Kubica's Renault fastest on final day
Robert Kubica posted the quickest time on the final day of the pre-season F1 test in Valencia, despite a far from perfect day of running for the new Renault R31.
The Pole was back on track for a second day at the wheel of the new Lotus-backed car and continued to run through a programme focused on downforce, set-up and a series of system checks.
Kubica’s day started poorly due to a series of electrical gremlins on the car but a more productive afternoon saw him complete 95 laps and post the fastest lap of the week late in the day.
Germany's Adrian Sutil was second fastest in last year's Force India, albeit with the new Pirelli tyres, in 1:13.201 while McLaren's Jenson Button - who will unveil his new car in Berlin on Friday - was third quickest .
“I think we can split the day into two halves because we had some problems in the morning and we only managed to do our first real run about 1:30pm,” Kubica said. “But, after we solved the issues with the car, we managed to do a bit of set-up evaluation and some tyre work.
“Because of the time we lost this morning we didn’t complete the laps we targeted, but it’s better to get any reliability issues with the car during testing, rather than when we get to the first race in Bahrain.”
Technical director James Allison was also happy with the test and said the team was keen to continue the progress made when testing resumes at Jerez next week.
“After months of effort from the whole team, it was great to be on the track for the first time with the R31 this week,” he said. “Our first three days of testing have not been without incident, but we have managed a good amount of running, proving out the reliability and functionality of all the key systems on the car notwithstanding its rather unusual layout.
“The first test has shown that management of the tyres this season will be absolutely critical, so it was good to have made some progress in this regard. We move on to the second pre-season test next week looking to make further progress with set-up and tyre management prior to getting the first race package together in the later tests.”
Comment 1 - 18 of 18
CHeer up NIck, Massa got a phoney FIA-assisted Belgian win out of it, in fact he should of won in Hungary (engine failure), Singapore (comedy pitstop) so if you want anyone to blame..erm... blame Ferrari! (heaven forfend!) :D
and just how was it cheating if it was allowd within the rules
did hamilton used the cheating kers button to win his phoney f1 glock assisted title?
Charles, if you know anything about F1 then you would know that the test is not about getting the fastest lap out of everyone. Its about trying different settings and monitoring their effects, different teams have different objectives at different times so unless the other teams have the same test objectives as you, then times mean nothing. Most teams keep their raw speed under wraps until the last test
Although it was just a test it's still nice to see your driver up in front :)
who had the fastest time of all during the tests
Its fast but fragile at the moment.
A lotus renault sponsored by lada the fatest car of the session
Sry but i have to say LOL
'Kub in fast car, if truly fast, will spoil the establishment. Can't look at last year's times as comparison, no mo dub diffuser, and new pirelli tires.
From Martin, on Fri 4 Feb 3:17AM'
and no KERS or moveable rear wing last year though, and you forget that some of the field are running last years car anyway. Face facts, the teams have not turned the wick up yet AS THIS IS JUST A TEST!
Too early to tell to confirm Lotus Renault was above all other cars!The order of the day of this pre-season tests is to run the cars to checks for reliabilities not the speed.The advantage perhaps could materialize in Lotus Renault's favor,if their CFD and upgraded wind tunnel systems bears fruits.
Kubica has always been fast!!! If the car is as good as he is at driving it, he will fight for the title!!! NO problem!
Kub in fast car, if truly fast, will spoil the establishment. Can't look at last year's times as comparison, no mo dub diffuser, and new pirelli tires.
Well done!!!!! now all we need is the other lotus on the boil and we can back to real old time racing!!
Kubica could be the dark horse this year. I hope he's in the title fight. The more, the merrier!
still way short of last years test times in the low 1min 12secs so dont get too excited
@1
Your nickname `Premature Pete`?
Way to go Kubica!! JPS scheme fastest, been a long time.
That car will be fast, possibly fastest.
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