FORMULA 1 - 2012

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F1: Williams Barcelona testing - Day 2 report

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer:

Valtteri did a good job today completing 117 laps without issue, working on general car set-up with a run plan tailored around familiarising him with a typical Friday P1 race session.

Valtteri Bottas:

"I really enjoyed today. It was great to get back in the car as I have been waiting for this day since I took part in the young driver test in Abu Dhabi last year. The FW34 again showed good reliability, as we completed 117 laps while doing some interesting tests with the car set-up. I'm looking forward to assisting the team at race weekends this season and can't wait to drive the car again."

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Thursday 23 February, with Pastor Maldonado driving the FW34 for the third day of the test.

Driver: Valtteri Bottas

Chassis / engine: FW34-01 / RS27-5281/1

Location: Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655km

Objectives: Set-up work and tyre comparison runs

Weather: Dry and sunny all day

Ambient & track temps: 19ºC / 26ºC

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F1: Marussia Barcelona testing - Day 2 report

Charles Pic continued to make solid progress on his second day of pre-season testing for the Marussia F1 Team in Barcelona today.

Charles was once again at the wheel of the 2011 car - the MVR-02 - and his programme for today involved working through a variety of set-up changes to provide him with further experience and understanding of the car's behaviour. This afternoon he completed a further race simulation which means he has completed over three race distances during the course of the past two days.

The MVR-02 continued to prove its solid reliability, enabling Charles to post the fourth highest number of laps of the day - 109.

Charles Pic

"Another good day for me today with more important mileage. It was a very interesting morning as we tried quite a few set-up changes and it was very good for me to gain this experience. This afternoon we completed two long runs as part of a race simulation to enable us to work on tyre degradation and we made a run with low fuel at the end. The past two days have been good for me and I'm looking forward to being in the car again on Friday."

John Booth, Team Principal

"Another productive day with Charles getting plenty more mileage under his belt. Today's programme was centred around set-up work in the morning and further long run work this afternoon. Charles is getting more and more adept at understanding the behaviour of the car to set-up changes and is working well with his engineers and crew. Tomorrow we look forward to getting Timo back in the car and allowing him to spend some time evaluating the 2012 tyre compounds."

Best Lap Time: 1.27.343

Number of Laps: 109

Total Kms: 507

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F1: Force India Barcelona testing - Day 2 report

Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed a busy second day of testing in Barcelona as Sahara Force India topped the timesheets.

Nico Hulkenberg:

"We started the day with some aero work trying some constant speed runs and collecting more data. Then, the rest of the day was spent working on the balance of the car and trying out all four tyre compounds. I did some short runs, long runs and just got a feel for the tyre characteristics and how the car reacts to them. Once again the car has been very drivable all day and our baseline set-up has proved to be a good starting point for running all the different compounds."

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer

"Nico's second day in the car saw a continuation of the programme we started yesterday with aero runs, balance and set-up work, and a full day of tyre comparisons. We got through all the items on the job list and once again the car has run faultlessly, which is a credit to the design team at Silverstone. Nico's feedback on the handling of the car continues to be positive and we now have a good feel for the set-up directions we need to take to extract even more performance."

Chassis: VJM05-02

Laps: 112

Mileage: 521 km

Fastest lap: 1:22.608

Barcelona testing schedule : 23 24 February Paul Di Resta

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F1: Sauber Barcelona testing - Day 2 report

Sergio Pérez:

"Today was a lot better, even though in the end we lost a bit of track time because of the exhaust problem. I am happy with how things went, we have gathered plenty of information to go through now and I believe we are working in the right direction. I hope we get some more work done with Kamui driving the next two days, and then we will be well prepared for next week's final pre-season test session."

Giampaolo Dall'Ara (Head of Track Engineering)

"This was a far more positive day. Despite an exhaust problem in the late afternoon, we went through a good programme. Quite a few high priority points have been ticked off the job list. In the morning we started with aero comparisons, and then did some proper mechanical set up work.

We also carried out a full comparison of all tyre compounds - super soft, soft, medium and hard - and ran different fuel loads. Of course it is not possible to really judge the car's performance yet as we don't know the other teams' programmes, but today was productive and now we can work out the programme for tomorrow when Kamui takes over."

What comes next?

Kamui Kobayashi takes over on Thursday and Friday.

Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya / 4.655 km

Driver: Sergio Pérez (MEX)

Weather: Sunny all day, air 6-19°C, track 9-26°C

Chassis / engine: C31.02 / Ferrari 056

Mileage today: 85 laps

Fastest lap: 1:22,648 min (before lunch, super soft tyres)

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Caterham Lands First Russian Sponsor in wake of Petrov arrival:

Caterham has wasted little time in tapping into the opportunities the presence of Vitaly Petrov in its driver line-up offers up in the Russian sponsorship market by announcing the arrival of the country's largest petrochemical firm, SIBUR.

SIBUR was already a personal sponsor of Petrov when he drove for Renault last season and, in addition to its logos appearing on the Russian's race suits, will also feature on Caterham's CT01 this season.

Following the decision to drop Jarno Trulli in favour of Petrov at the end of last week, Caterham team co-owner Tony Fernandes acknowledged the decision had been made partly with "a realistic eye on the global economic market" Petrov's debut in 2010 having provoked an increase in Formula 1's popularity in Russia at large, as well as in the commercial sector.

