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Kimi Raikonnen made his first public appearance with Ferrari on Thursday, joining the team for the second day of tests at Jerez. Although he is yet to be released by McLaren, Kimi took the opportunity to get to know the members of his new team, even sitting down for a chat with new team mate Felipe Massa.
Meanwhile, McLaren has been pushing for Fernando Alonso’s release from Renault, hoping that the Spaniard can join them for a drive at next week’s tests at Jerez. Kinda silly, if you ask me, given that they have been likewise holding on to Kimi (despite the visit to Ferrari) until the year’s end.
The way things stand at the moment, both drivers will be unable to drive for their new teams until next year’s mid-January tests at Valencia.
Also on Thursday, Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of testing with a time of 1:18.684. This marks the first time in testing that teams were able to lap faster than the day’s leading Ferrari, with five teams setting faster times than Massa’s best of 1:20.046.
Stay tuned for more as the teams continue to run at Jerez until the 15th of December.
December 8th, 2006
According to Autosport.com, Jenson Button will be sitting out this week’s tests at Jerez, and quite possibly next week as well, as doctors are taking the necessary precautions to ensure that Jenson is healthy and ready for 2007. This also puts his Race of Champions entry in doubt. He will, however, likely be around the team during testing to monitor progress and obtain feedback from test drivers Rossiter and Klein.
Despite the break from the rib injury, it’s been a rather busy and present-filled start to the holidays for Jenson, doing PR work for Honda and being honoured three times in the past two weeks, collecting the BRDC’s coveted Graham Hill trophy, Autosport Award’s British Competition Driver of the Year and F1 Racing magazine’s F1 Drive of the Year.
That’s one way to keep an F1 driver busy during the holidays, I suppose.
December 6th, 2006
For a day, a Finn was back in the McLaren seat. No, we’re not talking about Kimi (who despite still being under contract with McLaren for the remainder of the year won’t be taking part in testing). We’re talking about former two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen, back in action for the first time since 2001. Häkkinen completed 79 laps at the Catalunya circuit yesterday, running an evaluation program for the team. Despite being some 3 seconds off the pace, it was nice to see the former world champion back on track. You can read more on Mika’s drive at F1Racing.net, and view pictures at the official Formula One website’s gallery.
Meanwhile, Toyota wrapped up this week’s testing runs at Barcelona on Friday. Having started a day later than the other teams, Toyota race drivers Jarno Tulli and Ralf Schumacher were the only ones able to take to the track. Both drivers were able to lap considerably faster, setting the only sub-1:16.000 laps of the testing period. Must’ve been nice for the team to have the circuit all to themselves.
Anyway, testing moves on to Jerez for the next two weeks, where we can all expect more action as we count down to the start of the 2007 season.
December 2nd, 2006
The testing period for the 2007 season has kicked off, with all but the SpykerF1 team taking part in the three day test session at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
With Bridgestone having become the sole tire supplier for 2007, the testing period is especially critical for last year’s Michelin-shod teams - the likes of Renault, McLaren and Honda - as they make the switch to new rubber.
Not surprisingly, the Ferraris topped the timesheets, with Felipe Massa leading the way at 1:17.160, and test driver Luca Badoer coming in third with a time of 1:17.555. Pedro de la Rosa split the two with a time of 1:17.455, nearly three tenths of a second of Massa’s pace.
GP2 front runners Lewis Hamilton and Nelson Piquet Jr. were also present in their new roles for McLaren and Renault, respectively, with Hamilton lapping at a best of 1:18.239 for sixth and Piquet Jr. at tenth with a time of 1:18.852.
Testing continues until November 30, after which the teams are expected to run at Jerez for a further two weeks of testing.
November 28th, 2006
