Buzzin F1 – Formula One Blog

McLaren 2009

Although the track was damp for most of the third day of testing, the drivers weren’t faced with the conditions they’ve endured for the previous two days.  However, on day four the weather proved once again to be against the teams with torrential rain leading to the session being red flagged early in the day.

Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso was again set the pace as he completed 128 laps of the circuit for the Red Bull owned team.

Buemi only managed a couple of laps in the morning session and the same again later in the afternoon, a complete wash-out for the testing programme.

Williams driver Nico Rosberg showed an impressive form in his second day in the 2009 FW31 car, only 1.7 seconds of the ultimate pace.

On day four it was the turn of Kazuki Nakajima to take the wheel, but he never even got the chance of a timed lap due to the weather.

Lewis Hamilton took to the track today in the McLaren setting the third fastest time despite stopping on track with a mechanical problem.  This seasons car, the MP4-24 was featuring the 2009 specification wing for the first time.

Despite, Heikki Kovalainen being on hand to take the wheel for his testing session on day four, he along with the team remained in the garage until the race was declared officially ended due to the weather at 4.15pm.

Timo Glock took over test duties today for the Toyota team, his first time in the TF109.  A small fire broke out on the car when it stopped out on track but was soon put out and he managed to finish fourth fastest.

On the second day of Glock’s testing, he only managed one lap of the track before deciding to try an hour later.  However, once it was decided that the medical helicopter would be unable to fly in the atrocious conditions the session was called off.

It was also the first time out for Renault driver Fernando Alonso in the new R29, but he seemed way of the pace although he completed rather more than the nine laps his team mate Nelson Piquet completed on the previous day.

The Spanish driver did not go out on the circuit for day four as the whole team had to take shelter in the garage for the whole session.

With the Ferrari team opting to test at Mugello this week rather than Portugal, they were faced with a damp track and frequent showers.

Kimi Raikkonen handed over the seat to Felipe Massa who was still unable to test on slick tyres on the wet surface, but he still managed to complete 104 laps and continued with the car’s developement work.

On day four it was a different story of the team as they were able to put in some dry weather running with Massa running on slick tyres in the morning session.

The team finished their day slightly earlier than expected after th car developed a hydralic problem after Massa had completed a total of 103 laps.

The other team not testing at Portugal is the BMW Sauber team who decided upon Valencia for their session and despite there being no rain there were severe winds.

Robert Kubica was out for the morning session continuing with different set-up combinations on the new F1.09, but the team decided to change to focusing on overall reliabilty after the strong gusts continued.

The next group test session will take place in Jerez, Spain on February 10th, although the BMW Sauber team are continuing with their testing in Valencia.