2012 MALAYSIAN GP: ALONSO AND FERRARI FOR FIRST WIN !!!

Fernando Alonso won an enthralling Malaysian Grand Prix holding off the challenge of the relentless Sergio Perez.

Ferrari called the perfect strategy in the rain-affected race, and Alonso didn't put a wheel wrong as he held off Perez by just 2.2 seconds. Perez could and probably should have won his first grand prix but ran wide when pressuring Alonso with six laps remaining and couldn't close the gap in the remaining laps.



Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton was third after a slow pit stop mid-way through the race, while Mark Webber came home fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and the impressive Bruno Senna. It was a bad day for Jenson Button as contact with Narain Karthikeyan dropped him to the back of the grid, while Sebastian Vettel suffered a late puncture after contact with the same HRT and finished 11th.

The Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang.
56 laps, 310.408km, Weather: Rain.

Classified:
Pos       Driver              Team                    Time
 1.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                    2h44:51.812
 2.  Sergio Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     2.263
 3.  Lewis Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes           +    14.591
 4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault           +    17.688
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault              +    29.456
 6.  Bruno Senna          Williams-Renault           +    37.667
 7.  Paul Di Resta        Force India-Mercedes       +    44.412
 8.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    46.985
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg      Force India-Mercedes       +    47.892
10.  Michael Schumacher   Mercedes                   +    49.996
11.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault           +  1:15.527
12.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:16.826
13.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes                   +  1:18.593
14.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:19.719
15.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:37.319
16.  Vitaly Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
17.  Timo Glock           Marussia-Cosworth          +     1 lap
18.  Heikki Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
19.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +    2 laps
20.  Charles Pic          Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
21.  Narain Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
22.  Perdo De la Rosa     HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen - 1:40.722

Not classified/retirements:
Driver        Team                         On lap
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               47
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                4

After 2 races:                
Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        35       1.  McLaren-Mercedes           55
 2.  Hamilton      30       2.  Red Bull-Renault           42
 3.  Button        25       3.  Ferrari                    35
 4.  Webber        24       4.  Sauber-Ferrari             30
 5.  Perez         22       5.  Lotus-Renault              16
 6.  Vettel        18       6.  Force India-Mercedes        9
 7.  Raikkonen     16       7.  Williams-Renault            8
 8.  Senna          8       8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
 9.  Kobayashi      8        .  Mercedes                    1
10.  Di Resta       7       
11.  Vergne         4       
12.  Hulkenberg     2       
13.  Ricciardo      2       
14.  Schumacher     1       

2012 MALAYSIAN GP: McLAREN WITH NEW 1-2 POLE

As expected, New 1-2 Pole for McLaren!!!

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button maintained McLaren's 2012 qualifying superiority as they repeated their Melbourne grid result and filled for the front row for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher produced the best qualifying performance of his Formula 1 comeback as he took third for Mercedes, while world champion Sebastian Vettel chose to run the harder tyre and will start fifth for Red Bull.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1:36.219
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1:36.368   + 0.149
 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1:36.391   + 0.172
 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1:36.461   + 0.242
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1:36.461   + 0.242
 6.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1:36.634   + 0.415
 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1:36.658   + 0.439
 8.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1:36.664   + 0.445
 9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1:37.566   + 1.347
10.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1:37.698   + 1.479
Q2 Fastest time: K.Raikkonen 1:36.715                         Gap
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1:37.589   + 0.874
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1:37.731   + 1.016
13.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1:37.841   + 1.126
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1:37.877   + 1.162
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:37.883   + 1.168
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1:37.890   + 1.175
17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1:38.069   + 1.354
Q1 Fastest time: M.Webber 1:37.172                            Gap
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:39.077   + 1.905
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1:39.306   + 2.134
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1:39.567   + 2.395
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1:40.903   + 3.731
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1:41.250   + 4.078
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1:42.914   + 5.742
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1:43.655   + 6.483
107% time: 1:43.974

2012 MALAYSIA GP: McLAREN FASTEST TEAM ON FRIDAY

McLaren is fastest F1 team at moment!!!

Lewis Hamilton set fastest time on Friday free practices for the Malaysian Grand Prix as McLaren looks set for another competitive race weekend. He was comfortably faster than his nearest competitors, team-mate Jenson Buton, and Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg with Mercedes AMG cars.



