F1 testing: Old faces in new places
The Formula 1 testing season has kicked off in style as most of the main players hit the track at Jerez this morning. A number of new driver/team combinations ran for the first time, but McLaren's David Coulthard has set the early pace
The eagerly anticipated head-to-head between Benetton's Jenson Button and his Williams-BMW replacement Juan Pablo Montoya will be closely monitored. So far this morning, Montoya has completed a few two- and three-lap runs and is 11th fastest, while Button has gone eighth quickest.
BMW Williams has three of its cars on track, with Montoya's team-mate Ralf Schumacher and recently-signed test driver Marc Gene also completing laps. Schumacher was the cause of the day's first red flag when his car stopped with a mechanical failure.
McLaren's David Coulthard has been out again and is quickest, following on from his 30-lap run yesterday, while its new test driver Alex Wurz is expected to get a taste of the MP4-15 this afternoon. Ferrari has just Rubens Barrichello present, who is currently second fastest to Coulthard despite a spin at the chicane. Its test driver, Luca Badoer, continues his programme at Fiorano in Italy today.
Olivier Panis gets his first run in a BAR today as he prepares for a return to racing this season. The former McLaren tester, fifth fastest in the early going, is being partnered today by test driver Darren Manning.
Formula 1 hopeful Kimi Raikkonen is present for Sauber, as is Nick Heidfeld, who gets his first go in the Swiss outfit's car today. The German has also caused a red flag this morning, but his C19 returned with no visible damage besides grass in its sidepods.
Jaguar has Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti ready for action, and Jordan has test driver Ricardo Zonta on hand as it gets up to speed with works Honda engines. Pedro de la Rosa, meanwhile, has put more laps on Arrows's AMT (re-badged Peugeot) engines.
Keep up-to-date with what happens as the day progresses on Autosport.com.
1 David Coulthard (McLaren) 1m22.6s
2 Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) 1m23.8s
3 Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) 1m24.9s
4 Ralf Schumacher (Williams) 1m25.6s
5 Olivier Panis (BAR) 1m 25.9s
8 Jenson Button (Benetton) 1m26.7s
11 Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) 1m27.9s
To see Jerez test photographs in Autosport.com's race gallery click HERE.
Rahal says Jag tech team lacked aggression
Zonta Enjoys First Full Day as Jordan Test Driver
Wolff: Mercedes bounced "from depression to exuberance" in "painful" F1 season
Toto Wolff says the ranging emotions through Mercedes’ Formula 1 season so far has been “painful” at times, bouncing from “depression to exuberance” through its 2022 car struggles.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
Lundgaard: Vettel could expect “tough transition” to IndyCar
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard said that four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel would face a hard task adapting to the demands of IndyCar if he wished to make the switch.
Binotto exclusive: "Each single day" is difficult in F1 but Ferrari is united
It’s fair to say the 2022 Formula 1 season has delivered both the best of times and the worst of times for Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid