The news of Sunday

*the Malaysian GP could switch overnight from 2015 to compete in the Singapore GP.
* the final testing days in Barcelona have a new date: they have been shifted one day so they will be held from March 9 to 12.
* Kimi Raikkonen said in an interview that the F1 is now over for him and he preferred to devote himself to the rally:
"I dont have no interest in returning to Formula 1. I do not want to talk about Formula 1. The rally, it's where I want to be. And it's good to be back for another season ." said Iceman to the newspaper Gulf News.

Bahrain postponed , the season will start in Melbourne !

So it's official since yesterday, the GP of Bahrain has been postponed to a later date for security reasons. So the season starts in Australia on March 27. Over the last test session that should have taken place in Bahrain from March 3 to 6 has been rescheduled from March 8 to 11 and will be held in Barcelona.

Barcelona : last day classification

Here is the classification of the last testing day in Barcelona :
Pos.
Driver
Team
Time
Laps
1
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:22.625
121
2
M. Webber
Red Bull Racing
1:23.442
69
3
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
1:23.550
90
4
N. Heidfeld
Lotus Renault GP
1:23.657
95
5
L. Hamilton
McLaren Mercedes
1:24.003
107
6
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:24.057
121
7
A. Sutil
Force India
1:24.177
64
8
S. Pérez
Sauber
1:24.515
74
9
J. d'Ambrosio
Marussia Virgin Racing
1:26.501
50
10
M. Schumacher
Mercedes GP
1:27.079
114
11
J. Trulli
Team Lotus
1:29.992
18

Barcelona : 4th testing day classification + Massa's thoughts

Here is the classification of the 3rd testing day in Barcelona :
Pos.
Driver
Team
Time
Laps
1
N. Rosberg
Mercedes GP
1:23.168
92
2
V. Petrov
Lotus Renault GP
1:23.463
93
3
L. Hamilton
McLaren Mercedes
1:23.858
93
4
P. Maldonado
Williams
1:24.815
60
5
M. Webber
Red Bull Racing
1:24.995
139
6
J. Trulli
Team Lotus
1:25.454
48
7
S. Pérez
Sauber
1:25.557
115
8
A. Sutil
Force India
1:25.720
102
9
S. Buemi
Toro Rosso
1:26.155
31
10
F. Massa
Ferrari
1:26.508
123
11
T. Glock
Marussia Virgin Racing
1:26.598
97
12
G. Mondini
HRT
1:28.178
39
13
D. Ricciardo
Toro Rosso
1:28.329
42
14
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:30.722
32

---------
Today was the third and penultimate day at the Montmelo circuit in Spain. Felipe Massa and Scuderia Ferrari have made 123 laps, plating once again in the top as the second most reliable team yet. Author of two red flags on pilot error, Felipe Massa said, late in the day : "Today was a busy day, we were able to accumulate miles with different track conditions. The intermediaries could fit this morning, which was good for our development."
He continues: "In the afternoon, it was important for us to perform simulations of race with long runs to test the car, what we did while trying to keep the tires in good condition as long as possible ."
Tomorrow Felipe Massa will be back on board of the Ferrari F150th Italia for the 4th and final day of testing in Barcelona.
(source : f1-direct.com)

Barcelona : 2nd testing day classification + Alonso's thoughts

Here is the classification of the 2nd testing day in Barcelona :
Pos.
Driver
Team
Time
Laps
1
S. Vettel
Red Bull Racing
1:23.315
104
2
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
1:23.519
97
3
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:23.978
90
4
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:24.008
118
5
N. Heidfeld
Lotus Renault GP
1:24.242
41
6
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:24.243
125
7
N. Rosberg
Mercedes GP
1:24.730
131
8
J. Button
McLaren Mercedes
1:24.923
54
9
P. di Resta
Force India
1:25.194
80
10
H. Kovalainen
Team Lotus
1:26.421
58
11
V. Petrov
Lotus Renault GP
1:26.884
61
12
V. Liuzzi
HRT
1:27.044
70
13
T. Glock
Marussia Virgin Racing
1:27.242
66
14
R. Teixeira
Team Lotus
1:31.584
26

---------
Following this test day, Fernando Alonso has expressed the view that it was better to have problems during private testing than during a race. The double world champion has made a day still quite complete with 90 laps counter is over 400 Km Following an electronic problem this morning at 12:30 and then technical , the double world champion said:
" a mechanic told me that when all is well in Barcelona, we do not win the championship, and if there are problems, everything is different, so I hope it will happen."
Then the Ferrari driver gave his opinion on existing strengths:
"The Red Bull are shown favored by many people, but there are four teams, we, McLaren, Mercedes and Renault are capable of fighting for victory. It's always very difficult to judge the results during testing, because a few kg of gasoline can be measured in seconds."
Alonso also confirmed his remarks of yesterday :
"Overlooked tires, we found a similar situation at Jerez or Valencia. If the race were held tomorrow in Valencia, it would take three or four pit stops to finish the race, we must change the approach to racing but also on the track throughout the weekend, tests at the race. This should create greater opportunities for overtaking, the differences in tire performance could play a huge role, combined with KERS and rear wing."

Barcelona : 1st testing day classification + Alonso's thoughts

Here is the classification of the first testing day in Barcelona :
Position
Driver
Team
Time
Laps
1
S. Vettel
Red Bull Racing
1:24.374
37
2
F. Alonso
Ferrari
1:25.485
101
3
J. Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
1:25.638
57
4
K. Kobayashi
Sauber
1:25.641
78
5
J. Button
McLaren Mercedes
1:26.365
77
6
P. di Resta
Force India
1:26.575
26
7
R. Barrichello
Williams
1:26.912
52
8
M. Schumacher
Mercedes GP
1:27.512
90
9
N. Karthikeyan
HRT
1:28.393
116
10
H. Kovalainen
Team Lotus
1:30.065
54
11
J. d'Ambrosio
Marussia Virgin Racing
1:30.950
116
12
V. Petrov
Lotus Renault GP
1:35.174
20
13
N. Heidfeld
Lotus Renault GP
1:44.324
27

--------- Following yesterday Fernando Alonso has spoken, saying it was important to know the tires. The double world champion had a good day of testing with over 101 laps, more than 400 miles without incident. So he said: "It was a good day, we did a lot of laps and we took some valuable information here. On this track it seems there is some degradation of tires, but this is only the first day and we'll see how the track will change between now and Monday."

The news of the week

* Robert Kubica suffered a last operation , last Wednesday , to repair his broken bones in his right elbow. The operation lasted eight hours and went very well. Robert would still remain two weeks in hospital and will finally leave the hospital to begin his rehabilitation which should take place in Italy in the same region. Moreover, Lotus-Renault GP confirmed the tenure of Nick Heidfeld to replace Robert Kubica during his convalescence.
* Pirelli has changed its soft tires and super-soft for tests that take place in Barcelona this week. But the medium tires will not change . More Pirelli said that for the first 4 GP, tires to be used will be the soft and hard ones .
* From this week tensions are held in Bahrain where demonstrations are held in an attempt to overthrow the current regime. GP2 Asia Race to be held this weekend has been canceled and the winter testing and the first GP of the season of Formula 1 could be in danger. Bernie Ecclestone has also said he would make a decision next week. Over Barcelona has already indicated that it could accommodate last winter testing in place of Bahrain so it would not be able to do it .