Speaking about the SIBUR tie-up, Fernandes says the firm's keenness to get involved in F1 underlines the commercial platform the sport can supply: "We are delighted to welcome SIBUR into our team and to help them continue their relationship in F1 with Vitaly, and now with Caterham F1 Team.

"F1 is a truly global sport, and SIBUR's investment in our sport is proof of the value F1 can bring, on a national and international level, so we are looking forward to working closely with Mr Konov [company CEO] and his team at SIBUR to help them realize maximum benefit from this partnership."

SIBUR's Dmitry Konov made clear the importance of Petrov's continued presence on the grid was to Russia, which is due to stage its inaugural grand prix in 2014: "I'm very glad that Vitaly's career in Formula 1 is continuing with such an exciting new role at Caterham F1 Team. Vitaly plays a very important role for us, and all Russians. "It is a real pleasure for us to continue our partnership in 2012, when Russia thanks to Petrov as well takes another step closer to Formula 1."

The continued uncertainty that dogs the economic climate, particularly in Europe, means that drivers who can bring with them sponsorship from their native markets are an increasingly valuable commodity for a number of teams. But speaking in an exclusive interview with JA on F1 last Friday, Petrov bristled at suggestions that the backing he receives from Russia outweighed his talents as a driver.

"I think in 2011 they [the critics] are not allowed to talk anymore about this because the pay driver cannot achieve their first podium and then to finish so many times on the points," he said. "I think this is not right to talk about [these] things. Also [to] be quicker than Nick [Heidfeld] and be quicker than Bruno [senna] and other drivers. So I think we need to forget about [suggestions that] we came just for pay."

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Uncertain Economic times No Problem For Ferrari:

Ferrari has posted the strongest sales figures in its history, despite the economic squeeze and the worsening euro crisis.The luxury sports car maker broke through €2 billion in sales for the first time in 2011, reporting a net profit of €209 million. This was on sales of 7,195 cars, the most that Maranello has produced and sold in a year and almost 10% up on the 2010 sales figures.

Interestingly, although the USA remains the leading market, sales in China increased 62% and the country has moved straight into second position. And despite the anxiety in Europe, sales in the UK were up 23% and in Germany were up 14%.

“We can only be satisfied with these results,” – said Chairman Luca di Montezemolo. “They were achieved against an economic backdrop that remains challenging, particularly in Europe. They are the fruit of heavy investment and a culture of innovation that covers all areas of the business. Our international expansion continues and Ferrari today has a network covering 58 nations.”

Ferrari’s F1 team is also in robust shape with long term deals recently renewed with major backers Santander, Shell and Philip Morris.

This contrasts with the picture across the F1 grid where there are clear signs that a significant number of teams are being obliged to prioritise drivers who being budget with them.

Ferrari withdrew from the F1 Teams’ Association in late 2011 in a disagreement over how to police cost cutting measures, but says it remains committed to working with the other teams to control costs in the sport. Red Bull Racing have also taken a similar stance.

The attempts to resolve this and the engagement of the F1 teams in a new Concorde agreement with the FIA and FOM will be one of the main talking points of 2012.

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F1 Fuels:

Source: JamesAllenonF1

A month ago I posted a video based on a visit I made to the Shell F1 fuels laboratory in Cheshire, England, where I got the chance to mix some F1 fuel and see what went into it.

This post prompted many questions from readers about F1 fuels and while I was at Maranello this week with Ferrari, I took the opportunity to put some of these questions to the experts; Cara Tredget and Mike Evans, who are responsible for Shell's F1 activities with Ferrari. Here are their answers.

By the way, if you are wondering what the setting is for this Q&A, it's the Ferrari museum.

Wherever possible if I have a bunch of questions on a theme from readers, when I get a chance at an event like this, I will put them to the experts, whatever the subject matter may be.

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The Deal That Changes F1 Forever:

"It's the most significant moment for F1 since the advent of satellites," says Eddie Baker, the man responsible for broadcasting F1 TV and data around the world.

Today in London, F1′s commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone unveiled a deal which will transform the way live F1 races are broadcast and all forms of digital content are consumed.

It's the key which opens up a door onto a new era for F1. Satellite TV revolutionised the sport in the late 1970s, by making it possible for millions of fans to watch races live around the world. This was Ecclestone's first revolution, providing the platform which made F1 a global sport, raising billions in revenues.

This long-term deal with Tata Communications, providing fixed line connectivity, opens the door for endless possibilities, way beyond what satellites can do, including broadcasting F1 on the internet, for interactivity between audience and the broadcaster at the circuit.

Tata has the largest network of undersea cables in the world and using MPLS technology it's very fast and cost effective compared to previous offerings.

The deal begins with Tata setting up fixed line connectivity at all the 20 Grands Prix for FOM to send its data, such as track maps. The capacity that FOM will start out with is ten times what is currently available. But they have proved out the model to 100x what's currently available, so within a few years it will be the means by which the world feed TV pictures are broadcast, as there are no delays unlike satellite.

"Formula 1 wants to transform the way it broadcasts the races and we can and will be a big part of it," said Vinod Kumar, CEO of Tata Communications.

