I am back for another year in Valencia and Formula 1 testing. In some regards, I am quite happy that they have restricted testing because sometimes it can get rather tedious and you can have to much of a good thing. So back to Valencia and where the 2011 season kicks off. With testing now so vital, all teams make an appearance and some with their new cars, others who are slight behind.

So the first day and although its the first day, its not so much as today was all about the presentation of two teams. Sauber and Lotus Renault (yes that is one team). After having a nice drive down from Alicante to Valencia the day before, I could have a lie in this morning and make my way to the track for the 11:15CET launch of the new Sauber.  As in the past year, they wheel the car down to the start/finish straight and get the drivers to take the cover off and then then that’s pretty much it. They return upstairs and various interviews take place. Unfortunately this time around I did not get a good place what so ever and was quite restricted to what I could see. With abit of moving around I got a slightly better position but still not great. Overall I am rather disappointed with the results. I did not hang around for the press interviews this time as the Lotus Renault launch was not to far away.

I had my concerns from the start that this car could be again very difficult to photograph. Last year it was the Yellow that wasn’t good and this year I thought black was going to be a pain, especially in high sunlight levels. All the press gathered around the front of the garage (not a great idea as there was to many photographers and not enough space). The car gets unveiled and once again, not in a good place as the drivers did not wish to look my way. So some artistic shots were only to be taken here. Overall though the colour scheme is good and more gold than I thought so hopefully it should be all good come the first practice tomorrow. With regards to the drivers, there was plenty of opportunity to get the photos taken but Robert Kubica was itching to go back into the garage and get away from it all.

Sauber carried out some filming at the end of the day and was in pursuit of a Opel Insignia estate for two laps.

Tomorrow sees the launch of the new Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Mercedes. Early start and cold start I feel for that one. But nearly all the big guns are out tomorrow so it should be a full day and is going to take me ages to process the photos. The weather looks like it could be rain first thing and then good for the rest of the day. Temperatures in the 13C mark.

The hotel provides free internet access which is all well and good however the wireless signal was very poor on Tuesday night hence the delay in this blog post.

The crowds were starting to build up at the track on Tuesday. Traffic started to build up from the junction on the motorway but it didn’t take to long to get in the track. Reason? Newspapers published that Alonso was due to test but unfortunately they did not update their info and I think there was going to be some rather frustrated fans. Only Hamilton was really worth seeing. No other big guns.

Speaking of Hamilton. Seemed a distinct lack of interest in the boy. Ok so we had all those problems a few years back but despite going onto be World Champion you would think that there would be abit more press attention. The run from the garage to the hospitality tent can be a daunting one but Hamilton only really had to fighting through about 10 photographers and maybe about 5 fans.

Weather was yet again very consistent with air temperature in the 15C mark. No wind which made waiting around on track for a car to come out of the pits, quite pleasant.

I had some very positive comments in regards to this photo of Robert Kubica in the Renault which I took towards the end of the test. Namely because of the speed that the photo was taken at aswell as including the foreground. Its actually ashame the Renault doesn’t have a few more sponsors to it and abit more black. The car is still abit to yellow for my liking. I would like to see a big backer for Renault and I suspect they are waiting for that, hence why there is no markings on the sidepod.

I have hit a new record of Red Bull drunk today with 4 cans. I really don’t think its to good drinking that much in a day and I don’t know why I was drinking it. I was not that tired, plenty of sleep so I didn’ t really need the pickup.

One final thing that although is not massive news or life changing but as much as people knock Michael Schumacher, you cannot fault his commitment. His motorhome at the track and he spends all three days in the garage/paddock. He doesn’ t disapear off to a hotel whilst he isn’t driving. He is always there when Rosberg is driving, getting to know the car. Very clever man.

I left the UK at 6:30 this morning (Sunday) and arrived just before 10am. I did a little research on the times for the BMW Sauber and Renault launches and thought I could get there with plenty of time to spare. Sure enough a 2hr drive along the Costa Brava and I arrive at the Valencia Circuit with plenty of time to spare before the first launch.

BMW Sauber were the first team to launch their car at 14:30hrs today. The car was covered up and wheeled down the start/finish straight and then unveiled on time by Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi. Pedro has always been shy of the cameras during my years of F1 testing. Keeps his visor down alot and doesn’t really warm to photographers calls. Unlike other launches once the drivers had done there bit the car was left out and photographers swarmed around it taking photos of all angles. Its not my cup of tea so I stayed away and went to the press conference with Willy Rampf and Peter Sauber. Very interesting listening to some very intelligent people. Certainly they were quite forward with alot of questions but very careful with other things. Budget I think is a major factor and they did not want to say where they cut staff, how much budget they have. With lack of sponsors and Peter Sauber stating that they did not have a major backer then you wonder where they are going to be this year.

16:30hrs and waiting around for the launch of Renault. It was a big mess up as we all get in place ready for the garage door to open but for some unknown reason the car can only get pushed out at one angle only. It is unable to turn its wheels. So moved again but I really did not get a good spot at all. The sun was not helping and to be honest it was a total mess up on my part.
The drivers moved up to the press conference where they get split into different sections for different languages. Robert Kubica obviously getting most of the attention and I did not really listen to what he had to say. Vitaly Petrov who is not very well known to your average F1 fan however has been very successful in GP2. During his interview today he said he really knew nothing about F1 and always wanted to do rallying. Quite a refreshing change I feel from the usual “It has always been my goal to be in F1 and be champion”.

A fairly early finish to the day. Nothing else really going on elsewhere although the Mercedes GP team have a massive double truck. Who says that money is being cut in testing. Two trucks join as one to create a very large office at the top. Photo to follow.