Quote: Boudica wrote in post #207Vettel did a lot of laps today, that is really good. Mercedes still appears to be on a another playing field, not surprising.
Definitely agree with that. I just hope Ferrari can compete for podium places with Williams and Red Bull.
1. Hamilton Mercedes GP W06 1:26.110 22 Medium 2. Ricciardo Red Bull Racing RB11 1:26.314 +0.204 16 Medium 3. Räikkönen Ferrari SF15-T 1:26.532 +0.422 22 Medium 4. Massa Williams FW37 1:27.271 +1.161 13 Hard 5. Hulkenberg Force India VJM08 1:29.449 +3.339 22 Super soft
Quote: Jalumi wrote in post #196Only short- I´m We had a great, great time. We were in a suite direct above the Ferrari box. So we could follow Kimi closely. We had 3 times in the paddock und saw him a few times. One moment he was in such a rush that he nearly collide with a tyres trolly - only to avoid to get in contact with waiting persons My pictures from him are not good because he is always running and hiding behind his shades and cap. But we catch Mr Allison. He sign a picture for our dear Greece. We saw Seb too. He started to run away from people too, must be Kimis bad influence Tomorrow we will see Barcelona, on saturday we are back at the track. Pictures when we are at home. The internet in the hotel is not so fast.
your dear "Greece" is thankful! have a fabulous time girls! such pity i did not manage to join!!!!!!!
quoteTesting at the Montmelò circuit – 28 February 2015 Circuit: Montmelò circuit – 4.655 km Driver: Kimi Raikkonen Car: Ferrari SF15-T Weather: Air temperature 10/17°C, track temperature 10/30°C. Sunny. Laps/Km completed: 136/633 Fastest time: 1:23.276 Tyres used: Soft, Medium. Programme: aerodynamic test, set up and race simulation.
Kimi Raikkonen: “Overall it hasn’t been a bad test since we covered a race distance today. Now we wait to go to Melbourne to see how we stand compared to the others. I wish to thank the Team for the work it has done during the winter”.
James Allison: “We’ve got a lot of laps under our belt in this winter testing; but until you actually go out and do the laps for a race, one after the other, and not stopping except to change tyres, you really can’t claim that you’re ready to go to Melbourne and do it for real. So we’re happy to get our first race distance of the winter done, happy to have achieved at the first attempt, and with the reliability that we showed. So I’m pleased with the testing we did over the last two days, which shows clearly that the car works as we expected. Winter testing in Europe always asks slightly different questions from the car than you get when you’re in Bahrain: but it doesn’t turn night into day. Most of what the car really is is revealed here as much as on the other Grand Prix circuits during the year. And I think what we see is a well-mannered car, so we expect these characteristics to be broadly carried over to the other races”.
all! Kimi was very busy yesterday afternoon. In the morning he do some laps, then he had a problem and stay long time in the garage. We enjoyed another day above the Ferrari box. It was really a great expierence Yesterday the guy we booked the trip was not able to smuggle us in the paddock after the training. Good we had so much time at thursday. We saw Kimi a few times- running to the toilett or to the motorhome. Today anotherday Barcelona and then
Quote: Jalumi wrote in post #221 all! Kimi was very busy yesterday afternoon. In the morning he do some laps, then he had a problem and stay long time in the garage. We enjoyed another day above the Ferrari box. It was really a great expierence Yesterday the guy we booked the trip was not able to smuggle us in the paddock after the training. Good we had so much time at thursday. We saw Kimi a few times- running to the toilett or to the motorhome. Today anotherday Barcelona and then
It must have good yesterday, since Kimi did all of that running.
So Arrivabene sat in the grandstand to make a point
quoteMotor racing-Ferrari boss takes a provocative stance
By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) - Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene has taken a provocative stance, before the Formula One season has even started, in response to rumours about a clampdown on access passes for teams.
Arrivabene, a marketing man who was appointed in November, sat with Ferrari's Mexican reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez and sporting director Massimo Rivola among spectators during testing in Barcelona.
"I heard that in Australia there will be more restrictions in terms of passes and I think this is not acceptable," he told reporters on Sunday, the final day of testing before the racing starts in Melbourne on March 15.
"So I said to the guys 'OK, if we are going to have a situation where the paddock is going to be empty, it's better if we start training to go to the people and we sit in the grandstands'."
"I have to say it was a good experience because the people were very well-educated, we were with our headphones following the test. They were respectful, asking for pictures. It was a good experience and I hope to have others like this."
The paddock, where teams have their lavish hospitality units and race engineers pore over data while journalists rub shoulders with mechanics and VIPs, is the sport's closely-guarded inner sanctum.
Access to the fenced-off enclosure is by electronic pass, issued by commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management.
"It was a kind of provocation but I love to do this kind of provocation," said Arrivabene. "I said we need to take Formula One close to the people. We were sitting in the middle of the people. And I don't like to see now and in the future the paddock empty, it's not the right way."
Arrivabene, whose team have one of the biggest budgets in the sport, said he had wanted to make a statement.
"Nothing is decided yet but we have certain communication that the number of passes is going to be reduced. Normally when you have certain rumours in Formula One, they become reality. So I sit in the stands before it is becoming reality," he declared.
"Exclusivity doesn't mean having an empty paddock. This is my clear statement.