It will also handle video playouts by all the broadcasters on site, all the communications by the media. It brings a standardisation to the means of delivery of content from F1 races. Basically it connects F1 to the world in a completely new way.

It increases the amount of connectivity time, as it's always on, unlike a satellite which is on for a matter of hours and it's bi-directional, which means it allows the audience to interact with the sport, rather than sit back and consume. It means the sport can have individual relationships with fans, can supply content on a global and even individual basis, looking well down the line.

It will also greatly reduce the tonnage of equipment that FOM TV sends around the world as images can be sent back instantly and processed at the FOM broadcast centre in the UK.

I put it to Baker that Ecclestone is renowned for being suspicious of the internet and has been accused of missing opportunities as a result. According to Baker this deal opens the door to endless possibilities,

"It gives him the ability to be able to do whatever rights deals he feels are right without limitations," said Baker. "That means he can assess every opportunity, he can react to every opportunity, he can move with the times in perhaps a way that we were not able to do in the past."

Ecclestone himself at the launch quipped that he'd not done a deal like this previously because, "I'm getting old! ". But there's no doubt that this is a complete game changer for the sport and the way fans receive it. Many will fear that it spells the end of F1 on free to air TV. But their businesses are under threat anyway. As traditional broadcasters like ITV and BBC in the UK and TF1 in France struggle with the changing media model and the ability to afford massive rights deals, F1 will have to look in future to new models. Clearly pay TV deals like SKY TV are one way of doing it, but they speak to small audiences. To maintain its mass appeal live paid streaming on the Internet is another option, as it sponsor funded mass market streaming in specific countries. F1, like any business, needs to find revenue and audience growth and this tool enables them to explore all the options.

Whether he's the man still doing the deals five years from now when this technology hits its stride remains to be seen. But it's a deal F1 needed to do and it's now well set for the future.

Of course this makes F1 more valuable as a business and more attractive to potential bidders, should Ecclestone and CVC wish to sell the commercial rights at some point soon.

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FIA to eliminate potential for F1 exhaust blowing by closing off ECU loophole

The FIA is to close off a loophole in Formula 1's new engine mapping regulations as part of a fresh clampdown on exhaust blowing.

As teams continue to push the limits of the exhaust regulations, sources have revealed that the FIA has been alerted about a way in which teams could get around the stricter engine mapping limits laid down for this year.

Motor racing's governing body has been on a crusade to eradicate any form of exhaust blowing that is primarily aimed at producing an aerodynamic benefit.

As well as agreeing with teams on technical regulations that forced the now-standard periscope exhaust designs, it was revealed in October that the FIA was also imposing strict limits on engine mapping programmes to prevent the continued off-throttle blowing of them.

Although that move went some way to resolving the issue, sources have revealed that the FIA has now been tipped off by one engine maker that there remains the possibility in the current mapping configurations to get around those new limits.

It is understood that the issue relates to the extreme possibility of a team trying to make use of a bigger throttle opening than is allowed, to help increase the flow of exhaust gases by inducing a misfire.

Sources have confirmed that the FIA has worked with the manufacturer involved to cut off this potential avenue of development. An updated version of the software for F1's Standard ECU - which controls the engine maps - will be released before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The FIA does not suspect that any team was making use of this loophole at the present time, although such an action could not have been ruled out if outfits had found out about it later in the campaign.

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said he remained confident that the FIA had a handle on the exhaust regulations for 2012 - and that the closing of such loopholes would be part and parcel of the build-up to the new season.

"The engine mapping technical directives, which have now been out for a few months, are very clear," said Gillan, when asked about the situation during Barcelona testing.

"How you direct the exhausts is clear as well. As we can see down the pitlane, there are various options and we are investigating all of those options to see what benefit we can get.

"There's definitely performance to be had, but it's nowhere near the performance levels that we had last year. From our side, we have a good idea of the boundaries. There are a few minor technical directives coming out in terms of what is acceptable and what is not, but they are minor compared to the ones that came out in the tail end of last season."

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Rubens Barrichello says F1 not a closed chapter for him despite no 2012 deal

Rubens Barrichello insists that Formula 1 is not a closed chapter for him - even though he is on the verge of securing a deal to race in IndyCar for 2012.The Brazilian was dropped by Williams in favour of Bruno Senna earlier this year, but wasted little time in looking at other racing options.

And after a positive three days of testing for KV Racing at Sebring last month, Barrichello will return to the cockpit of an IndyCar at Sears Point this weekend as efforts are made to sort out a deal.

But despite that move, Barrichello has told this week's AUTOSPORT in an exclusive interview that he does not believe his time in F1 has come to an end.

Making reference to the comebacks of Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, Barrichello said: "I'm leaving my mind very open, I'm leaving my mind probably the same way Schumacher had (when he left), and how Kimi left his mind.

"You never know what might happen. And if I'm not in Formula 1 anymore, I'm going to be around. I want to say goodbye when I'm 60 or something!"

He added: "You never know what Formula 1 is about. People know what I'm capable of and I'm an experienced driver. With so little testing that's obviously high on the list. Last year was hard because all of the contracts were already set."

Barrichello has no hard feelings against Senna for being chosen against him, but has expressed some 'disappointment' about the way Williams handled him not being retained.

