.543, 39 Laps
5. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:13.846, 86 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:14.449, 75 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:14.762, 18 Laps
8. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:15.000, 69 Laps

Good for Schumacher.   [thumbsup]

I take it, Hamilton is not testing??

*edit

Nevermind.  It helps if I actually read the article, instead of skimming it.   [bang]

Today's testing went pretty well also. That Sauber looks like it's got some speed in it. The fight for the middle could be very interesting.

Schumacher has a long history in F1, it's going to be way harder for Rossi to get up to speed. I'd still like to see him do it though.

Any predictions for the coming year from the more informed people? Looks like Ferrari may be sorted and ready to compete at the top again, but what about McLaren, esp. since they're not a "factory" team anymore?

Rossi was only a 1/10th slower when he tested, so I think he'd be fine.


I doubt McLaren has the issues they have last year and they were working on some aero at the rear of the car in Valencia. I would expect to see a slightly modified rear in Bahrain and a VERY quick race car.

How's Rossi's neck?

Beats me, but the guy's definitely fit. He may not have Alonso's neck of doom, but I would imagine he'd be able to get into form.

I don't think it's as easy as you're making out to get fit enough and strong enough to do 2 hours in an F1 car in race conditions.

I don't think it's easy at all. I think it requires a serious amount of work and dedication, but I think those are things Rossi has in spades.

Though, we'll likely never know since he'll probably stick to MotoGP and retire to run a couple rally's but not campaign a full season in other series.

Back to the normal F1 talk, anyone want to lay odds on whether or not Campos F1 will make it now that Dallara seems to be doing a deal with another team?

would you say that's a different ask than being able to ride a GP bike in race conditions for 45 minutes?

Yes, actually, I would. You're using different muscles and doing different things. I absolutely agree that it's possible and that if anyone could do it it's Rossi but that doesn't mean that if he gets pretty close in a test that he's a shoe in for points in races throughout the year. I'd love to see Rossi switch (I'd prefer he went to Ducati but Ferrari would be fun too even though it won't happen with Alonso & Massa both there) but I just don't think you can extrapolate some good times in testing to a real, competitive challenge in the championship.

It's only the first test but the Ferrari is looking good.  Massa and Alonso have been the only ones to break into the 1.11's.  Alonso was over half a second faster than the Sauber and almost a full second faster than Schumacher.

i'd say the big thing is neck strength (more being required in f1 due to cornering Gs)... general endurance should be the same for both*.

*especially considering some of the training the guys in both sports do; spies/bostrom and their ridiculous cycling, for example.

i'm not enough of an F1 geek, which is why i asked.  but in a vacuum i'd think that fitness levels have to be pretty darn close; outside some four-wheel-specific stuff like the neck, overall I would have argued that the GP guys have to be in better shape.

I don't think any of us are really qualified to say either way but based on interviews and comments from car drivers going to F1, there's a big concern around neck strength even for people who have been racing non-F1 open wheel racing for some time. I'm not suggesting that GP riders are any less fit than F1 drivers, I'm saying that the discipline (and F1) specific stuff doesn't just happen overnight. I'm sure Rossi could go the distance in an F1 race (even though it's twice as long) but can he maintain laps that are a tenth slower than everyone else throughout race distance when he hasn't had discipline specific training? Rossi is incredible and I wouldn't be super surprised if he did well in F1 but I would have to see it to believe because I think it's enough different to GP that the last tenth (or more) that he'd need to be winning/competitive would be really hard to get without a lot of sustained effort.

Combined times (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81247):
Pos   Driver      Team      Best      Laps   1st      2nd      3rd
1.   Alonso      Ferrari   1:11.470   127   -      -      1:11.470
2.   Massa      Ferrari   1:11.722   226   1:12.574   1:11.722   -
3.   Kobayashi      Sauber   1:12.056   96   -      1:12.056   -
4.   de la Rosa      Sauber   1:12.094   154   1:12.784   -      1:12.094
5.   Hamilton      McLaren   1:12.256   108   -      1:12.256   -
6.   Kubica      Renault   1:12.426   188   1:15.000   1:12.426   -
7.   M.Schumacher   Mercedes   1:12.438   122   1:12.947   -      1:12.438
8.   Alguersuari      Toro Rosso   1:12.576   97   -      -      1:12.576
9.   Rosberg      Mercedes   1:12.899   158   1:13.543   1:12.899   -
10.   Button      McLaren   1:12.951   82   -      -      1:12.951
11.   Petrov      Renault   1:13.097   75   -      -      1:13.097
12.   Barrichello      Williams   1:13.377   177   1:14.449   1:13.377   -
13.   Hulkenberg      Williams   1:13.669   126   -      -      1:13.669
14.   Buemi      Toro Rosso   1:13.823   125   1:14.762   1:13.823   -
15.   Paffett      McLaren   1:13.846   86   1:13.846   -      -