Outside the top teams, Red Bull some way off the pace and Ferrai with Fernando Alonso but both teams with decent long-run pace, which correlates with their performance in Australia last Sunday.



Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were slower than their times on hard tyres so should have time in hand when it comes to final practice and qualifying.

The HRTs were well within 107% of Hamilton's fastest time and racked up 40 laps between them which bodes well for qualifying .  

FREE PRACTICE 1 RESULTS

Pos     Driver                Team                 Time       Gap    Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1:38.021            19
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1:38.535  + 0.514   21
 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1:38.813  + 0.792   21
 4.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1:38.826  + 0.805   19
 5.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1:38.919  + 0.898   17
 6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1:39.092  + 1.071   20
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1:39.128  + 1.107   22
 8.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1:39.298  + 1.277   23
 9.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:39.323  + 1.302   15
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1:39.440  + 1.419   19
11.  Valterri Bottas       Williams-Renault       1:39.724  + 1.703   23
12.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1:39.783  + 1.762   23
13.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1:39.896  + 1.875   16
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1:39.910  + 1.889   21
15.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1:39.980  + 1.959   23
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:40.099  + 2.078   23
17.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1:40.247  + 2.226   19
18.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:40.469  + 2.448   23
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1:40.857  + 2.836   25
20.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1:41.085  + 3.064   23
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1:43.170  + 5.149   18
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1:44.580  + 6.559   14
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1:45.360  + 7.339    8
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1:45.528  + 7.507   18

FREE PRACTICE 2 RESULTS

Pos     Driver                 Team               Time        Gap    Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1:38.172            28
 2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1:38.533  + 0.361   34
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:38.535  + 0.363   29
 4.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1:38.696  + 0.524   34
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:38.853  + 0.681   33
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1:38.891  + 0.719   27
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1:39.133  + 0.961   29
 8.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:39.297  + 1.125   33
 9.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1:39.311  + 1.139   22
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1:39.402  + 1.230   25
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1:39.444  + 1.272   35
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1:39.464  + 1.292   26
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1:39.625  + 1.453   20
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1:39.687  + 1.515   16
15.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1:39.696  + 1.524   29
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1:40.271  + 2.099   27
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1:40.678  + 2.506   34
18.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1:40.947  + 2.775   33
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1:41.464  + 3.292   25
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1:41.681  + 3.509   20
21.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1:42.594  + 4.422   18
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1:42.874  + 4.702   24
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1:43.658  + 5.486   18
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1:43.283  + 5.561   22

2012 AUSTRALIAN GP: BUTTON IMPRESSIVE FOR WIN

 Button with superior win at Albert Park !!!

Super exciting start to the 2012 season and judging by this race battle for the top this year should be very interesting. Just a week timr to the next race, where the standings will probably become a little clearer.

The first round went to Jenson Button with McLaren and an impressive win. He at the start of race has passed his teammate Lewis Hamilton and kept leadership to the end of the race.



Red Bull promptly forgot about their poor qualification session, and Vettel climbed to second place on the podium, while Mark Webber was fourth. The third position on the podium left for Hamilton who was very reserved today. We must note that Vettel and Red Bull used the safety car period, when Petrov stoped on the track, good timing for pit-stop and they got position ahead of Hamilton.



McLaren needed to satisfy with the first and third place, partly because of their apparently inflexible strategy, ie rule that a driver ahead enters the pits first, they left Hamilton a little longer on track after the first change of tires and he got stuck behind Perez. In the second change of tires, the drivers decided to enter one after another in the pits, but now it was the correct decision. This move proved superior readiness in McLaren box, but theireforts was ruined by the safety car.



Fernando Alonso made everything possible in this race and won it seems the best place Ferrari could get today, 5-th. Spanish once again proved its top capabilities of great Formula 1 driver. But we had the impression that Ferrari are still very far from the fight for top positions. Unlike him Massa race was a disaster. Shows neither speed nor managed to maintain his tires. Eventually he collided with Senna, and for both drivers the race was over.