Keen not to dwell on that, however, Barrichello has also revealed that he is ready to commit to a full programme of IndyCar – which will include five ovals that it had been previously thought he would not compete because of safety fears expressed by his family.

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Ferrari, Red Bull change final F1 test plans

Red Bull Racing and Ferrari have changed their testing plans for next month and will now run at Barcelona from March 2-5.The test was originally scheduled from March 1 to March 4 - Thursday to Sunday - but Ferrari opted to test from Friday to Monday instead.

Red Bull consulted with Ferrari if they could join the Italian squad on track on Monday, with the Maranello squad giving its rivals the green light.

Both teams will still test just four days like their rivals, but will kick off their programmes a day later.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the decision was made purely for logistical reasons.

"We have decided to join Ferrari in running from Friday to Monday as opposed to Thursday to Sunday. We're just moving it a day," Said Horner.

"From a logistical perspective, it just made a bit more sense. We asked Ferrari if we could join them, they agreed.

"It's in the test agreement and also within the test regs. We are within the time limit for that. It's something that we've elected to do. Lotus are doing their own thing but that's for different reasons elsewhere."

Lotus is set to be granted a private day of testing after pulling out of the Barcelona test this week because of problems with its chassis.

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Maldonado puts Williams top on third day

Pastor Maldonado put his Williams FW34 at the top of the time sheets on the penultimate day of the second test in Barcelona.The Venezuelan set the fastest lap seen during the test so far, also half a second better than his qualifying lap around the same circuit last year to head Michael Schumacher by almost a second.

Kamui Kobayashi popped up in third in his Sauber ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button.

Two seconds back was Toro Rosso's rookie driver Jean-Eric Vergne.

Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Paul di Resta completed the top eight, whilst Timo Glock, in last seasons Marussia, was quicker than Caterham's Vitaly Petrov, who at one point led the times due to a timing error.

Results:

01. P. Maldonado 1:22.391

02. M. Schumacher 1:23.384

03. K. Kobayashi 1:22.582

04. J. Button 1:23.918

05. J. Vergne 1:24.433

06. F. Massa 1:24.771

07. M. Webber 1:24.771

08. P. di Resta 1:25.646

09. T. Glock 1:26.173

10. V. Petrov 1:26.448

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Ecclestone wants Schumacher in second Red Bull

Bernie Ecclestone, a man who often gets what he wants, would like to see Michael Schumacher in the second Red Bull, up against his fellow German, Sebastian Vettel.The 82-year-old, speaking on Thursday, wants to see the seven-time world champion winning races once again, and believes placing him in the Red Bull would prove whether he's still go 'it'.

"It would be nice, wouldn't it, if he did," said Ecclestone. "I'd like to see him in a good car. I'd like to see him in the second Red Bull. I don't think Sebastian would mind.

"I'm just saying it would be nice to see him in the car where you know that if he doesn't win, it's his fault and not the car's."

When asked if he believed Schumacher could still win a race, he replied: "Yeah, sure."

Meanwhile, speaking about the lack of Italian drivers on the grid with the loss of Jarno Trulli to Vitaly Petrov, Ecclestone doesn't see it as a major issue as long as Ferrari are in good form, insisting their pre-season pace isn't a concern, yet.

"It's better that we do have a good Italian. But if Ferrari is winning, it doesn't make any difference," he added.

"They know what the problem is and it's not a [difficult] problem to fix, so I think you're going to find that they are going to fix it quite shortly."

MIKA: Of course Schumacher has still got it. Vettel and Schumi are continually dominating the ROC each year which proves he's just as competative in the same car.

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Button: Red Bull's advantage cut

Jenson Button is confident that while Sebastian Vettel is the favourite for the title, he won't run away it in a repeat of last season.Vettel dominated last year as he raced to his second World title. The Red Bull racer clinched the crown with four races to spare while his season's stats included 11 grand prix victories.

And although the teams have only had seven days of pre-season testing to see how their new cars perform, Button reckons early indications are that Red Bull won't have it all their own way.

"Seb is obviously the favourite, as he should be as he has won the last two World Championships," Button told Autosport.

"There have been regulation changes, and I think still Red Bull will be strong this year from the word go, but I don't think they will have the advantage they had at the start of last year."

The Brit, winner of the Drivers' title back in 2009, was in action at Barcelona on Thursday where he put McLaren's new MP4-27 through its paces.

He completed 114 laps with a best time of 1:23.918, which was 1.527s off the pace.

"I say that is a good step forward from Jerez in terms of understanding the car more, and also the reliability is much better than we had in Jerez. We are making steps forward but there is no big step forward as we have not changed anything on car.

"But there will definitely be something new for Melbourne. We have an update on the car for the first race. It is not a completely straightforward update as it is not about bolting downforce on the car - it is slightly more than that.

"I just hope we are going in the right direction. The wind tunnel says we are. I am looking to the update next week, and then we can start balancing the car and finding a direction for the first race."

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Hamilton: Nose design not a negative

Lewis Hamilton insists McLaren's MP4-27 will get similar amounts of downforce as other cars this season despite their "normal" nose.While McLaren's rivals have opted to use the stepped nose on their 2012 challengers, the Woking squad have decided to stick to the tried and tested as their chassis is much lower than that of their rivals.

