Yesterday, the second last test session closed out leaving just Barcelona left before the start of the 2008 season. It is now pretty clear where teams will stack up come the season start and despite hours and hours of work some teams just haven’t accomplished their goals while others like say Ferrari have caused frustration for just about everyone.

[tag]Giancarlo Fisichella[/tag] echoes this with his stunning statement that Ferrari are the best and probably will dominate through the early part of the season with [tag]McLaren[/tag] close behind, and then the rest.

He is pleased with the progress and performance of his car and is predicting a faster car after a new update in Barcelona.

“At the beginning of the season it will be hard to stay out of the bottom (of the field), but we hope that we can gradually improve.”

[tag]Toyota[/tag] sat near the bottom of time sheets through most of testing, but pulled out something good in the last week with some pretty respectable times and are one of the few that have closed gaps to teams previously ahead of them. Their senior general chassis manager is now predicting serious gains between now and season start.

[tag]David Coulthard[/tag] has decided to lift spirits of [tag]Red Bull[/tag] fans by telling them not to believe too much in the test times Red Bull are pulling off. He says not to expect Red Bull to be front runners just yet.

[tag]Jenson Button[/tag], up and down with his feelings on his car says Honda made ‘good progress’ in Jerez, but more work is still needed and they are moving in the right direction.

Over 2 seconds off the pace with only a month to go? Yes, a lot more work is needed.

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Day 2 at Jerez is over and the times all in.

[tag]McLaren[/tag] are continuing to improve and are an easy 2nd behind Ferrari. It would have been cool to see Ferrari today so we could see what kind of gaps are left for Mclaren.

I see [tag]BMW-Sauber[/tag] are finally coming to grips (literally) with their car and now posting some respectable times. [tag]Robert Kubica[/tag] up in 3rd, off 4 10ths, that’s 4 10ths behind Lewis in the McLaren, not Ferrari. [tag]Nick Heidfeld[/tag] quite a bit slower than Kubica.

[tag]Renault[/tag] not far off. A great fight is shaping up between BMW-Sauber and Renault.
[tag]Force India[/tag] behind [tag]Super Aguri[/tag]? They did evaluate a number of chassis set-ups in the SA07B interim car. I still expect more from Liuzzi.

[tag]Honda[/tag] Honda Honda, what is happening there. Ross Brawn must be tearing his hair out. Alex Wurz only pulling out a 1:21.950 in 86 laps.

Nick Fry:

“I’m very much enjoying myself, and going home with a sense of achievement as opposed to going home with a sense of frustration that no matter how hard we tried, progress was slow.”

Jenson Button

“The RA108 is completely new which means we are starting from zero in terms of developing the set-up,” he told the official Formula One website. “We are also working on driveability as we adapt to the new ECU.

“These challenges were reflected in our speed at our debut test in Barcelona, especially on single fast laps, but our long-run consistency improved. We have a good basic car with new opportunities for aerodynamics and other areas and a clear plan for addressing any issues in the coming tests.”

Basic car? Honda has so much experience in F1 it’s amazing they can’t come up better by now.

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Another sign of the changing of the guard happened as expected yesterday. Alexander Wurz announced his retirement effective immediately after 10 years with F1.
Wurz chose now to announce retirement and had this to say.
“I would today like to announce my retirement from active racing in Formula One,” said the 33-year-old Austrian, who has recently become a father for the third time. “I would like to thank my family and fans, everyone at AT&T Williams and my previous teams, as well as the media, for all of their support during my Formula One racing career.”

“In such an environment as F1, I always maintained that if you have a moment’s doubt about what you are doing then it is time to stop,”
“Privately I began to have these thoughts earlier this year and so have decided that now is the time to make my announcement.”
Wurz began his Formula 1 career in 1997 and made his debut in Canada where he finished third behind Jacques Villeneuve and Jean Alesi. In 2000 he departed the scene as a full time driver and into testing for McLaren and most recently Williams in 2006. This year, his final year, he was able to be a full time driver with Williams.

In his 10 seasons in Formula 1, he mad 69 race starts and this year scored 13 points.

[tags]Alexander Wurz, Alexander Wurz Retirement[/tags]

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