Not exactly sure why we need to call Michael Schumacher "M.Schumacher" given that we're not lumbered with the "other" Schumacher right now (thank goodness).

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of Rossi's test laps. He's put in enough to make up a race, so I'd like to see when he was fast and how consistent he was.

I had a poke around but couldn't find any extensive list of lap times for the Barcelona test. I'll keep looking and see if I can find it but it would certainly be interesting. Did he do a race simulation or just X number of laps in the day because there's a big difference (as I'm sure you know).

Another thought occurs to me; with all the restrictions on testing, it'd be pretty hard for him to get up to speed on some tracks. He won't have 3 days for testing.

Right now, I would put Rossi in the same category as Jarno Trulli.  Good on a fast lap but would probably end up heading a train.

what an amazing conclusion from a sampling of one lap... at least we've seen trulli over many, many race distances.

i had read a long time ago about the fitness level of the F1 guys. the LOWEST resting heart rate of any athlete. pure muscle, etc.

these are supposed to the most, pound-for-pound, in shape athletes in the world.

the interesting thought to me...is over race distance how Rossi would do with pit stop strategy and whatnot....granted his crew over the radio would greatly help in this regard...but still...it seems pit stops in F1 can kill you or give you the edge to win...

Yep, you got me.  I pulled that out of my ass after one lap. 

Rossi says F1 move 'difficult' to envisage (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81256)

And aren't fuel stops meant to be going away?

I'm sure in the next couple of years we could probably just ship the NASCAR CoT template over to the F1 teams and save them the trouble of making their own.

not the stops, just the refueling.

So retarded, I wish they'd just stick to something for a few years so that the teams and the fans could get used to it. The teams affected the most by all these changes are exactly the teams the changes are meant to help, it's all a load of BS.

well... no refueling has less chance of going wrong than no tire changes... that was just silly.

"hey, no tire changes and let's penalize anybody that has to take tires..."

real safe, guys...  [roll]

last season, steve matchett commented that, if he was still a mechanic*, he'd be happy to see the end of refueling. speaking as a spectactor, it'll detract from the excitement of the pitstop.

*steve was the rear-jackman during this:

Benetton on fire in the pitstop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNPPaM1jhMY#normal)

btw, this youtube comment was funny:

"The ignited colours of Benetton!"

Yeah, I heard Matchett say that and I can't disagree with the guy but I'm a spectator, I like fuel stops. It's my least favorite passing method but in some cases it's the only way a pass gets done. Wait for everyone to start pregnant doging that it's harder to pass on pit stops now because they're faster and all basically the same (no fuel strategy). It's all the manufactured crap that they keep bringing in that's messing up the racing, it's getting really old.

Normally, regulations that are brought in to achieve something, achieve the exact opposite.

example:

http://www.crash.net/british+superbikes/news/156502/1/bsb_announces_radical_rule_changes.html (http://www.crash.net/british+superbikes/news/156502/1/bsb_announces_radical_rule_changes.html)

For real?  Better athleticism than gymnasts, tri-athletes, Olympic weightlifters, pro cyclists, etc.?  Amazing, if it’s true.

Oh, for make the beast with two backs's sake. That's retarded.

Aaaaah! NASCRAP!

well, many of the f1 guys (and motogp guys) are tri-athletes and pro(level) cyclists.

Wow...

NASCAR has made it to Europe.  [bang] [bang] [bang] [bang]

Apparently that happened some time ago. A friend of mine told me about Anglo-American Stock Car Automobile Racing.

Yes......ASCAR.

 [puke]


FAIR   the worst word ever created