Bianchi remains on top as Young Drivers Test ends

2012 F1 testing

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Jules Bianchi completed a hat-trick by finishing the final day of the Young Drivers’ test with the quickest time.

Bianchi returned to Ferrari for the last day of the test and headed the times with a best lap of 1’16.985, half a second slower than his best lap for Force India yesterday.

The test began on a wet track and Bianchi took the opportunity to do some running on intermediate tyres: “In the morning, I did a few laps to get a feel for the car on the intermediate tyres and even though there was not much grip, it was no bad thing to get some experience in the wet, after two days of dry testing.”

Bianchi was the only driver to run on all three days of the test, and added a further 138 laps to his tally. Over three days he covered 342 laps totalling 1,508km – nearly five Grand Prix distances.

Rodolfo Gonzalez took over from Bianchi at Force India and was second fastest followed by Brendon Hartley in the Mercedes.

“The track was quite wet this morning so we lost some time,” said Hartley. “But once it had dried out, we were able to get on with the test programme, using mainly the hard tyre.”

Pos.Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1Jules BianchiFerrariF20121’16.985138
2Rodolfo GonzalezForce IndiaVJM051’18.0181.03379
3Brendon HartleyMercedesW031’18.6711.68687

2012 F1 season


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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Bianchi remains on top as Young Drivers Test ends”

  1. So, Alonso & Kimi swap driver seats;
    Massa & Bianchi do the same! :)

    1. Ferrari won’t take Bianchi. Not if Perez is ‘inexperienced’.

      1. yes, that would make sense, they are really aiming for Lewis or maybe Schumacher, someone established for sure, I know that alonso can be a control maniac, but Ferrari won’t keep Massa just because he wants it and therefore Santander wants it, Ferrari need the money, Ferrari need a good sponsor driver and a quick driver like any team.

    2. Perhaps Kimi will go back to McLaren.

  2. This was impressive from this man. He is higly rated in F1. But maybe he has a bigger chance to take over from Massa,because Ferrari don’t see him as a big threat to Fernando in the team,but Perez on the other hand has a top performance explosion now,and he’s a realy ,realy big threat for Alonso,because with the same equipment he could better his performances.

    1. he’s a realy ,realy big threat for Alonso

      I’m getting tired of the story “Perez is a real threat to Alonso”!!!!, Perez is a talented driver there’s no doubt about his driving abilities maybe a future world champion (that’s not coincidence that he belongs to the Ferrari Driver Academy) but he have a large marge of improvement & Ferrari are protecting him by not giving him massa’s seat ,when LDM said that Perez lucked experience he does mean that ,Perez this year manged to get 65pts ,18 more that Massa & 18 less than Rosberg in a much faster & most gentle car on the tyres that was due to his inconsistency not his luck of speed & that’s the normal situation to be in for a young driver (who could argue that “Vettel 2009” is the same Vettel in 2011???)

      Experienced drivers like Jenson Button, Mark Webber & Nico Rosberg held serious contacts with Ferrari but they refused the idea of joining the team because being a teammate of Alonso would make their life more complicated

      1. Yeah, “real threat” and they are seriously looking to hire Vettel for 2014. Makes sense *roll eyes*

    2. Perez is good… but is he not at a level to challenge fernando yet.

  3. I honestly believe ferrari are gearing up to bring back fisichella for a season.

    1. I don’t know, after 2009…

    2. Haha, no! Bring Luca Badoer back! :D

      1. ._. Oh no…

        1. Mika Salo, while we’re at it.

          1. People you are getting ridiculous .. meanwhile I’ll wait for Tazio Nuvolaris resurrection ….

  4. hmmm perez for ferrari and bianchi for sauber if massa leaves. although this might leave force india in a muddle if derista or the hulk get a chance to go to mclaren(with the lewis talk), they might have to take massa maybe. Its getting interesting. I LOVE IT!! :)

    1. Force India would never take Massa. I’m sure they much rather have Sutil back.. as he was stronger than DiResta and the Hulk when he was replaced

      1. he was stronger than Di Resta and the Hulk when he was replaced

        @todfod FINALLY! I was beggining to think I’m the only one in the whole world who thinks that…

  5. Bianchi’s helmet looks kickass in a Ferrari.

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