Formula One Testing: Half-Time Report
Manama, 7th February 2008: Three days of testing have been completed by both
Scuderia Ferrari and the Panasonic Torota Racing Formula One teams this week,
with three more days still to run starting this coming Saturday, February 9th.
The world is watching Bahrain in the build-up to the start of the 2008 FIA
Formula One World Championship, and expectation in the Middle East is building
towards the region’s biggest sporting and social occasion, the Gulf Air Bahrain
Grand Prix, on April 4-6.
The headlines have so far all belonged to one man: reigning world champion Kimi
Räikkönen. Ferrari’s 28-year-old Finnish star has dominated the running on all
three days, lighting up headlines around the world with his blistering pace at
the BIC. The Ferrari team has fielded two cars on both days and run significant
distances, effectively simulating an entire Grand Prix weekend each day. Test
driver Luca Badoer ran in the second car on Monday and Tuesday this week before
Felipe Massa took over.
Toyota is one of several teams – including Honda, Renault, Red Bull, BMW and
Williams – attempting to get on terms with the front-running Ferrari and
McLaren-Mercedes outfits in 2008. German youngster Timo Glock is the third
successive driver to have made the leap from winning the GP2 series to driving
for one of the biggest teams in the sport – following on from inaugural GP2
champion Nico Rosberg (now at Williams and scoring points on his Formula One
debut in Bahrain in 2006), and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren’s sensation of 2007
season who so nearly became the sport’s first rookie world champion).
Toyota has endured numerous spins by both Glock and the team’s young Japanese
test driver Kamui Kobayashi on the opening day of testing, followed by gearbox
maladies on day two. Entering its seventh season in Formula One with reportedly
one of the biggest budgets ever seen in the sport, Toyota is eager to try and
make a breakthrough in 2008 and will be working hard on its performance in the
final three days in Bahrain.
As was the case in 2007, all 11 teams in this year’s world championship are
limited to a maximum of 30,000km of testing throughout the year in order to try
and reduce costs. This, together with the first three races of the year in
Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain forming a fast and furious ‘flyaway’ season for
the European-based teams means that every kilometre counts as the first race of
2008 approaches.
Fastest Laps – Formula One Testing, Bahrain International Circuit, 4-6 February
2008
1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari F2008 212 laps 1m 30.455s (Wednesday)
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari F2008 72 laps 1m 31.293s (Wednesday)
3 Jarno Trulli Toyota TF108 157 laps 1m 32.145s (Wednesday)
4 Luca Badoer Ferrari F2008 136 laps 1m 32.230s (Tuesday)
5 Kamui Kobayashi Toyota TF108 97 laps 1m 32.266s (Wednesday)
6 Timo Glock Toyota TF108 124 laps 1m 32.889s (Tuesday)
Distances Covered – Formula One Testing, Bahrain International Circuit, 4-6
February 2008
Ferrari 420 laps 2272.2km
Toyota 378 laps 2044.9km
