Formula 1:Day 3 Testing Bahrain Session 2 Live

"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein) 03/01/2014 at 06:42 • Filed to: F1 Testing, Bahrain, Vettel, Ferrari, RedBull

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Good morning everyone! It's time once again to go RACING! Ok, so not racing yet, its time for the second to last testing day for Formula 1. The last two days have been quite interesting and today will probably prove to be even more. So as always lets start with the current lap times.

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Update 1 :The RB10 of Vettel completed half a lap and immediately broke down, this is interesting because his teammate Ricciardo didn't really break down at all yesterday. We will have to stay on this to see what happened.

Update 2 : Ferrari is reporting that they will be attempting a race simulation with Raikkonen.

Update 3 : Earlier in the day, Sutil's Sauber was a little bit on fire causing the driver to Red Flag. Sutil hasn't been back out since.

Update 4 : To give you all some perspective of how fast the cars are vs. last season. Vettel managed his fastest lap on lap 50 of 57 with a 1:36.9. Most of the cars running right now all are running larger fuel loads more quantifying the start of the race vs. the end. These cars are properly quick.

Update 5 : At least RedBull's Twitter person has a sense of humor for the situation. No word just yet on what happened.

Update 5: Hulkenberg is now out on the track managing a few laps in the 1:40s.

Update 6 : Rosberg is now back out and with his first lap back ran a 1:38.7 still 2 tenths off his best, but getting there.

Update 7 : Raikkonen completes a pass through pit starting off his race simulation.

Update 8 : Lotus just announced they are sending Grosjean back out! Go Romain GO!

Update 9 : And Grosjean's go was short lived as he has currently caused a Red Flag stopping on the back straight.

Update 10 : And the Green Flag drops and Raikkonen and Massa are the first ones out. Raikkonen and Ferrari were trying to run a race simulation before the Red Flag and wanted to stay out until the end of the test.

Update 11 : Kvyat, Ericcson, and Rosberg have joing Raikkonen and Massa on tracking, and immediately Massa and Rosberg are into the 1:38s

Update 12 : Kvayt moves further still and places himself in 4th with a 1:37.5

Update 13 : Meanwhile, while the current generation of F1 drivers are playing around with their new cars, the older generation of drivers are catching up and having lunch. Keke Rosberg and Niki Lauda

Update 14 : Vettel is back in his race suit, but not back in the car just yet, and with about an hour to go, will he make it back out on track?

Update 15 : Raikkon is now around 10 laps into his race simulation and running a 1:43, not that fast when it comes to times, but the car has a full fuel tank at the moment and is at its heaviest. Times will fall as fuel drops.

Update 16 : Lotus just announced via their Twitter that Grosjean's run is done for today.

Update 17 : Rosberg currently lapping around a 1:37 range, Raikkonen staying consistent at a 1:43.

Update 18 : Ericsson is headed back out on track after some minor changes to the car according to Caterham's !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Update 19 : Hulkenberg goes second fastest with a 1:36.2

Update 20 : According to Autosport here are the completed laps so far today.

Hulkenberg (Force India) 98
Ericsson (Caterham) 90
Massa (Williams) 78
Rosberg (Mercedes) 75
Bianchi (Marussia) 67
Magnussen (McLaren) 59
Raikkonen (Ferrari) 53
Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 50
Grosjean (Lotus) 33
Sutil (Sauber) 1
Vettel (Red Bull) 0.5

Vettel's half a lap makes me giggle, does that make me a bad person?

Update 21 : And speaking of Vettel a few sources say that he has left the paddock and is back in normal attire.

Update 22 : Only three drivers left out on the track, Raikkonen who is still pulling in race simulation data, Rosberg who is looking to go faster, and Ericsson looking to put down 100laps today.

Update 23 : Kvyat pulls in a 1:36.1 which puts him at the top of the leaderboards.

Update 24 : Magnussen now on track, can he take Kvyat off the top? the young rookie has shown promise over these few tests.

Update 25 : And with that fastest lap, Kvyat heads back to the pits.

Update 26 : RedBull have confirmed that the first issue that stopped Vettel out on track was a battery problem. They have not confirmed what caused Vettel to stall in pitlane and end his day.

Update 27 : Kvyat goes to the top of the leaderboards with a 1:36.1

Update 28 : Massa returns and takes Kvyat off the top with a 1:34.4, will we see a resurgent Williams this year?

Update 29 :Rosberg then returns in kind an bumps Kvyat to third with a 1:35.9

Update 30 :Ericsson completes the 100laps for today, and Massa is on pace to go quicker again.

Update 31 : Bianchi is heading back onto the track with about 30minuts remaining.

Update 32 : With that Bianchi finally puts the Caterham into the 1:38s

Update 33 : Hulkenberg is now heading out on track, along with Rosberg who from the post on Mercedes' Twitter page is going after the top spot going out on Supersofts with the final 20minutes of today's test.

Update 34 :Rosberg was indeed going for top spot and gets it with a 1:33.4 knocking Massa down with a full second between the two drivers.

Update 35 : Magnussen improves slightly also with a 1:35.8

Update 36 :Massa responds to Rosberg with a 1:33.2

Update 37 : It's getting good, Raikkonen is now in the fray bumping off Magnussen out of third with a 1:35.4

Update 38 : Marussia just announced via their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that they are going to put Bianchi out one last time on the SuperSofts.

Update 39: And thats the checkered flag. So ends the second to last day of testing before the season begins. As always here is your leaderboard.

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The biggest story of today is like usual, RedBull. The last two days saw great improvement with the car as Ricciardo managed to put in a decent amount of lap times. Today, the RB10 was not so lucky under the helm of Vettel. He only managed half a lap at the beginning due to an apparent battery issue that sidelined him for most of the day. Then when trying to come back out again, stalled in pitlane and had to be pushed back to the garages never to be heard from again.

Massa and an apparent resurgent Williams did brilliantly today, taking the top spot not only of today, but of all the testing so far in Bahrain. I have a feeling that Williams will be a major player this year with Massa behind the wheel.

Rosberg showed once again that he is the man to watch though, putting in many of fast laps, including is last couple that saw him spring to the top of the leaderboards. Lotus on the other hand have had just as bad luck as RedBull with the car continually breaking down. I don't know if Lotus will be able to survive another season if it goes like its on track to go now.

And what about Caterham and Marussia, not the fastest cars, but they are proving to be quite reliable cars which could make up the difference and finally see them get into some points this year. Overall, today provided a look into how bad RedBull are in right now and how good the rest of the teams are doing. This is not going to be a year for RedBull.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the final test!

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Also be sure to check out my series !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ,

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Photo Credit to Lotus F1, RedBull Racing.

Skif6996 > Jonathon Klein 03/01/2014 at 08:22

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Thanks for the updates!