Hamilton is confident that the design team got the balance right when they opted for the regular nose.

"It's not looking like a negative," he told ESPNF1.

"I think we have the downforce on the car, or at least similar downforce to others. The question is always finding the balance and where you have the downforce, whether you have it on the front or have it on the rear or the middle of the car. Entry of corners, mid-corner, exits of corners - it's always a balance to manoeuvre the design of the car so that you get the best balance throughout the corner.

"When I speak to my engineers, that's what I'm trying to co-ordinate with them so that when they go back they make some shuffling around to transfer some downforce to the rear or whatever it is."

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Seb: We have the best possible pedigree

Sebastian Vettel is confident that the genius of Adrian Newey will once again stand Red Bull in good stead this campaign.The double World Champions have looked in imperious form during pre-season testing and they will no doubt start the 2012 season as favourites to win both titles again.

Although he feels the team still have some problems they need to iron out before the season kicks off in Melbourne, the German feels they have "the best possible pedigree" thanks to Newey.

"What we are doing right now is eliminating any teething problems and focusing on reliability," he told the official Formula One website.

"If you ask me what teething problems, then I can tell you that at Jerez we had some electronic issues. We have identified that problem and now we are working to solve it. The words 'problem' and 'issue' sound so serious but what we are looking at has nothing to do with the weight of those words.

"The genuine feeling is good but you should never bank on feelings in F1! I guess I don't have to say that we want to be faster than the rest.

"So let's wait and see, but as the same design whizz (chief designer Newey) who created the RB6 and RB7 also created the RB8 we have the best possible pedigree."

Vettel predicts that the cars will be a bit slower this year due to the changes to the regulations.

"I think I've said it before but the biggest difference is that the cars have less grip, which will make us slower than last year," he said.

"Last season the way we incorporated the exhaust was very cleverly devised. It made the car faster by generating more grip, but it's a thing of the past in 2012 and for now we have to live with it.

"I would say that goes for all the other teams as well. We are looking into ways of getting that grip level back and I am sure we will succeed, although it will take time."

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F1: Rosberg says Schumacher not toughest teammate

Nico Rosberg has named Mark Webber as his toughest teammate in formula one so far.The German made his grand prix debut alongside Australian Webber at Williams in 2006, moving four seasons later to Mercedes.

While at Williams, Rosberg also raced as teammate to Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima.

Rosberg's Mercedes move in 2010 coincided with seven time world champion Michael Schumacher's return to formula one at the same Brackley based team, where they have been teammates ever since.

When asked by Germany's Sport Bild who his toughest teammate has been, he answered: "Mark Webber in 2006, then Michael."

And he hopes he will be in front of his famous current teammate yet again in 2012, particularly with Mercedes hoping its new W03 is a race winner.

"To be the first German to win in the new Silver Arrow would be an absolute dream for me," said Rosberg, whose father Keke won the title in 1982.

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F1: Kovalainen 'not concerned' as Petrov joins team

Heikki Kovalainen insists he has "no concerns" despite having to start work with a new teammate less than a month before the 2012 season.

In 2010 and 2011, and since the formation of the former Lotus team, Kovalainen has shared the green garage with fellow grand prix winner Jarno Trulli.Now, Caterham has replaced the Italian veteran with the much less experienced Vitaly Petrov, who has moved his Russian backing from Lotus (formerly Renault).

"I got along well with Jarno, but a new teammate doesn't change my life in any way," Kovalainen insisted to Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper.

"I have met with Vitaly here in Barcelona and I don't have any concerns. He is definitely a strong competitor but I always give 110 per cent to beat my teammate.

"I don't underestimate anyone," he added.

Kovalainen admitted that Petrov might have to adjust to the fact that Caterham is smaller than Lotus, and the car not as competitive.

"Of course he has to get used to the team," he said, "and if he has any questions, I'm available.

"But Vitaly is a professional driver and in F1 it is expected that the driver is able to start tackling the programme right away."

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Mark Webber not writing off Ferrari's chances of strong start to F1 season

Mark Webber thinks it would be wrong to write off Ferrari's chances of starting the Formula 1 season strongly, with the early form guide pointing towards Red Bull and McLaren as favourites.

Although Ferrari has failed to shine in the first two pre-season tests, Webber knows that winter running can potentially count for nothing at the first race - especially since the team has a driver like Fernando Alonso on board.

"As long as Fernando has a steering wheel in his hand he is always there," said Webber. "So you can never discount Fernando.

"I think McLaren look pretty well prepared, but we have seen it in the past where people are not very organised in the winter but then arrive at the first race extremely organised.

"We are focused on ourselves. We have a lot of work to do in Milton Keynes over the next five or six days to prepare the car for the next test, and then there is a huge workload for Melbourne.

"The test has been put back by one day, so that makes Melbourne a bit tighter, but in the end we have gathered a lot of information in the last two tests."

Webber feels satisfied with the progress that Red Bull is making, but has expressed some eagerness to get on with the first race.

"Winter testing has gone pretty well in terms of starting quite well with the RB8," he said. "I'm feeling positive and looking forward to the first race.

"We all like driving F1 cars in testing, but the racing is when it really starts because we also have to stop guesstimating - talking about who is quick and who is slow."