Mercedes AMG cars are biggest loosers in the race. Gearbox failure on the car of Schumacher started in 10-th lap, and Rosberg finished on 12 place. Drivers of Mercedes AMG complained that the tires of their cars are degrading too fast. Nobody believed that after strong qualifying, they will score 0 points.


Speaking of loosers, there is Romain Grosjean, Lotus, who started from third position, lost a few places, and finally was hit by Pastor Maldonado, front right suspension brakedown and it was the end for the young Frenchman. To not go unpunished, Maldonado, at the end of the race when he breathed in the neck of Alonso for 5 th place, made a mistake and smack the car in one of the protective fences.



On the other side of the teams that can be happy with this race is certainly Sauber, 6 th and 8 th place, ie with both cars in the Top 10. A perfect ending to the race had Kimi Raikkonen with 7th place and all the fun over the team radio, which proved he need time to get used to the car and "new" Formula 1. Today in points ended and Ricciardo, Toro Rosso and Paul di Resta with Force India.

The Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park.
58 laps, 307.574km, Weather: Sunny.

Classified:
Pos     Driver                 Team                     Time
 1.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes           1h34:09.565
 2.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault           +     2.139
 3.  Lewis Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes           +     4.075
 4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault           +     4.547
 5.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                    +    21.565
 6.  Kamui Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari             +    36.766
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault              +    38.014
 8.  Sergio Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +    39.458
 9.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    39.556
10.  Paul Di Resta        Force India-Mercedes       +    39.737
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    39.848
12.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes                   +    57.642
13.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +     1 lap
14.  Timo Glock           Marussia-Cosworth          +     1 lap
15.  CharlesPic           Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
16.  Bruno Senna          Williams-Renault           +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Jenson Button - 1:29.187

Not classified/retirements:
Driver            Team                     On lap
F.Massa         Ferrari                      47
H.Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault             42
V.Petrov        Caterham-Renault             37
M.Schumacher    Mercedes                     11
R.Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                2
N.Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes         1
N.Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth             not started
P.De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth             not started


After 1 race:                
Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Button        25       1.  McLaren-Mercedes        40
 2.  Vettel        18       2.  Red Bull-Renault        30
 3.  Hamilton      15       3.  Sauber-Ferrari          12
 4.  Webber        12       4.  Ferrari                 10
 5.  Alonso        10       5.  Lotus-Renault            6
 6.  Kobayashi      8       6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari       2
 7.  Raikkonen      6       7.  Force India-Mercedes     1
 8.  Perez          4       
 9.  Ricciardo      2       
10.  Di Resta       1       

2012 AUSTRALIAN GP: McLAREN SUPERIOR FOR POLE !!!

Everybody is happy with Australian Qualifying Session p.s. Except Ferari!!!

Qualifying session ended and confirmed what we all secretly expecting uncertainty in Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were superior and tomorrow will start from the first row. Hamilton drove a good, quick lap early in the third session, the first lap out on track. Button later managed to get closer, but his time was not enough for pole. 



Lotus and most Roman Grosjean made the biggest surprise today by finishing third. Renault, which is now called Lotus, also started strong last season, so hopefully it will continue. Unfortunately the mistake of Kimi Raikkonen cost him drop out in the first qualification session, to the dismay of many of his fans.



As expected Mercedes AMG is in better shape than last season, but they have race ahead to verify their performance. Fourth position for Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg seventh, he made an error in his last attempt and was deprived of the opportunity to be ahead.



Surprise in the negative sense is Red Bull. Although everyone expected them to fight for pole position today, but things developed not as usual way we used to see (and that is good.) Mark Webber fifth just ahead of the 2011 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, in sixth position. Vettel has already said he is not pleased with themself because he allowed to many errors. However, he was adamant that today McLaren was out of reach.



Pleasant surprise was Williams with Pastor Maldonado at the eighth position. The top 10 closes with Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo with Toro Rosso.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment, though hardly be called a surprise, proved Ferrari. Their car just does not want to be on track, we already knew, but today we have confirmed that they have lack of speed. Alonso afford an inglorious way to complete these qualifications, made a mistake and ended up in the gravel, enough for 12 th position. Felipe Massa also has nothing to brag today, only 16th (you believe it, Ferrari's 16th!!!) position for him.



