25-Feb-08: Hamilton Leads the Way at Final Test

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This is F1 Minute for the 25^th February.

The last official testing week began in Barcelona, with Lewis Hamilton leading the pack. He was just a few hundredths faster than Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, who in turn was just a tenth faster than Michael Schumacher. There were three red flags during the day brought out by Heidfeld, Vettel and Piquet.

The test saw the debut of the new Force India car, with Sutil and Liuzzi taking to the track. They finished the day sandwiching a BMW, and ahead of two Toyotas and two Hondas.

Unfortunately, Super Aguri were not present at the test, and are unlikely to be able to join at all this week. Team boss Aguri Suzuki is currently in Japan holding crisis talks with both Honda and potential investors, but until their future is secure, the team can’t afford to test. They are, however, still preparing for the start of the season in Australia.

Very quickly to finish, a life-size replica of the F2008 made out of chocolate was given to a Ferrari owners club in Italy. It cost about £11,000, took a year to make, and was broken up into little pieces to be shared by the fan club members.

That’s all for today, please join me tomorrow for another F1 Minute.