Algarve Test Red-Flagged Due to Heavy Rain

The first testing session of the year proved to be rather disastrous for all teams present at the Algarve track this week, as poor weather conditions forced the organizers to red-flag the 4th day of testing in Portugal. Under these circumstances, some of the drivers scheduled to try on the new 2009 challengers at Portimao were left hoping.

The track organizers are yet to announce whether the testing will resume later this afternoon or the teams should already proceed to packing their things and move on. Only three teams got to test their machineries for a short period of time this morning: Toro Rosso (still using their 2008-spec car), Williams F1 and Toyota.

The weather at Portimao seemed to be heading the right way following yesterday's testing. Starting Wednesday afternoon, the track started to get dry and the 5 teams present in Portugal finally got the chance to test the slick tires.

If the testing will not be resumed later today, Heiki Kovalainen and Kazuki Nakajima will be the only drivers not able to test drive their new 2009-spec cars this year. The Fin was expected to enter the McLaren MP4-24 cockpit in the last day of testing, after Pedro de la Rosa and Lewis Hamiton had their chance the days before. Also, Nakajima was the last driver to try out the new Williams FW31, as Nico Hulkenberg and Nico Rosberg had completed their tests in the first 3 days of the meeting.

Fernando Alonso was also expected to test the Renault R29 for the second day running.

Ferrari seemed to have taken a wise decision when pulling out from the Portimao group test last week, as the Scuderia's testing have not been disturbed as much by the bad weather at Mugello. Felipe Massa is due to drive the Ferrari F60 for the second day running, on Thursday.