Jerez first 2015 test Test day two
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Our man in the pits adds that it's all quiet at Mercedes. The garage doors are still down following the water system problem that halted Hamilton earlier.
Esteban Gutierrez
BEN ANDERSON: "Just spoke to new Ferrari reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez. He says the Scuderia's test programme is running smoothly today and that first impressions of the new car are good.
"Gutierrez is hoping for a limited testing programme with Ferrari. He'll be frustrated not to be racing, but he'll be hoping that being associated with a big team can be good for his longer-term prospects."
Bottas moves up to third with a 1m23.049s, as Kvyat makes another messy getaway in the Red Bull.
BEN ANDERSON is down in the pits for us. He's watching "lots of activity around the rear of the McLaren-Honda in the garage", and was also on hand to see Kvyat struggle to engage first gear and pull away at the end of the pits.
Vettel's just passed through the pits, while Bottas has headed out as well. Nasr is lapping in the 1m24s following on from that personal best 1m23.7s.
Vettel is out on track too, but he's running pretty slowly at the moment. No repeat of the rapid runs that he chalked up this morning on his way to going fastest.
Nasr improves his best time to a 1m23.762s. He goes third fastest.
Nasr heads back out onto track in the Sauber. Clearly the team was influenced to put on a show for the hardy souls in the grandstands by AUTOSPORT's spate of Sauber facts.
SAUBER FACT: "In 2010, Peter Sauber chose the 1993 South African Grand Prix as his 'Race Of My Life' in AUTOSPORT magazine."
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@HondaRacingF1: "Black clouds and drizzle in #Jerez. But we've located the problem. #everycloud"
SAUBER FACT: "Michael Schumacher, who raced for Sauber in Group C, later tested an F1 car for the team."
Rules clarification: The driver must have joined another team in between...
Congratulations to Robert Kubica for winning EDD STRAW'S top-five Sauber drivers challenge. But can the founder of SAUBER FACTS name each of the four drivers who have returned to the team for a second stint as a race driver?
Trophy
Robert Kubica
EDD STRAW: "And number one has to be Robert Kubica. Stunning in 2008 in particular, fantastic driver and and a genuinely admirable character. He's all about motorsport."
EDD STRAW: "Before revealing number one, I have to add honourable mentions for Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. And Norberto Fontana."
EDD STRAW: "Number two: Nico Hulkenberg. Drove some absurdly good races for the team in 2013. His reward seems to be to bounce around midfield teams indefinitely."
EDD STRAW: "Number three: Kimi Raikkonen. Before I worked for AUTOSPORT, I thought his promotion to a Sauber drive in 2001 was a mistake. Was very wrong. Sensational rookie season."
EDD STRAW: "Number four: JJ Lehto. Simply for points on Sauber's debut at Kyalami. And he made two late-season appearances for Sauber in 1994. I like that kind of thing."
EDD STRAW: "Number five: Kamui Kobayashi. Effective driver, popular podium in the Japanese GP and once speculated that they might not make bullet-proof vests big enough for me. He was right."
We expect fans of Pedro Diniz will be holding their collective breath over this challenge...
EDD STRAW: "Just to clarify, this is my five favourite drivers based upon their antics in a Sauber, not five favourite/greatest/best drivers who happened to have raced a Sauber in F1."
EDD STRAW is indeed allowed to include BMW Sauber drivers in his top 5 - surely that means Jacques Villeneuve has just won this contest hands down.
And Vettel returns to the pits.
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Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz
While the creator of Sauber facts gets to work on his challenge, and the weather is keeping things relatively quiet on track (save for Vettel), here's a collection of successful Spaniards killing time in the paddock. Fernando Alonso flanked by two generations of Carlos Sainz...
We have action: Vettel is on track.
EDD STRAW: "I accept the challenge. But does BMW Sauber count for this? Was some common ownership through Peter Sauber."
While EDD STRAW is killing time with his love of Sauber, we're challenging him to pick his top 5 Sauber F1 drivers of all time.
Rain
It is raining. Great news for Sauber facts. It's only a fine mist in the air, but it's seemingly enough to put anyone off of running.
Sauber facts will continue until somebody returns to the track.
SAUBER FACT: Sergio Perez has more podiums for Sauber than any other driver (3). That's Sauber as a fully-independent team, so excluding the BMW Sauber years.
SAUBER FACT: Heinz-Harald Frentzen has started more grands prix for Sauber than anyone else - 64.
SAUBER FACT: 'Sauber' is German for 'clean'.
Nasr returns to the pits, meaning there is now nobody on track.
Some very dark clouds have rolled in over Jerez in the last 15 minutes or so.
SAUBER FACT: The 'C' in the Sauber designation is there in honour of Peter Sauber's wife, Christiane.
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@McLarenF1: "We think we've fixed the issue - hopeful of getting MP4-30 out again before the end of the day."
SAUBER ALARM: Nasr improves his time. He's now done a 1m24.218s. Fifth fastest.
So Nasr (Sauber) and Bottas (not Sauber) now out on the track.
Sauber 1993
SAUBER FACT: Sauber ran fourth and fifth at the end of its first lap in grand prix racing at Kyalami in 1993.
By: Glenn Freeman, Ben Anderson, Edd Straw, AUTOSPORT staff
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