COMPETITION; FORMULA ONE.

FEW ANSWERS IN TESTS

Poor weather and the use of different venues made it impossible to gauge the potential of key 2009 F1 contenders when they ran for the first time.

McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota, Renault and Williams F1 appeared at Algarve in Portugal, but rain effectively ruined the test. The last day was a total washout, as conditions prevented the medical helicopter from flying, and all running was canceled.

For the record, the limited dry running saw Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap of the 2009 cars in his Williams-Toyota (1 minute, 29.279 seconds), followed by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (1 minute, 30.242 seconds), Toyota's Timo Glock (1 minute, 30.878 seconds) and Renault's Fernando Alonso (1 minute, 31.743 seconds).

In anticipation of the poor conditions, Ferrari made a last-minute switch to its own Mugello venue. Rain also hit Italy, but the team did get some dry running with its F60, while also benefiting from proximity to the factory.

BMW-Sauber chose to test on its own in Valencia, Spain. The rain stayed away, but storm-force winds spoiled the last test day.

No team has done much more than run routine checks and gather data on the new kinetic-energy-recovery systems. Ferrari, BMW and Toyota will test in Bahrain in February, while the others-joined by the new Red Bull Racing contender-will go to Jerez in Spain. The real picture will not emerge until everyone runs together in Barcelona in early March.