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Brawn says Mercedes in a stronger position, but admits W03 not ready to win yet

Ross Brawn has seen enough of his Mercedes team's new car this week to be convinced it is a step forward over last year's contender - but he does not think it is good enough yet to win Formula 1 races.

As the Brackley-based outfit prepares to wrap up its first full pre-season test, Brawn feels the W03 has delivered exactly what he had hoped for at this stage of the campaign.

"The important thing is that we don't appear to have any core problems, we don't appear to have any major issues," he explained in Barcelona. "It seems okay and the car functions all right.

"Maybe something will come up that we don't know about at the moment, but it seems to work okay and that's great because we're now starting work on the performance.

"We're in a much better position than we were last year. So far, we have done over 2000 kms and we had done less than half of that at this stage last year. I think people can see that we have got something to work with."

Brawn said the focus of the final test at Barcelona would be to eke out more speed from the car - ahead of the first race of the season in Australia next month.

But he played down talk that it could bring a package that would put it in a position to take the fight to Red Bull Racing and McLaren for victory in Australia.

When asked about where a win fits into the team's equation, Brawn said: "It doesn't yet. There's still an awful lot to do and it's too early to make any judgements."

He added: "Both drivers are capable of winning. There's no doubt in my mind about that. We have got to produce the car. I don't think we have the car yet but it has been a good step over where we were 12 months ago."

Brawn did feel that the team had improved on the tyre degradation issues that hurt its form at times throughout 2011.

"We are trying to find that balance of performance over a stint with tyre degradation. Do you push hard at the beginning and the tyre falls away, or do you try and conserve the tyres and keep a consistent lap time? What's the actual quickest way of doing it, and what setu-p do you need to achieve that?

"When we come to the next test, we'll spend a lot more time looking at that. But it's not bad. It's just probably not as good as we would hope, but it's not bad. The thing we have to be careful is that Barcelona is an unusual circuit with a lot of fast right-handers and the grip is going up now. Probably, today is the first day that we've had some representative track temperatures."

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Nico Rosberg is fired up by Mercedes progress with new F1 car

Nico Rosberg says he is fired up by the progress he has seen at Mercedes - even though he concedes the team is not in race-winning shape yet.

Although the W03 has proved to be a step forward over last year's challenger, Rosberg backs the view of team principal Ross Brawn that the outfit needs to find another step before it can be ready to take victory.

However, rather than be downbeat because he may have to wait a bit longer to think about winning races, Rosberg says the fact the team is moving forward is enough to keep him happy.

"We want to win, so we are definitely not there yet, but we are making progress and that is good to see," he said after testing finished in Barcelona.

"The team is in the right direction, and the car build, the work they have done at the factory over the winter is so much better than previous years. It is clean, the car build is performing as expected and all these things [are good], so we are looking at big things as a team."

He added: "It is not frustrating; it is a great motivation to be part of this push that is happening at this team.

"The progress is evident so that is really nice to see and everyone is motivated as a result. You see that progress and that is extra motivation, because you think okay, things are happening, now things are moving forward and we can get there."

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Kobayashi finishes on a high

Kamui Kobayashi had the final say in second pre-season test in Barcelona as the Sauber driver posted the quickest time on Friday.

The Japanese driver's 1:22.312, which was done on the super soft Pirellis, was the quickest time of the week, just eclipsing the 1:22.391 that Pastor Maldonado set on the penultimate day at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Kobayashi, who set his time in the morning session, was also the busiest driver on the track and completed 145 laps despite having an exhaust problem earlier in the day.

"It was another positive test day for us," said Sauber's head of track engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara.

"We started in the morning with some further aero comparisons and set-up work. Before lunch Kamui did qualifying runs. Qualifying was actually a weakness of ours in the last two seasons and we have to resolve this. This obviously requires proper practice."

Williams' Maldonado also finished the test strongly as his best effort was just 0.249 shy of Kobayashi's time while Paul di Resta, who had an off-track excursion in his VJM05 in the morning, claimed P3 with a 1:23.119.

Jenson Button led the way of the so-called "big teams" as he was fourth fastest, but the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and Mark Webber of Red Bull were hot on his heels.

Nico Rosberg, who completed a full race simulation in the morning, was P8 with 1:23.843.

Heikki Kovalainen propped up the standings with a 1:26.968, but it was a frustrating day for Caterham as they lost more than two hours' running time after engineers "found an electrical issue with the engine which requires an engine change".

Marussia had an even worse day as rookie Charles Pic failed to make it onto the track due to a problem with the MVR-02.

"The issue centred around a damaged suspension component to the right rear corner of the car," a statement on their website read.

"The team spent the morning inspecting the part and trying to understand how the damage had occurred.

"A replacement part was available but the team were not happy to send the car out whilst proof-testing was still ongoing back at the Marussia Technical Centre in the UK and conclusive results would not have been achieved in time for any significant running to take place."

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Can Ross Brawn repeat history at Mercedes?

Ross Brawn is looking to repeat history by putting together a dream team at Mercedes that can take on Adrian Newey, just as Ferrari did so successfully in the early 2000s.

2010 and 2011 were both underwhelming years for Mercedes after winning the 2009 championship under the Brawn GP moniker. So much was expected when Mercedes took over the outfit, but a lack of success so far is not so surprising, when you bear in mind the circumstances that led to Brawn GP's fairytale championship.

