Barcelona Private Testing Program (February 21-24, 2012)

After Jerez, the teams met in Barcelona, at the Circuit de Catalunya, for the second week of private testing of the 2012 season.

The week will be inaugurated on Tuesday morning at 8:20 am with the official presentation of the Mercedes W03, already glimpsed at Silverstone, and which will be entrusted on the first day to the expert hands of Michael Schumacher.

Absent at Jerez, Marussia will make their return with last year’s MVR-02 and newcomer Charles Pic, who will have three full days of driving to acclimate to Formula One. Meanwhile, Timo Glock will drive on Thursday but will primarily wait for the second week to get to grips with his new car.

HRT, meanwhile, present in Jerez, will skip the first week of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya to fully focus on building its new car, as it must again undergo the official FIA crash test before being allowed on the track, having recently failed it. Absent in Jerez, Narain Karthikeyan will have to wait a little longer to make his return.

After announcing the replacement of Jarno Trulli with Vitaly Petrov as the main driver, Caterham will have the Russian take his first laps at the wheel of his CT01 on Wednesday and Thursday, while Giedo van der Garde, who had expressed the desire for another test day after the one at Jerez, will watch his peers from the pit wall, like most third drivers, except for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn will indeed take the wheel of the FW34 on Wednesday, in place of Bruno Senna.

While the Jerez tests did not allow for any conclusions, the Barcelona tests, which will start on Wednesday at 09:00, should provide a clearer idea of the competing strengths as all the teams potentially vying for the top spots will have their new cars on a circuit with a reputation that a car performing well there will do so all season. Moreover, since each team had about ten days to work in the factories, we might see the first developments of the season, particularly concerning the so-called platypus noses and the placement of the exhausts.

A busy week ahead, therefore, to follow with casinoenligne.uk.com, naturally…

Barcelona Private Testing Program (February 21-24, 2012):