Button Quickest Of The Race Drivers On Prac1

[Kay 0]

I can't help but feel that the engine won't last.

[bajo39 0]

i personnally dont care about villeneuve!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you for sharing that

[Jenson_Rules 0]

no problem

Im concerned over the engine in barcelona if they finish this race!!!

[YHR 0]

Imola

Jacques Villeneuve the 1997 F1 world Champoin looks to be getting comfortable with the Sauber C-24.

The outspoken Canadian has put up with a lot of trash talk about his perfomance from the media to date, but as the F1 professionals know, Villeneuve is not out.

Villenueve is a compeitor and gives amazing feedback on the car to his race engineer. He thinks nothing of carrying on a conversation with his race engineer during high speed close encounters on the track.

His lap times have been steadily improving and he is now in a position to overtake his much younger teammate, who has had the benefit of more track time and testing with the Sauber C-24.

Practice times are just practice times, but is intesting to see the Saubers just fractions away from the big budget Ferrari team that supplies engines to Sauber.

Ferrari has spent a massive amount of time testing in the last few weeks, racking up testing mileage equivelent to 12 GPs. We you compare this to the Sauber team, you have to know somebody at Ferrari is going to be asking about the commitment of the team and the drivers if this gap is not widened during qualifying.

Tomorrow brings qualifying and a lot of questions will be either answered or generated by the final qualifying order.

Imagine the fallout if the current F1 champ is outpaced by a younger Massa and a press reported washed up Villeneuve, competing in cars with Year old Ferrari engines.

[Senna 0]

Imola

The outspoken Canadian has put up with a lot of trash talk about his perfomance from the media to date, but as the F1 professionals know,  Villeneuve is not out.

His lap times have been steadily improving and he is now in a position to overtake his much younger teammate, who has had the benefit of more track time and testing with the Sauber C-24.

Practice times are just practice times, but [it] is intesting to see [that] the Saubers [are] just fractions away from the big budget Ferrari team that supplies engines to Sauber.

Ferrari has spent a  massive amount of time testing in the last few weeks, racking up  testing mileage  equivelent to 12 GPs.  We you compare this to the Sauber team, you have to know somebody at Ferrari is going to be asking about the commitment of the team and the drivers if this gap is not widened during qualifying.

Imagine the fallout if the current F1 champ is outpaced by a younger Massa and  a washed up Villeneuve, competing in cars wih Year old Ferrari engines.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hold your horses! I seriously doubt Sauber will be more competitive than Ferrari at Imola but I would love to see it. I think JV has been rightly criticised for his lack of pace over the past six GP weekends and it

[bajo39 0]

Imola

Jacques Villeneuve the 1997 F1 world Champoin looks to be getting comfortable with the Sauber C-24.

The outspoken Canadian has put up with a lot of trash talk about his perfomance from the media to date, but as the F1 professionals know,  Villeneuve is not out.

Villenueve is a compeitor and gives amazing feedback on the car to his race engineer.  He thinks nothing of carrying on a conversation with his race engineer during high speed close encounters on the track.

His lap times have been steadily improving and he is now in a position to overtake his much younger teammate, who has had the benefit of more track time and testing with the Sauber C-24.

Practice times are just practice times, but is intesting to see the Saubers just fractions away from the big budget Ferrari team that supplies engines to Sauber.

Ferrari has spent a  massive amount of time testing in the last few weeks, racking up  testing mileage  equivelent to 12 GPs.  We you compare this to the Sauber team, you have to know somebody at Ferrari is going to be asking about the commitment of the team and the drivers if this gap is not widened during qualifying.

Tomorrow brings qualifying and a lot of questions will be either answered or generated by the final qualifying order.

Imagine the fallout if the current F1 champ is outpaced by a younger Massa and  a press reported washed up Villeneuve, competing in cars with Year old Ferrari engines.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is possible that he could overtake his team-mate at this race but I don't think he will. He should be substantially closer than he was in Bahrain though and, as I have said on a number of prior occasions, he should be expected to be within 1 second on aggregate. Anything less than that, e.g. a couple of tenths or so on aggregate slower than Massa, will be impressive considering the limited useful testing he has done this season.

My biggest worry with JV is that he will overdrive the car in qualy, as he did in Bahrain, and be slower as a result. I have never had any doubt that JV is capable of getting on the same pace as Massa although I predicted it would take about 6 races or so, forget now, so if he has done that here on the fourth race then I believe he is doing well.

EDIT: As Senna pointed out, the suggestion that Sauber could be faster than Ferrari is ludicrous.

[YHR 0]

It is possible that he could overtake his team-mate at this race but I don't think he will. He should be substantially closer than he was in Bahrain though and, as I have said on a number of prior occasions, he should be expected to be within 1 second on aggregate. Anything less than that, e.g. a couple of tenths or so on aggregate slower than Massa, will be impressive considering the limited useful testing he has done this season.

