Bianchi and Kovalainen both in talks with Marussia, and it's speculated since Kartakayans Indycar deal seems to have fallen through he could also be in with a shout of the drive - which would be a massive shame. I would have also suggested Kobayashi would have a shot at this drive if Kovalainen is but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth apart from the odd GT test.

Webber ends up 1.6s infront of Hamilton in testing, which I know I know it's only testing but surely on a damp track you would expect Hamilton to be a little closer to the front? Lotus looks very quick in race conditions, as does the Ferrari, both opting to do long runs for the majority of the day.

There was some rumour going around Twitter than Kovalainen has a drive for Saturday and that Razia is in some massive financial dispute with Marussia but nothing has been confirmed yet, complete silence from Razia, hasn't even been going to the circuits.

But maybe Hamilton has 2 seconds of fuel on board? Or maybe he's in a Mercedes, and when the time comes he'll be 2 seconds off the pace anyway.

Well sure, he's said he's happy with his pace and Webber is demanding more from is team - which is the opposite of what you would expect but anyway, can't wait for Melbourne!

Quote from vipex123 :

Bianchi and Kovalainen both in talks with Marussia, and it's speculated since Kartakayans Indycar deal seems to have fallen through he could also be in with a shout of the drive - which would be a massive shame. I would have also suggested Kobayashi would have a shot at this drive if Kovalainen is but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth apart from the odd GT test.

Webber ends up 1.6s infront of Hamilton in testing, which I know I know it's only testing but surely on a damp track you would expect Hamilton to be a little closer to the front? Lotus looks very quick in race conditions, as does the Ferrari, both opting to do long runs for the majority of the day.

There was some rumour going around Twitter than Kovalainen has a drive for Saturday and that Razia is in some massive financial dispute with Marussia but nothing has been confirmed yet, complete silence from Razia, hasn't even been going to the circuits.

One lap time means nothing. On a damp/wet track Hamilton was pretty much fastest all morning. He also set that lap on a longer run than Webber.

But it wouldn't be surprised to see if RBR are THAT much quicker, but you can't read much into that headline lap time.

Bianchi in Marussia? The kid can't get a break.

Well Hamilton's average over his run was 1second slower than webber however Hamilton did a lap nearly 2 seconds faster than Webber's fastest so I guess you're right. Interesting to hear some drivers describe the new pirellis as 'coliflour' basically lasting a lap and then massive graining.

Ben Anderson also said that the RBR looked planted as usual and the McLaren has massive handling issues at the front end as does the Ferrari with its rear. Lotus and Merc looking best over a race sim at the moment tho.

Yeah the Bianchi move seems political, he's Ferrari, Marussia want a new engine supplier for 2014, Ferrari want to supply a 3rd team and Force India look set to sign a 3 year deal with Mercedes (if that hasn't happened already). So if Bianchi lands the drive I'm guessing it will be to keep Ferrari happy. Although apparently Kovalainen has had a seat fitting and will drive on Saturday.

Considering F3.5 is better then GP2 and the two top drivers both don't have drives, including the GP2 Champion just isn't good enough. I know money talks but now its going too far something has to be done to allow the midfeild teams to hire talent rather then pay drivers for the sake of staying on the grid.

as relevant as every year
http://sniffpetrol.com/2011/03 ... sive-f1-testing-analysis/

Quote from vipex123 :

Yeah the Bianchi move seems political, he's Ferrari, Marussia want a new engine supplier for 2014, Ferrari want to supply a 3rd team and Force India look set to sign a 3 year deal with Mercedes (if that hasn't happened already). So if Bianchi lands the drive I'm guessing it will be to keep Ferrari happy. Although apparently Kovalainen has had a seat fitting and will drive on Saturday.

But isn't McLaren and Marussia doing co-operation? And apparently Withmarsh is doing everything he can to keep Kovalainen at F1. So in that wise it's not so clear that Bianchi would become the second driver of Marussia.

http://www.viponlinesports.eu/ ... --live-stream-online.html - follow actual action from Barcelona

Quote from Stig209 :

But isn't McLaren and Marussia doing co-operation? And apparently Withmarsh is doing everything he can to keep Kovalainen at F1. So in that wise it's not so clear that Bianchi would become the second driver of Marussia.

They only use aero tunnel and it isn't exactly a massive deal between the two teams, sure but Whitmarsh only has so much influence. At the end of the day, Coswerth have gone into administration and in an engine geared season in 2014 they need a proper supplier - the maths adds up as I explained in my previous post.

Not that I don't want to see Heikki in F1 I just think it's best to take Bianchi for Marrussia.

I like the guy smashing the cone on the tyre. Along with the dude with the hydraulic wrench making sparks on the ground at the very end.

Marussia confirmes contract with bianchi

Quote from Stig209 :

Marussia confirmes contract with bianchi

oh well... that just ended heikki's f1 career

That move when they switched Bianci with Razia is bit sad. I wouldn't like to be in Razia's boots, really bad situation to be like 1 month from start of the feeder series' seasons...

Sucks when you have the sponsors and then they don't pay in time.

Hopefully we'll get some idea of who is where over the weekend as everyone should have roughly Melbourne spec cars and a bit of dry weather. Lots of delving into race sim lap times over the next couple of days.

At least we know that Kimi is running fever, valsecchi and Grosjean driving Lotus today
Edit: Kimi has food poisoning

1.HamiltonMercedes GPW041:20.558
41PIT2.GutierrezSauberC321:22.661+2.10337
3.MassaFerrariF1381:22.727+2.16942
4.SutilForce IndiaVJM061:23.284+2.72623PIT
5.WebberRed Bull RacingRB91:23.482+2.92418
6.VergneToro RossoSTR81:23.614+3.05631PIT
7.van der GardeCaterhamCT031:24.520+3.96237
8.PerezMcLarenMP4-281:24.608+4.05036PIT
9.ValsecchiLotusE211:24.639+4.08110PIT
10.BianchiMarussia F1 TeamMR021:25.494+4.93623
11.MaldonadoWilliamsFW351:25.523+4.96517P


Giedo now faster than Perez <3

doensnt mean anything... although it would be nice to see if grid would be like that

Well Hamilton set that time with a few laps of fuel in, on face value it appears to be a 'decent' time. It's just testing, but Mercedes have had a decent winter.

Obviously these times mean nothing, but I wouldn't write off Hamilton. He will get the maximum out of the car and he seems much happier and more focused than in previous seasons.

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Obviously these times mean nothing, but I wouldn't write off Hamilton. He will get the maximum out of the car and he seems much happier and more focused than in previous seasons.

Hopefully he'll be back to 07,08 standards of driving.

Hamilton drove as good as anyone last year, and would have won the title had the Mclaren pit crew and reliability had not been so poor. 2008 wasn't a particularly good year despite it beign the championship year... 2009 was probably better having to drag round the mp4-24