Massa tops the tables again
Morning Report
Felipe Massa continued to top the timing screens by setting, re-setting and holding the fastest laps in the new Ferrari F10 during the second day of the multi-team test in Valencia.
Midway through the day his best time was a 1:11.722, which was considerably better than Monday when he was the quickest driver on the track with a time of 1:12.574. He is still adapting to the new car which, because the fuel tank is now 160 litres, has a longer wheelbase than the 2009 model.
"The first time I realised that was when I looked in the mirrors and could see the rear tyres were further back," he said. "But that's something we'll all get used to and the only thing we've got to be careful of is when passing other cars remember not to get in front of them too quickly."
Lewis Hamilton was the first driver out on the track in the morning. He took over the McLaren MP4-25 from test driver Gary Paffett who shook the car down Monday. Kamui Kobayashi replaces team-mate Pedro de la Rosa in the Sauber. Nico Rosberg is spending the entire day in the Mercedes MGP W01 rather than sharing the testing duties with Michael Schumacher as he did on Monday.
Other than that, the driver line-up is the same on day two as it was on day one: Rubens Barrichello/Williams FW32; Robert Kubica/Renault; and Sebastien Buemi/Toro Rosso STR5.
Kobayashi was second quickest with a lap of 1:12.056. Hamilton, who was immediately fast, was third with a time of 1:12.508. Rosberg, fourth, turned a 1:12.899 in the Mercedes. That beat the 1:12.947 that Schumacher clocked the day before.
Barrichello said the Williams had severe understeer on Monday, but he had completed 45 laps half way though Tuesday's running with a best time of 1:13.377.
"You cannot predict much nowadays," he said on Monday of the variations in lap times. "If you take 10 kilos of fuel, or full tanks, you are talking about almost four seconds difference. So it is going to be dead easy for someone to get a sponsor and say that the car is faster in a way."
Kubica, seventh, again ended up near the bottom of the timing list, but Renault said it is not focusing on lap times at all: "Our objective is to get a nice reliable base for the car so that we can then make the best use of the limited number of pre-season testing days that we have," said Renault's technical director James Allison.
"We need to learn the characteristics of the new tyres. There has been quite a substantial change to the since last year, and we need to learn how to get the best out of them. Then we want to just bed the car down and get both our drivers in tune with it."
Although Buemi was last with a time of 1:14.862, the Toro Rosso team believes it has fixed the gearbox woes that limited the new STR5 to just 18 laps on Monday.
"Up to now we have not had any other problems than the gearbox, but we will see," said Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost.
The car still spent a long time in the Toro Rosso garage during the middle part of the day. All a Toro Rosso spokesperson would reveal was that the crew "was working on the car."
Like Monday, conditions have been a sunny albeit slightly cooler with a temperature of 12 degrees Centigrade.
Morning session times:
Pos. Driver Car Best Time Laps
1 Felipe Massa Ferrari F10 1:11.722 56
2 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber C29 1:12.056 29
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren MP4-25 1:12.508 50
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes MGP W01 1:12.899 41
5 Rubens Barrichello Williams FW32 1:13:377 45
6 Robert Kubica Renault R30 1:13.659 59
7 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso STR5 1:14.862 41
