> 2007 Winter Testing (Pics and Reports)

Updated lap timings. Mostly the final ones.

Quite a diff in Chandok and DC...

I hope they have a different setup..:O

Schumacher quickest on F1 return

Michael Schumacher proved he had lost none of the speed that made him a seven-times world champion as he topped the times on the first day of testing at Barcelona.

The Ferrari legend, back in to help the team as it adapts to the ban on traction control, was the only man to set a time in the 1m21s range as F1 kicked off its winter testing season.

Despite a year in retirement, the 38-year-old German looked far from ring-rusty as he set a time of 1m21.922s, completing 64 laps of the Spanish Grand Prix venue.

Second quickest was Ferrari's regular test driver Luca Badoer, who was 0.2s slower in the sister car.

McLaren's test driver Pedro de la Rosa was third fastest but the Spaniard was more than 0.7s slower than Schumacher as the Woking team began its own programme to adapt to the new standard ECU, driver-aid free F1.

British DTM ace and F1 hopeful Gary Paffett was sixth fastest in the second McLaren having spent several hours in the team simulator working on new developments for the '08 car over the past months.

Renault's sole representative was Heikki Kovalainen, who has still not been publicly confirmed with the team for 2008.

The Finn, who admitted to revelling in his TC-free R27, was fourth fastest.

Just 0.021s behind Kovy was Robert Kubica as BMW got serious about 2008 and brought both its race drivers to the test for the full three days.

Nick Heidfeld, one of the few drivers on the grid with any experience of F1 without traction control, was tenth fastest.

New Williams signing Kazuki Nakajima, who said last week that he hoped his lack of experience with TC would help him, was seventh fastest, out-pacing team-mate Nico Rosberg (11th).

David Coulthard's Red Bull was eighth.

RBR also gave Indian hopeful Karun Chandhok a run. The GP2 race winner had an eventful day on his way to 18th.

Neither Toyota driver had a trouble-free day.

Jarno Trulli (9th), suffering from a fever, was scheduled to run a programme of 2008 developments but an engine problem curtailed his running early while test driver Franck Montagny had to wait while the teams chased gremlins in a car that was fitted with the new standard ECU.

“It was nice to be back behind the wheel apart from the fact I was a bit sick today with a fever, so it wasn’t the best way to get back in the car," said Trulli.

"But we managed to go through all of my programme and we looked at developments for the 2008 car, working without traction control and looking at other test items."

Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais were virtually inseperable in the Toro Rossos, while Andreas Zuber was an impressive 14th in the first of the Hondas.

James Rossiter, 17th, gave the new Honda hybrid a proper shakedown and Anthony Davidson shook down the Super Aguri SA07-05B – effectively a Honda RA107B.

Davidson spent the morning evaluating the new MES control system and completed a programme of electronic analysis before moving on to development in the afternoon.

The repainted and rebranded Force India cars, driven by test drivers Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez brought up the rear.


1. M SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m21.922s

2. BADOER Ferrari 1m22.129s

3. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m22.687s

4. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m22.802s

5. KUBICA BMW 1m22.883s

6. PAFFETT McLaren 1m23.008s

7. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m23.187s

8. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m23.332s

9. TRULLI Toyota 1m23.624s

10. HEIDFELD BMW 1m23.671s

11. ROSBERG Williams 1m23.847s

12. MONTAGNY Toyota 1m23.861s

13. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m24.048s

14. ZUBER Super Aguri 1m24.065s

15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m24.193s

16. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m24.246s

17. ROSSITER Honda 1m24.480s

18. CHANDHOK Red Bull 1m24.896s

19. VAN DER GARDE Force India 1m25.317s
20. RODRIGUEZ Force India 1m26.973s

Schumacher still top in Barcelona

Michael Schumacher concluded his brief return to Formula 1 by continuing to the set the pace at Barcelona.

The 38-year-old retired seven-time champion, who returned to the track for Ferrari to help the team through its transition back to life without traction control, bettered his Tuesday benchmark by nearly half a second after 90 laps of running around the Spanish Grand Prix venue.

"The plan was just for me to further develop the car now and give as much input as I can during my time here," Schumacher told reporters afterwards.

"It took me a bit of time, maybe two laps, and then I was back into the groove. And I have to say I surprised myself that I was so quickly on it again.

"I was a bit nervous [yesterday]," he added.

"It was probably a bit like a little kid, I felt like I did when I was 18 again... Being out on the track is still a very good feeling."

Asked what he thought of the latest template for F1 with 2.4-litre V8 engines, standard ECUs and no traction control, Schumacher responded: "It feels worse than when we last ran without TC, it's not similar; it's worse.

"Because you have different engines compared to that time," he explained.

"Then you had 10-cylinder engines, you could change and play with the gears and now you cannot… but the high speed stuff is exciting."

Schumacher's 2006 team-mate and Ferrari ace Felipe Massa was fourth quickest as he eased himself back in after his post-season break.

McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa was second fastest overall, 0.4s off of Schumacher's 1m21.496s lap.

The Spaniard was 0.4s faster than fellow McLaren tester Gary Paffett (fifth) as the pair focused on their own driver-aid free programme.

Renault's Heikki Kovalainen was third quickest, while his on-track rival for much of the season, Williams's Nico Rosberg, was sixth.

David Coulthard was seventh as Red Bull continued to show solid form, and the Scot's extensive experience of TC-free F1 over the years is proving a valuable asset right now.

Indian hopeful Karun Chandhok had a better second day of testing in F1, closing to within 0.7s of DC in the second Red Bull.

Nick Heidfeld was the fastest BMW driver in eighth but team-mate Robert Kubica had problems with new parts as the team began working on its '08 aero package.

Jenson Button returned to Honda to work on the new hybrid car while Toro Rosso twins Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel swapped between chassis, one fitted with '08 electronics and one fitted with '07 kit, albeit with the TC switched off.

Toyota had an eventful day with Jarno Trulli and Franck Montagny running off the track, the Frenchman backing into the barriers.

“I’ve had quite a bad day really today," he said.

"The car looked quite good yesterday, even if it was not perfect, but today with more grip from the track surface we were struggling to find the right set-up.

"I had a problem getting the tyres up to temperature and spun in the morning, which took a couple of hours to repair. Then we had a software problem which cost us more time.

"Even though I am driving a modified car with some 2008 elements, we were expecting better. It was disappointing but I hope we can improve tomorrow.”

Force India began its driver evaluation test on Wednesday with Christian Klien emerging slightly quicker than Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi.


Barcelona testing times (November 14)

1. SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m21.486s
2. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m21.857s
3. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m21.894s
4. MASSA Ferrari 1m22.044s
5. PAFFETT McLaren 1m22.293s
6. ROSBERG Williams 1m22.333s
7. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m22.555s
8. HEIDFELD BMW 1m22.946s
9. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m23.021s
10. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m23.187s
11. CHANDHOK Red Bull 1m23.255s
12. BUTTON Honda 1m23.358s
13. TRULLI Toyota 1m23.465s
14. KUBICA BMW 1m23.488s
15. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m23.547s
16. FILIPPI Honda 1m23.596s
17. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m23.753s
18. MONTAGNY Toyota 1m23.977s
19. KLIEN Force India 1m24.446s
20. SUTIL Force India 1m24.537s
21. LIUZZI Force India 1m24.555s