Kimi Raikkonen was the most famous driver who drop out in the first part of qualifying. He failed to catch the curve 12, came off the track in his last fast lap. Then he was very slow in returning, and failed to arrive on time for a new lap. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov good test sessions could not move toward the middle of the order and qualifications completed in the first session. Under them were the cars of Marussia, Timo Glock and Charles Pic and cars of HRT, Narain Kartikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa who failed to cross the border of 107%, and additionally may come under investigation for obstruction of other drivers.

Pos      Driver                Team               Time       Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1:24.922
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:25.074  + 0.152
 3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1:25.302  + 0.380
 4.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1:25.336  + 0.414
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1:25.651  + 0.729
 6.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1:25.668  + 0.746
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1:25.686  + 0.764
 8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1:25.908  + 0.986
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1:26.451  + 1.529
10.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    No time
Q2 FASTEST TIME: Nico Rosberg 1:26.319                        Gap
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.429  + 0.960
12.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1:26.494  + 1.025
13.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1:26.590  + 1.121
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1:26.663  + 1.194
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1:27.086  + 1.617
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1:27.497  + 2.028
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        No time
Q1 FASTEST TIME: Kamui Kobayashi 1:27.633                     Gap
18.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1:27.758  + 1.576
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1:28.679  + 2.497
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1:29.018  + 2.836
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1:30.923  + 4.741
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1:31.670  + 5.488
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1:33.495  + 7.313
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1:33.643  + 7.461
107% time: 1:32.214

2012 AUSTRALIAN GP: WET FRIDAY

Mercedes AMG had productive Friday

FIRST PRACTICE

Pos     Driver                 Team                Time       Gap    Laps
 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:27.560            11
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1:27.805  + 0.245   14
 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1:28.235  + 0.675   17
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1:28.360  + 0.800   21
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1:28.467  + 0.907   21
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1:28.683  + 1.123   22
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:28.908  + 1.348   23
 8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1:29.415  + 1.855   16
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1:29.565  + 2.005    8
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1:29.722  + 2.162   26
11.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1:29.790  + 2.230   21
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1:29.865  + 2.305   17
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1:29.881  + 2.321   18
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1:29.953  + 2.393   21
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1:30.124  + 2.564   22
16.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1:30.515  + 2.955   16
17.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1:30.586  + 3.026   16
18.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1:30.743  + 3.183   11
19.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:31.178  + 3.618   17
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1:31.983  + 4.423    8
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1:34.730  + 7.170    8
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1:40.256  + 12.696  11
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           no time              3
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           no time              0

SECOND PRACTICE

Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of a wet/dry second practice for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Schumacher set the fastest time in the last lap of the session to pip Nico Hulkenberg's Force India as Mercedes showed some of the pace that is gained from the legal F-Duct system it has pioneered. The drying track meant times were tumbling throughout the final 15 minutes as drivers went out on slick tyres and exploited the improving track conditions.

Sergio Perez was third in the Sauber, a full second slower than Schumacher and 0.1s ahead of Fernando Alonso, with Ferrari the first to go out on intermediate tyres in the middle of the session.



A torrential downpour left the track soaking wet with a lot of standing water, and only a few tentative laps from both Saubers and Toro Rossos were possible in the opening 20 minutes.

After some intermediate lap times, there was a break while all the teams waited for the track to dry out a little more before the hectic ending to the session as many ventured out on slicks. Not to much to be read from wet Friday... Waiting for Sunny Saturday...

Pos     Driver                 Team                Time       Gap   Laps
 1.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1:29.183            16
 2.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1:29.292  + 0.109   19
 3.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1:30.199  + 1.016   23
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1:30.341  + 1.158   13
 5.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1:30.709  + 1.526   14
 6.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1:31.466  + 2.283   13
 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1:31.505  + 2.322   14
 8.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1:31.932  + 2.749   16
 9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1:32.184  + 3.001   17
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1:32.194  + 3.011   19
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1:32.296  + 3.113   20
12.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1:32.632  + 3.449   17
13.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1:32.767  + 3.584   15
14.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1:32.822  + 3.639   11
15.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:33.039  + 3.856   18
16.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1:33.252  + 4.069   11
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1:34.108  + 4.925   21
18.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1:34.275  + 5.092    7
19.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1:34.312  + 5.129   17
20.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:34.485  + 5.302   29
21.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:34.604  + 5.421   31
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1:34.770  + 5.587   13
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1:42.627  + 13.444  16
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth                                1

2012 BARCELONA II, 4 DAY, RED BULL`S LAST PLACE SURPRIZE OF THE DAY

Kimi Raikkonen ends pre-season tests in Champion`s style!!!