"I don't play golf but I watch it on television sometimes and it's one of the most exclusive sports. But when they play, you have thousands of people following the players. And this is not working against exclusivity of the sport." (Editing by John O'Brien)
quotePre-season testing in numbers - who went fastest, and furthest 02 Mar 2015
On the basis of 12 days of pre-season testing, it is reigning champions Mercedes who enter the season on a high, having set the quickest times and completed the most laps. But who came closest to matching the Silver Arrows - and who might be struggling in Melbourne?
We crunch the numbers for both the final test and the pre-season as a whole in order to shed some light on what the competitive order might look like when the season gets underway in less than two weeks' time...
This week's unofficial aggregate test times from Barcelona: 1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 22.792s, 254 laps 2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 23.022s, 124 laps 3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 23.063s, 179 laps 4. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 23.262, 205 laps 5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 23.276s, 216 laps 6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1m 23.469s, 272 laps 7. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 24.023s, 300 laps 8. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.191s, 218 laps 9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 24.200s, 191 laps 10. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1m 24.276s, 245 laps 11. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 24.527s, 224 laps 12. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 24.638s, 200 laps 13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 24.939s, 235 laps 14. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 25.113s, 130 laps 15. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 25.225s, 39 laps 16. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 25.327s, 138 laps 17. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1m 25.947s, 159 laps 18. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 26.705s, 176 laps
Total distance run - by team: 1. Sauber, 545 laps - 2,536 km 2. Ferrari, 488 laps - 2,271 km 3. Toro Rosso, 442 laps - 2,057 km 4. Williams, 384 laps - 1,787 km 5. Mercedes, 378 laps - 1,759 km 6. Lotus, 367 laps - 1,708 km 7. Force India, 365 laps - 1,699 km 8. Red Bull, 359 laps - 1,671 km 9. McLaren, 177 laps - 823 km
Total distance run - by power unit: 1. Mercedes, 1,494 laps - 6954 km 2. Ferrari, 1,033 laps - 4808 km 3. Renault, 801 laps - 3,728 km 4. Honda, 177 laps - 823 km
Longest stints - by tyre compound: Supersoft compound - 5 laps (Marcus Ericsson; Sergio Perez; Felipe Nasr; Nico Hulkenberg) Soft compound - 15 laps (Felipe Massa; Nico Rosberg) Medium compound - 26 laps (Marcus Ericsson) Prototype medium compound* - 28 laps (Kimi Raikkonen) Hard compound - 27 laps (Felipe Nasr) Intermediate compound - 6 laps (Lewis Hamilton; Daniil Kvyat)
*Being assessed by Pirelli for development purposes
Third test comparison - Year on Year* 2014 (Bahrain) - 3,308 laps (17,901 km) completed in four days 2015 (Barcelona) - 3,505 laps (16,313 km) completed in four days That's a 2.7 percent decrease
2014 fastest lap in qualifying at Barcelona - 1m 25.232s (Lewis Hamilton) 2015 fastest lap in testing at Barcelona - 1m 22.792s (Nico Rosberg) That's 2.9 percent increase
*Bahrain hosted the third pre-season test in 2014
Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by driver: 1. Nico Rosberg, 759 laps - 3,463 km 2. Felipe Nasr, 649 laps - 2,976 km 3. Max Verstappen, 617 laps - 2,834 km 4. Sebastian Vettel, 602 laps - 2,768 km 5. Marcus Ericsson, 596 laps - 2,732 km 6. Carlos Sainz Jr, 589 laps - 2,700 km 7. Kimi Raikkonen, 580 laps - 2,655 km 8. Lewis Hamilton, 533 laps - 2,434 km 9. Felipe Massa, 492 laps - 2,258 km 10. Valtteri Bottas, 491 laps - 2,255 km 11. Daniel Ricciardo, 486 laps - 2,243 km 12. Pastor Maldonado, 486 laps - 2,231 km 13. Daniil Kvyat, 457 laps - 2,109 km 14. Romain Grosjean, 355 laps - 1,640 km 15. Sergio Perez, 285 laps - 1,327 km 16. Nico Hulkenberg, 271 laps - 1,262 km 17. Jenson Button, 224 laps - 1,033 km 18. Pascal Wehrlein, 161 laps - 749 km 19. Fernando Alonso, 117 laps - 536 km 20. Susie Wolff, 86 laps - 400 km 21. Jolyon Palmer, 77 laps - 358 km 22. Kevin Magnussen, 39 laps - 182 km
Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by team: 1. Mercedes, 1,340 laps - 6,121 km 2. Sauber, 1,245 laps - 5,709 km 3. Toro Rosso, 1,206 laps - 5,534 km 4. Ferrari, 1,182 laps - 5,423 km 5. Williams, 1,069 laps - 4,913 km 6. Red Bull, 943 laps - 4,352 km 7. Lotus, 918 laps - 4,230 km 8. Force India, 669 laps - 3,114 km 9. McLaren, 380 laps - 1,751 km
Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by power unit: 1. Mercedes, 3,996 laps - 18,378 km 2. Ferrari, 2,427 laps - 11,132 km 3. Renault, 2,149 laps - 9,886 km 4. Honda, 380 laps - 1,751 km
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Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:05 am
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We had a great, great time. We were in a suite direct above the Ferrari box. So we could follow Kimi closely. We had 3 times in the paddock und saw him a few times. One moment he was in such a rush that he nearly collide with a tyres trolly 
- only to avoid to get in contact with waiting persons 
all! Kimi was very busy yesterday afternoon. In the morning he do some laps, then he had a problem and stay long time in the garage. We enjoyed another day above the Ferrari box. It was really a great expierence 
Good we had so much time at thursday. We saw Kimi a few times- running to the toilett or to the motorhome. 
