Jerez

4 days of testing - Two and a half of them in the wet. Red Bull, Force India and Virgin must be cussing to high heaven.

Times are inconclusive to say the least. Not only is the Valencia conundrum of Fuel loads still to be deciphered, this time around there were different tyres being used (due to the rain), and the rain itself.

Everyone is saying that Mclaren are looking the quickest. Are they the right kind of quick? Pundits are saying no. That honor, at this time, rests with Ferrari. Consistently quick times are being belted out lap after lap by the F10, with consolidated testing timing showing that Alonso is marginally quicker than Massa. And this time, when I mean marginally, I actually mean a tenth of a second or thereabouts.

Massa is looking quite strong after what is one of the freakiest accidents seen on track in a while. I’m sure his family is happy for him.

I have a feeling Mercedes is sandbagging. A little bit. Or could be a big bit depending on what they arm themselves with for the final test. Ross Brawn has already said that it is difficult to decipher anything until the final pre-season test is underway. He means to say that Mercedes (like many other teams) will use the first three tests to find out where the cars currently stand and then bring about a host of aero and mechanical updates to get the cars ready for Bahrain.

The other team also did ok. I mean Red Bull, for that’s what they were for much of the 2009 season. They didn’t storm the timesheets and racked up a fair few miles of valuable testing. The rain at Jerez may be far from ideal, but it gives the teams some valuable practice in the wet before the season starts. And since we’re bound to have at least 1 wet race in the calendar, the teams should focus on getting the small things down pat – like those much spoken about pit-stops.

Looks like more rain at Jerez for the third test. I wonder how many will crash trying to get some running in.

Till Wednesday,
Cheers.