Formula One teams have standard procedures for everything; race starts, pit-stops, post-race in-lap. Apparently there is also a standard procedure for running out of fuel.
On the first day of proper testing with the all-new F1.09, BMW Sauber continued the evaluation process begun on Tuesday during the shakedown. Robert Kubica completed 99 laps as well as conducting several race start simulations. In the morning he deliberately stopped on the track when he carried out a so-called fuel run-out, a standard procedure with every new F1 car.
I’m not really sure what this would involve apart from switching off any electrical systems and putting the car in neutral. I mean, if you run out of fuel there’s not much you can do apart from park at the side of the track and get out, is there? I suppose it must be more complicated than that if it is something they need to test. If you know what a ‘fuel run-out procedure’ is please let me know in the comments.
Kubica will be at the wheel of the F1.09 again on Thursday before Nick Heidfeld takes over on Friday.
The rain that continues to affect the Algarve Motor Park is making testing difficult for the teams at the Portuguese track. Sebastien Buemi’s interim Toro Rosso posted the fastest time on Tuesday of 1:34.429, three seconds clear of Pedro de la Rosa in the new McLaren MP4-24. Jarno Trulli was third fastest in the Toyota TF109 followed by the Renault R29 of Nelson Piquet and Nico Rosberg’s Williams FW31.
The wet conditions make it hard to evaluate how the cars will perform on a dry circuit and with the lack of in-season testing in 2009 the teams are missing out on vital testing miles.
But it does give us a chance to see how the new cars compare in the wet. Jarno Trulli has found the new Toyota hard to drive at Portimao:
In the conditions it was very difficult to get temperature in the tyres. It was really hard for everyone out there and it was nearly impossible to drive. This is the first feeling!
But McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa didn’t seem to have the same trouble:
The car has a little bit more grip at the front end generally and it is very responsive to steering. You have to put everything together – if you put these tyres onto last year’s car, we would be three seconds a lap faster.
It’s always hard to compare lap times in testing as different teams will be testing different setups but perhaps this gives us a clue that more work is needed on Toyota’s 2009 goal of “stability”.
December 10th, 2008
David
Takuma Sato put in the second fastest time in the Toro Rosso in testing at Jerez today; a little over half a second behind new guy Sebastien Buemi although Sato did it in only 38 laps whereas the Swiss driver had 128 laps to get his eye in. Sebastien Bourdais was third fastest.
I hope Sato gets a place at Toro Rosso in 2009. Sure, he had a reputation as a bit of a crasher but that’s what made him so fun to watch. You were never sure when Taku was going to try some crazy banzai move up the inside of someone, probably his team mate.
Formula One teams have standard procedures for everything; race starts, pit-stops, post-race in-lap. Apparently there is also a standard procedure for running out of fuel.