Kimi Raikkonen finished with Lotus as fastest driver on the last day of the last test session before the start of the season in Formula 1. Nobody was able to beat his time from the morning part of the session. As usual most teams afternoon session used to focus on simulations of race. So Kimi with Lotus recorded fastest time of the first and last day of pre season testing. Just hope that he will manage season better than Rubens who was fastest with Williams last year.



The surprise of the day are Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. They with the new upgrades completed only 23 laps. At the beginning of the session, the young German broke new front wing on his car and then had problems with gearbox. If any other team has had these problems will immediately sign off from good ranking, but with RB8 we have to be very careful. Today a little more worried people in their garage, truth or concealment of the right situation? But the fact is that this wasn`t an ideal day for them, rushed with updates at the last moment, completed a few laps with them, with not quite an impressive pace.



McLaren had a productive day with its new package as Lewis Hamilton completed 115 laps and set a best time just 0.4s slower than Raikkonen. Hamilton completed more than double the mileage team-mate Jenson Button managed with the upgraded car on Saturday, and spent the afternoon trying to find its optimal setup of car.



Fernando Alonso was second fastest, but the actual performance of the Ferrari remained a mystery. The team admitted on Friday that are still struggling to gain a full understanding of the car, then next day decided to cancel all interviews for the rest of the weekend. However, 1:22.250 Alonso was fastest time set with F2012 and his 115 laps will give the team a lot of data to be analyzed ahead of Australia.



Now you can expect to hear some rumors and then the truth of the work of 16 to 18 March in Melbourne!

Pos     Driver              Team            Time       Gap    Laps
 1.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus           1:22.030            121
 2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari         1:22.250  + 0.220   115
 3.  Bruno Senna           Williams        1:22.296  + 0.266    53
 4.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India     1:22.312  + 0.282   101
 5.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber          1:22.386  + 0.356    72
 6.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren         1:22.430  + 0.400   115
 7.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham        1:22.795  + 0.765   101
 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes        1:22.939  + 0.909   100
 9.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams        1:23.347  + 1.317    48
10.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1:23.393  + 1.363   100
11.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull        1:23.608  + 1.578    23

2012 BARCELONA TEST SESSION, 3 DAY, RAIKKONEN WITH SLOWEST TIME OF DAY

 Sergio Perez hero of the day!!!

Sergio Perez set the fastest time of an interesting day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Perez's lap of 1:22.094 was set on a short soft tyre run. Day begin with huge interest of media for updated RB8, with Mark Webber at the wheel. Webber broke cover to reveal new exhaust positioning and a revised rear end, as Red Bull tried to hide its upgrades by swarming the car with mechanics and a rear wing cover on every return to the pits. A full new RB8 chassis was flown out with the parts on the car already, with Webber setting a best time of 1:22.662, just for eight place.



Jenson Button was one of the few drivers not to undertake a long run in the afternoon. The McLaren driver made the most of medium compound tyres and a lower fuel load to climb to second place, only 0.009 seconds adrift of Perez. Hydraulic problem kept his McLaren in the garage for the second
half of the morning. By lunch he had completed just 17 laps and he only
managed to boost his tally to 44 by the end of the day.



Felipe Massa also had a productive day with 122 laps, gathering data in the morning before a race simulation in the afternoon. Even the rain didn't stop Massa heading out on track as the team is keen to toubleshoot the F2012 as much as possible before the first race at Melbourne.



After Lotus topped the times over the last two days, Kimi Raikkonen was slowest on Saturday with a 1:25.379. The E20 was sporting a new floor, front and rear wings and barge boards, but Raikkonen's morning running was limited due to a steering column change. He completed just 43 laps in total.