The restructuring of the team with signings including Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa, along with the earlier signing of Bob Bell, means Mercedes now have a very strong technical team. It was proven at Ferrari that if you put a dream team together then Newey can be toppled. Although repeating history is going to be a mighty task given the current competitiveness of Formula 1.

For Brawn GP to come out of Honda's ashes and win both 2009 titles was certainly unexpected, and nothing should be taken away from the team's achievement. However it has to be remembered, that the team started designing the car back in 2007, so had at least a year's head start on understanding the new aero regulations that arrived in 2009.

Furthermore millions of Honda's money was spent on the development of the BGP 001. Claims were made that it was actually the most expensive F1 car of all time. They were also one of the teams that started the season with the controversial double diffuser concept, which was the key innovation to have on the car that year.

Alexander Wurz (who used to test for Honda/Brawn) said: "The car was taken in three different directions in the wind tunnel. Two directions were found to be wrong, so the team could just switch. The Brawn is probably the most expensive car with the lowest operating budget ever."

In the early stages of the season Brawn GP made full use of the big headstart they had on everyone dominating the first third of the season.

From then on they slipped back as their rivals got to grips with the new regulations. By this point funds were limited as the true extent of Honda's withdrawal was felt. The team had to downsize and around a third of their workforce were made redundant.

In the second half of 2009, Brawn were regularly down to being the third or fourth quickest team, which is about where the team have remained over the last couple of years as Mercedes.

The transition after being taken over by Mercedes certainly hasn't been seamless as most predicted it would be. Plus must remember that as the team had downsized in 2009 they were lacking numbers and strength in depth compared to their main rivals McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Unlike 2009, Mercedes also didn't have a years head start over their rivals in 2010 and 2011. Although Mercedes have invested significantly, it won't have been anything like the amount of money Honda was chucking at F1. The current economic climate has forced everyone to be, in pre-2008 terms, frugal with their budgets.

Recently Mercedes have been re-building the numbers including those high profile signings of Costa and Willis back in October. Brawn worked very effectively with Costa during his glittering years at Ferrari. Costa was also a key man in keeping the team competitive when Ferrari's dream team left.

Willis has had a very successful career. He worked with Newey during the glory years at Williams in the 90s. He also spent a couple years working at Red Bull from 2007 to 2009.

They join Bob Bell who joined Mercedes as technical director a year ago. He has had stints at McLaren and Jordan. However more significantly he played a key role in Fernando Alonso's back to back titles with Renault back in 2005 and 2006.

Of his new recruits Brawn said: "Geoff is a highly respected engineer with over 20 years of F1 experience."

He added: "Having worked closely with Aldo for many years, I know that he will bring dedication and championship-winning expertise to the team. Building a winning team is an exciting challenge for us all as we work towards the competitiveness and standards that we aspire to as the Mercedes-Benz works team. With a strong technical structure led by Bob Bell, we are moving ourselves into the best possible position to achieve our ambitions."

The question is going to be whether this strong line-up with Brawn at the head of it can halt the domination of Newey's Red Bull. Back in the 90s when Newey was dominating the sport it was Ferrari's dream team of Brawn, Jean Todt, Rory Byrne and Michael Schumacher that brought it to a halt and started a long and successful run of their very own.

It took three or four almighty talents to join forces to put a stop to the British designer's domination of Formula 1. Whilst the new look Mercedes team have a great chance of closing the gap, repeating the same feats as that team at Ferrari is going to be very difficult in the current climate of F1.

Firstly F1 is much more competitive at the front with Mercedes having four very strong rivals in Lotus, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull who all have the capabilities of designing and building race winning cars.

We also have to remember that the 2001-2006 tyre war helped Ferrari massively. They signed a development contract with Bridgestone, and the two companies effectively became joined at the hip. Bridgestone and Ferrari worked very closely together to develop tyres specifically tailored to Ferrari's needs.

Ferrari's main rivals all moved over to Michelin. Michelin had two or three top teams to deal with so were never in a position to give one team the amount of attention that Bridgestone gave to Ferrari.

Currently in F1 all the teams are on the same tyres so it's not possible to steal a march on your rivals in terms of tyre development.

Ferrari also gained massively from their private test track in Fiorano. They used to do miles of running ever day, even staying out when darkness began to fall. With only one in-season test a year that's another advantage that teams can't gain over one another.

Perhaps more importantly is that Red Bull is extracting the most out of Adrian Newey because they have built the team around him. This allows Newey to work in the way he wants and produce his finest creations.

When Newey was at McLaren he very much had to fit into the McLaren way of working. The team wasn't built around him like it was at Red Bull. They didn't always make the most of him and this in turn only aided Ferrari's dominance. In his latter years at McLaren he got increasingly frustrated and left the team at the end of 2005. It would be fair to say Newey is perhaps more formidable now than he has ever been.

Horner told BBC Sport: "Unlike Williams and McLaren, who already had structures which Adrian just fed into, with Red Bull he started with a clean sheet of paper."

Another difference from the era dominated by Ferrari is that there is much more talent on the grid, in terms of drivers.

You also have to question whether Mercedes have a strong enough driver line-up to win the championship. Back in the Ferrari days Schumacher was at his ultimate peak and regularly delivered devastating performances.