My biggest worry with JV is that he will overdrive the car in qualy, as he did in Bahrain, and be slower as a result. I have never had any doubt that JV is capable of getting on the same pace as Massa although I predicted it would take about 6 races or so, forget now, so if he has done that here on the fourth race then I believe he is doing well.

EDIT: As Senna pointed out, the suggestion that Sauber could be faster than Ferrari is ludicrous.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Ferrari has spent a massive amount of time testing in the last few weeks, racking up testing mileage equivelent to 12 GPs. We you compare this to the Sauber team, you have to know somebody at Ferrari is going to be asking about the commitment of the team and the drivers if this gap is not widened during qualifying"

I suggested that if the Ferrari's don't widen the gap in qualifying between themselves and Sauber then Ferrari better start questioning the money they are spending. That is not a ludicrous statement. I said imagine the fallout if the Saubers outpaced the Ferrari. It is never ludicrous to imagine IMHO.

[Taku 0]

no problem

Im concerned over the engine in barcelona if they finish this race!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the engine will be fine. it's the other problems that bar need to sort out.

[nojvnof1 0]

great session for BAR and McLaren. Well done to JV and the Sauber team, the new aero upgrade seems to have helped the team significantly. Shame for Massa though having to change the engine, but he's a fighter and will be competitive. Great for JV though, for once he's started the weekend of well and competitive, hopefully he keeps on the up.

[Monty 0]

Both the Ferraris are on top after 1st Sat practise.

[Sato 0]

Didn't look like the other drivers were pushing at all though.

[nojvnof1 0]

atm in S2, M$ leads with a 1:21.326, Massa second only .549 behind him, that Sauber looks to have pace. Worryingly, JV is 1.9 behind FM. I know it's only practice, but either FM is running on fumes and or JV has gone backwards from yesterday.

[nojvnof1 0]

there's me getting ahead of myself again, JV does a 1:21.543. Over .3 ahead of FM and only .254 behind RB!!!!!! Yeah it's only practice and early in the session, but this is bloody great!!!!!!!!

[nojvnof1 0]

BLAST!!!!!! that was me getting ahead of myself, JV ended up P15 and 1 second behind FM.

[Taku 0]

well in the end massa pulled off a stunning quali 1 time, and jv was .4 behind.

not the best, but not disastrous either. personally i think you should be matching each other in quali 1, and .4/5 is the very outer limit of what is acceptable. any more is difficult to justify.

sato was also .4 behind jb, who put in a stunner. jb looks good for tomorrow and it's good to see they're moving in the right direction in rectifying the quali speed problem.

edit: as have mclaren

[Sato 0]

I watched JV do his lap and i thought, "He's back!" then Massa came out and after S2, i thought "JV is going to match him!" but no! it was just a bad last sector from JV not a sauber issue!

[Kay 0]

Well a lot of team mates are being shown up this weekend... not just Jacques.

[ksajoe 0]

Saturdays Prac 2 gives indication of race pace (not entirely) but cars are much heavier. Rubens is struggling with the new car - he has struggled all the way to quali 1 . Sunday will be damage limitation, but lets see how that goes (Remember Ralf in Bahrain??).

[YHR 0]

It is possible that he could overtake his team-mate at this race but I don't think he will. He should be substantially closer than he was in Bahrain though and, as I have said on a number of prior occasions, he should be expected to be within 1 second on aggregate. Anything less than that, e.g. a couple of tenths or so on aggregate slower than Massa, will be impressive considering the limited useful testing he has done this season.

My biggest worry with JV is that he will overdrive the car in qualy, as he did in Bahrain, and be slower as a result. I have never had any doubt that JV is capable of getting on the same pace as Massa although I predicted it would take about 6 races or so, forget now, so if he has done that here on the fourth race then I believe he is doing well.

EDIT: As Senna pointed out, the suggestion that Sauber could be faster than Ferrari is ludicrous.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Round 1 and just Imagine a Sauber is ahead of a Ferrari. Who would have thought that could happen. Just imagine RB has spent more test time in the new Ferrari then JV has in both the Renault and the Sauber and yet the same forum members who poop all over JV make claims that RB is getting used to the new car.

Seems to me if the same logic that condems JV is applied to RB, the press should start every Press release about RB with the words, "disasterous" ,"disappointing" and finish off with the phrase ,"Losing his seat to Anthony Davidson".

[Buttonfan 0]

One of thing I've noticed of Toyota is, that they are generally quite on Fridays, and then saturday they appear to firing on all cylinders.

wondering if todays postion reflects the same scenario?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

most likely they will be a "rocket" from those other days, showing that they save their car for when it counts

[nojvnof1 0]

"Well a lot of team mates are being shown up this weekend... not just Jacques."

I agree kay_zee, but it seems JV's plight is always highlighted and others overlooked.

Sato, mate, I was going nuts looking at his times yesterday, it seemed as if he truly was getting to grips with the car and showing his true form, but he stuffed T3 up.