Pos      Driver            Team            Time       Gap    Laps
 1.  Sergio Perez         Sauber          1:22.094            114
 2.  Jenson Button        McLaren         1:22.103  + 0.009    44
 3.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso      1:22.155  + 0.061   131
 4.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari         1:22.413  + 0.319   122
 5.  Paul Di Resta        Force India     1:22.446  + 0.352   108
 6.  Bruno Senna          Williams        1:22.480  + 0.386   111
 7.  Heikki Kovalainen    Caterham        1:22.630  + 0.536    64
 8.  Mark Webber          Red Bull        1:22.662  + 0.568    70
 9.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes        1:22.932  + 0.838   129
10.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus           1:25.379  + 3.285    43

2012 BARCELONA II, DAY 2, LOTUS FASTEST AGAIN !!!

Romain Grosjean didn`t allowed the surprise of day !!!

Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets of the second day at the final pre-season test, and become the first driver to go fastest on two separate days. Heavy fog postponed the start of the day's running, so 30 minutes was added to the end.



Grosjean set his fastest lap 2 minutes before end of the day, on a set of soft tyres.

Grosjean's time knocked Jean-Eric Vergne off the top spot, which the Toro Rosso driver had held since setting a 1:23.361 just before lunch. Vergne's best time was set on soft tyres.



Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull was third fastest, 0.747s adrift of Grosjean's best time. A handful of fans at turn five were treated to the rare sight of his Red Bull grinding to a halt just before lunch, but Vettel was back on track in the afternoon and set his fastest time on medium tyres a couple of hours after lunch. Fernando Alonso set a time 0.086s slower than Vettel and clocked a new mileage record for the car with 125 laps in total, including the F2012's first race simulation.

Pos      Driver              Team           Time       Gap    Laps
 1.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus           1:22.614            123
 2.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso      1:23.126  + 0.512    31
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull        1:23.361  + 0.747    85
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari         1:23.447  + 0.833   124
 5.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham        1:23.828  + 1.214   104
 6.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber          1:23.836  + 1.222    77
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India     1:23.893  + 1.279    33
 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes        1:23.978  + 1.364    79
 9.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren         1:24.111  + 1.497    65
10.  Bruno Senna           Williams        1:24.925  + 2.311    48
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams        1:25.801  + 3.187    20

2012 BARCELONA II, DAY 1, LOTUS ARE BACK AND FASTEST AGAIN !!!

Lotus are back on test and fastest as usual !!!

Today the first day of the last pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, ​​after several test sessions missed, Lotus had comeback on track and immediately with a new positive result for them. Romain Grosjean has recorded the fastest time in the last 30 minutes of the session, using Pirelli`s soft tyres, moving Jenson Button with McLaren at the second position, who spent most of the day at the top of timetable. Englishman completed only 57 laps with MP4-27, and from the team said it was due to the significant upgrade of the car in this test before the start of the season scheduled on March 16 to 18 in Melbourne. His time was set to hard tires Pirelli.



Fast times were set up in the morning part, and in the afternoon were rare because the teams decided to use stable conditions on the track for longer runs. Grosjean was one of only two drivers who improved his time after lunch, the other was Mark Webber in Red Bull. Australian was fourth fastest with 0.578s. gap behind the fastest time and completed 102 laps in RB8.



Ferrari again very reserved. Felipe Massa only the second time in pre-season test drove over 100 laps in the new F2012, and once again the team said that their test program is focused on testing new parts, not qualifying or the race simulations. At the end of the day his best time was enough for only 8-th place with gap for more than a second from the time of Grosjean.



Nico Rosberg was the busiest driver completing impressive 128 laps and set the fifth fastest time. Immediately behind him was Vitaly Petrov, who replaced sick Heikki Kovalainen, completing 123 laps.

Pos     Driver             Team            Time      Gap     Laps
 1.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus           1:23.252            73
 2.  Jenson Button        McLaren         1:23.510  +0.258    64
 3.  Sergio Perez         Sauber          1:23.820  +0.568   118
 4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull        1:23.830  +0.578   102
 5.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes        1:23.992  +0.740   128
 6.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso      1:24.216  +0.964   113
 7.  Paul Di Resta        Force India     1:24.305  +1.053    98
 8.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari         1:24.318  +1.066   105
 9.  Vitaly Petrov        Caterham        1:24.876  +1.624   123
10.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams        1:25.587  +2.335    58