Although he proved in 2011 that he is still a very competent driver, he certainly isn't as fast as he used to be. It's still very hard to rate Nico Rosberg. He appears to be a very good qualifier, but question marks have to hang over whether he has the race pace to win races regularly. Last year we saw Schumacher come from behind in races to beat him on numerous occasions.

Compared to the Hamilton/Button partnership at McLaren, Vettel/Webber at Red Bull and then the extremely formidable Alonso at Ferrari, you have to say that Mercedes' driver line-up isn't as strong as their rivals.

There is no doubt both men would be capable of race wins if they are given the car, but it's hard to see them beating the might of Vettel and Alonso to the championship over a full GP season.

One thing is for sure. Mercedes didn't part ways with McLaren so that they could finish behind them in the championship every year.

At Ferrari it took three or four years for their dream team to come together and start winning championships. Will the Mercedes board be patient enough to allow something similar to happen?

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Di Resta: Another successful day

Paul di Resta shrugged off an early error to set the third fastest time on the final day at Barcelona.

The Force India driver was in action on days three and four of the Spanish test, during which he put some useful miles on his new VJM05.

It could, however, have been a lot different when the 25-year-old made a small mistake during the morning's session.

That error sent him into the gravel trap where luckily the only thing he lost was about half an hour of track time as his team checked to make sure the car was okay.

Back on track, di Resta went on to amass 101 laps with a best time of 1:23.119, which put him third on the timesheets.

"It was another successful day and a good way to end the week," said the Scot.

"I had a small trip through the gravel in the morning, but nothing that caused too much of an issue, although we lost half an hour of running.

"The important thing is that we still managed to do our long runs in the afternoon and I could feel the changes we made compared to yesterday.

"It's given me a good impression of the car's balance and consistency, and we've seen that our long run pace is improving step by step."

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BARECELONA TEST DAY 4:Leading Teams Playing it Cagey, Big Changes For Next Test:

The second pre-season test drew to a close today in Barcelona with all the leading teams focussing on longer runs and not on setting headline lap times.

The next test will be the one where we see the definitive Melbourne specifications and there is no doubt that for most teams there are some big updates coming. This is certainly true for Red Bull and McLaren, no doubt for Ferrari and Mercedes too.

Mark Webber certainly hinted that Red Bull has some big changes in the pipeline, "We have a lot of work to do back in Milton Keynes over the next few days to get the car ready for the next test. We've done well over these two first tests and the feeling is pretty good," he said.

Red Bull hasn't been doing headline grabbing lap times this week, there is some gamesmanship going on between teams on fuel loads, use of DRS wings and so on, perhaps even more than normal. Usually by this stage we've seen some fast laps, but so far this year it's just been Williams, Force India and Sauber stretching the car's legs on performance runs on new soft tyres.

Mercedes did another race distance with Nico Rosberg this time at the wheel; it's been a good first week for the new car from the UK based German team. Ferrari had a better day with Felipe Massa saying that the afternoon session gave glimpses of how much potential the car has. A lot is riding on the final test for the Scuderia, which has shifted to a Friday to Monday programme, from Thursday to Sunday. This will give one extra day for production of new parts. Red Bull are doing the same, while Lotus can make up one of the days lost this week after a chassis failure.

The Pirelli tyres are clearly lasting longer than the 2011 models, although they still degrade, so there's no return to Bridgestone type performance. In the cooler conditions seen at times this week the tyres have degraded quickly, but this shouldn't be so much of a problem in warmer conditions.

Some engineers have suggested that the gap between the soft and medium is a little too small, but again time will tell. For Melbourne the tyre choice is soft and medium, but in Malaysia it's medium and hard so we'll get a good picture in the first two races.

Pirelli's Paul Hembery said, "The teams completed 17,207 kilometres as opposed to 14,949 kilometres in Jerez. This allowed them to gather plenty of data on all four slick tyres that we can now analyse in order to come up with a few different scenarios for the first races related to strategy options and crossover points. As we expected, most teams chose to concentrate on the medium tyre, with the emphasis often on aerodynamic set-up work rather than tyre evaluation."

Caterham have had a tough week, with a variety of issues on the car. Today they had an engine change to make after an electrical problem, "Things haven't exactly gone as we would have liked, but I think we all know where the car can and should be when it gets real in Australia," said Heikki Kovalainen, "So now the challenge is to regroup in time for next week and make sure we come back here ready to put in a final week of hard work on track and get back to where we want to be."

Marussia also struggled today with their 2011 car, a suspension problem preventing them from doing any running. Their new car, the first produced in house, will appear at the final test next week. HRT meanwhile has passed two of the crash tests and is taking another. It will be touch and go for them to make Melbourne and it's looking as though the car's first lap might be in practice at Albert Park.

BARCELONA TEST, Day 4

1. Kobayashi Sauber 1:22.312

2. Maldonado Williams 1:22.561

3. Di Resta Force India 1:23.119

4. Button McLaren 1:23.200

5. Massa Ferrari 1:23.563

6. Webber Red Bull 1:23.77

7. Vergne Toro Rosso 1:23.792

8. Rosberg Mercedes 1:23.843

9. Kovalainen Caterham 1:26.968