Vettel demotes Buemi at final test day of 2008

The final testing day of 2008 took place on Wednesday at both Jerez and the new Algarve circuit, with all the teams in action developing or starting to develop their 2009 car in preparation for the first car launches next month.

At Jerez, Sebastian Vettel finally beat Sebastien Buemi to the fastest time for Red Bull, Buemi having sat at the top of the time sheets for 5 days. The German’s 1:16.617 lap was easily the fastest of the entire test, and beat Buemi’s time by 3 tenths of a second. Robert Kubica and Christian Klien continued their testing of the 2009 BMW and it’s KERS. Kubica’s best lap was marginally faster than Klien’s, who completed just 38 laps. Kazuki Nakajima had the most to do in his 2009 Williams spec car, three tenths of the pace of the BMWs.

Pedro de la Rosa continued at the top of the Algarve time sheets with a best lap of 1:28.993. Luca Badoer continued his duties for Ferrari as the only other man out on track. He finished the day over 1 second behind de la Rosa’s McLaren.

Formula 1 testing will now return in January at many different locations, as the teams begin to send their 2009 cars out for their first runs.

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Testing continues at Jerez and Algarve

Testing continued at both Jerez and the new Algarve circuit into Tuesday, with Red Bull and McLaren remaining on top as times improved from Monday.

Sebastien Buemi was once again on top in an RB4, setting a best lap of 1:17.029 during his extended running, after stepping in for the injured Mark Webber. He was joined by Sebastian Vettel, who had to settle for second behind the Red Bull tester by just under 0.3 seconds. Nick Heidfeld was a full 2 seconds further behind in his BMW fitted with slick tyres, whilst Robert Kubica drove to fourth with KERS. Kazuki Nakajima closed the gap to the BMWs, now three tenths behind.

McLaren and Ferrari continued their running at the Algarve circuit, with Pedro de la Rosa taking over from Gary Paffett. The Spaniard topped the time sheets in the cold conditions, with a 1:30.080, ahead of Ferrari testers Luca Badoer and Mark Gene.

Wednesday sees the final day of 2008 testing at both Jerez and the Algarve.

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Testing underway at Algarve and Jerez

The final test session of 2008 got underway today, with teams split between the location of the last test, the Jerez ciruit in Spain and the Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. The Algarve circuit, which was completed in October, held it’s first ever F1 test day.

Only McLaren and Ferrari were in action at the new circuit, with Honda scheduled to join them before being forced to pull out due to it’s ongoing search for a buyer. The 2008 championship rivals experience limited running, with strong winds all day. Gary Paffett was out for McLaren and testing the 2009 front wing, while Felipe Massa could only complete 36 laps and was feeling ill. Paffett’s final time was a 1:31.788, 1.1 seconds faster than Massa’s.

Meanwhile in Jerez, Red Bull, BMW and Williams were all in action. Sebastien Buemi was now in a Red Bull RB4, but was still topping the time sheets. His lap of 1:17.704 was over 1.6 seconds faster than Brendon Hartley, who was also out for the Austrian team. Nick Heidfeld was once again out in a 2009 spec BMW, setting the second fastest time of 1:19.223. Christian Klien was 4 tenths behind in a KERS fitted BMW. Nico Hulkenburg completed the most laps for Williams, and rounded up the times in fifth place.

Testing continues at both circuits into tomorrow.

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McLaren fastest on last day of Jerez test

The final official testing day of the 2008 season ended on Friday with Pedro de la Rosa topping the timesheets for McLaren with a best time of 1:18.992.  Nick Heidfeld finished runner-up for BMW, posting a time 0.3 seconds slower.

Lucas di Grassi and Renault remained in third, whilst Sebastian Vettel returned to Toro Rosso after moving aside to Red Bull to let Takuma Sato and Sebastien Buemi battle for a 2009 drive. Vettel finished fourth, posting a 1:19.470 with Buemi back testing for the Red Bull senior team and completing the day just behind. Toyota’s Timo Glock took sixth place, two seconds ahead of Honda’s Alex Wurz who was a further 0.2 seconds ahead of Nico Rosberg for Williams in the hot conditions.

Testing will now continue once the season has ended, with a three day session at the Circuit de Catalunya scheduled to start on November 17th.

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Hamilton takes lead as Monza test ends

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on the third and last day of testing at Monza. His best lap, a 1:22.967 for McLaren, was 0.4 seconds faster than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Despite McLaren and Ferrari being on top, today proved to be the most surprising of the test. Force India took the third spot, thanks to Giancarlo Fisichella, with a 1:23.632. They were followed by Williams and Kazuki Nakajima, only 0.002s behind the Italian.

Robert Kubica disappointed after BMW’s top spot yesterday. He could only manage 1:24.089, finishing tenth after going off the track in the morning. Once again, Honda occupied last place. Jenson Button was 0.3 seconds behind the Pole, continuing Honda’s bad form in testing. The Renault powered cars scrapped for fifth with Red Bull coming out on top today, whilst Sebastian Bourdais climbed to seventh after yesterdays tenth.

No doubt the Italian fans were pleased to see Fisichella doing so well. Not so pleased to see Ferrari come second. The teams will return to Monza for Friday practice on September 12th.

Results

1.	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1:22.967s	97 Laps
2.	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:23.371s	79 Laps
3.	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India	1:23.632s	114 Laps
4.	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams	1:23.634s	99 Laps
5.	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	1:23.737s	120 Laps
6.	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:23.820s	80 Laps
7.	Sebastien Bourdais	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:23.865s	77 Laps
8.	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:23.897s	79 Laps
9.	Robert Kubica	BMW	1:24.089s	57 Laps
10.	Jenson Button	Honda	1:24.321s	96 Laps

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