hacker-pschorr

I still miss Zsolt

hacker-pschorr

So far:

Day 1 Barcelona: Raikkonen fastest

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:21.195 98
2. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:21.858 99
3. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:21.906 101
4. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:21.983 92
5. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.114 74
6. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:22.665 132
7. Piquet Renault (B) 1:22.763 125
8. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:22.771 56
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:23.165 47
10. Valles Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:23.343 44
11. van der Garde Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:23.466 37
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:24.248 43

Rassel

Day 2 Barcelona (wet): Räikkönen still fastest

Unofficial Tuesday times from Barcelona:
1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:30.280
2. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:31.752
3. Heikki Kovalainen, Renault, 1:32.149
4. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:32.175
5. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 1:32.573
6. Rubens Barrichello, Honda, 1:32.911
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:32.943
8. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri, 1:33.238
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Toro Rosso, 1:33.328
10. Adrian Sutil, Spyker, 1:35.488
11. Scott Speed, Toro Rosso, 1:39.560

A.Wayne

This is good , but Raikkonen need to be fast on the second day in spain ,
seeing Heikki so far up that list tells the tale , TESTING!
I meam we know Kimi will be around after this season , but will Heikki be around? Me thinks not !

A.Wayne

Former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn believes Kimi Raikkonen still needs time to adjust to his new team before he shows his full potential.

The Finn driver left the McLaren team at the end of last year after five seasons, and replaced seven-time champion Michael Schumacher as Felipe Massa's teammate at the Italian squad.

Raikkonen's speed has been somewhat overshadowed by Massa's impressive pace in winter testing and in qualifying in the first races of the season, although the Finn is currently tied in the lead of the championship.

Brawn reckons Raikkonen is yet to fully acclimatise to Ferrari, but the Briton is predicting a fascinating battle between the pair in 2007.

"Felipe was very good at the end of last year and from what I understand he has progressed well over the winter," Brawn told Autosport magazine. "He is very strong opposition because he knows the tyres, he knows the car, he knows the team.

"Kimi is very quick, but he needs a bit more time to get to the same level as Felipe.

"When you get intelligent guys who work with the tyres, with the car and the team you are not going to step right in and operate at quite the same level. You will take a little time to come up to that.

"It's a fascinating battle and I think we'll see lots of ups and downs in that battle before the end of the year. It's a great start to the season."

Brawn also praised McLaren's Lewis Hamilton following the British driver's sensational start to life in Formula One, although the former technical director admitted he was not particularly surprised by the rookie driver's showing after his stellar performances in other series.

"I wouldn't say surprised," Brawn added. "We saw some of the stuff he was doing in GP2. It was exceptional and nobody else was doing that, and nobody had done that for a long time. You just didn't know whether that would translate to F1 and it seems to have done.

"There's again ideas and theories about the swap from Michelins to Bridgestones for (Fernando) Alonso and Kimi, and that maybe it's taking a little while to adjust to. Bahrain is a hard-braking circuit. It's where the differences between the Bridgestones and Michelins will have been most prevalent.

"Whether Kimi and Fernando haven't adjusted to those changes, it's a theory. We'll see a lot of twists and turns in that battle. But for Lewis it's been a great performance. It's going to be fascinating to watch the rest of the year. Quite exceptional, really."

This week's Autosport features highlights of a Ross Brawn interview carried out at a Motorsport Industry Association dinner held at Woburn Abbey last week. Don't miss the Ferrari strategy guru's thoughts on 30 years in motorsport.

A.Wayne

Raikkonen certain of improved one-lap pace

By Jonathan Noble Monday, May 7th 2007, 13:34 GMT

Kimi Raikkonen believes Ferrari's qualifying pace will be much improved at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, claiming that the F2007 has been lacking on its single lap pace so far this year.

Although Raikkonen and teammate Felipe Massa have started on pole at all three races so far, both drivers believe that the car is not as strong as it should be in getting performance from its tyres for that one quick lap.

And with the team encouraged by last week's test at Barcelona, with major car upgrades evaluated for the first time, Raikkonen is optimistic that their race strategies will no longer need to be compromised through fear of not getting to the front of the field.

"As I already said over the last weeks, we have to improve the performance in qualifying," Raikkonen told Ferrari's official website.

"It was not really easy for me to get all the potential out of the car on a single lap, because we never managed to prepare it at the best.

"Now I'm really happy about the steps forward: although it's really difficult to overtake another car, even when it's slower, it makes things a lot easier when you want to win, when you can start from the front."

He added: "We were able to improve the F2007 considerably, because the new components work really well and the car is now much closer to my style of driving. I'm much more optimistic now: we can attack the best way possible, as my friend Markku Alen (Finnish rally driver) usually says.

"It's true that you never know how competitive you really are compared to the other teams during the test sessions; obviously for that we have to wait for the qualifying and the race; but the lap times give us some hints."

With teams having spent the last four weeks working on major development steps for the Spanish Grand Prix, many believe that this weekend's race will provide the clearest indication yet of just how strong each team will be for the rest of the year.

Raikkonen said: "We come to Spain to win; and we'll do the best to accomplish this goal. It is a hard-fought championship and it is always important to gain as many points as possible.

"The best part of the season is yet to start: summer is coming and we race in Europe."

Flying Finn

You wanna lose two Finlandias now?

Sheesh... Third one..? Finlandia party at Finns house after Brazil GP!
(Wayne, of course you're invited too since you're in the neighborhood anyway after delivering the bottles...)

I'm on if you want, Finlandia bottle says Heikki will be in F1 in 2008.

Geo

Heikki will be at Renault, despite some complaints by Flavio. He will have to remain for continuity if nothing else because Fisi isn't a lame duck - he's a dead duck. Total dud. I can't believe they kept him for this year, but I think it was for continuity.

Larry Herman

Boy, talk about your blown chances. I remember a few years back when it was generally held up and down the pit lane that Fisi was possibly the best driver out there. Then he finally gets his opportunity to shine with Renault and you know the rest of the story.

A.Wayne

LOL, Finn! you have been missing for so long , i bet you where home talking to Kimi ! as you can see your boy is the one under pressure ,

If FLav keeps Heiki around it will be to Polish his shoes and carry his vodka Shheeshh the guy does'nt drink
Who ever heard of a finn that does not drink, no wonder he is slow and if you are slower than Fisi you are slow

Finn i will be there for the Brazilian GP , I must warn you i have been training

multi21

Finn,

Correct me I've I'm wrong, but Heikki didn't or doesn't really spend a lot of time in Finland. I thought I heard he was born in Finland, but grew up in Germany or ....?

Rassel

Could be Nico Rosberg you're thinking of. He's born in Germany and son of Keke Rosberg (WC82) who's from F1nland also.

Flying Finn

Yeah, been here & there, you know now that F1 is on a little break us Finns have time to practice our you know what...

Although Kimi did testing and wanted to do more. Hamilton on the other hand was not allowed to test, little Spanish boy told Mc that only him & DelaRosa should test so Hamilton's test was cancelled...

Hamilton managed to spend little time in Finland though where McLaren does their driver physical training stuff. See, I let the cat out, now you know why Hamilton is so good, he trains in Finland under the supervision of Finnish trainers.

Heikki drinks, don't worry, I'll invite him since by the end of season I have too much Vodka on my hands...

Flying Finn

That's correct. Nico has German mother & Finnish father, he used to race under Finnish licence but nowadays races under German licence.
Don't talk Finnish either.

Kovalainen actually spends often (for a F1 driver that's not actually too often...) in Finland and in a little town he is from.

A.Wayne

Yeah! that would be nice seeing he would be unemployed with a lot of time on his hands.