10/02/2010
NEWS STORY
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Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets at Jerez on a day when persistent rain compromised teams programmes and lap times.
With rain showers predicted throughout the four-day test, the first downpour arrived after just one hour of running this morning and conditions remained wet throughout the remainder of the day.
Rosberg had time to complete a couple of short runs in the dry before the rain arrived and his Mercedes team's programme was changed accordingly.
Using wet and intermediate tyres, the German gave the W01 its first run-out in wet conditions, completing 57 laps over the course of the session. Michael Schumacher will take over at the wheel of the car tomorrow.
"The car felt very good today," said Rosberg. "Compared to Valencia where I was sitting too low which affected my visibility and the set-up wasn't perfect, today I felt really comfortable and I could push so it was an enjoyable day and a good start to the test for me. Our objective here is to learn as much as possible, put miles on the car and engine to check the reliability and to make progress on our set-up work. The rain is a little frustrating but the car feels good to drive and that's what's important."
Like most of the other drivers, Sebastien Buemi posted his best time during the dry period right at the start of the session. Furthermore, like most of the other teams, this was the Toro Rosso STR5's first taste of running in the wet.
It's worth noting that the intermediates are a new tyre, with the front sharing the same narrow width as the dry tyres. while the extreme wets are the same tyres as in 2009, however they are mounted on narrower rims for the new season.
Switching between the two types of tyre, the Swiss driver also evaluated mechanical set-up suited to the wet conditions, as well as carrying out some launch simulations. The car ran reliably all day allowing the Faenza team to end its programme ahead of schedule, its entire wet running programme having been completed for the day.
Third quickest was Nico Hulkenberg in the Williams, the German driver completing the most laps today (118) as he continues to acclimatise himself to the new car, indeed, to F1.
For Ferrari, Fernando Alonso worked mainly on overall reliability of the F10 and on the performance of the two types of tyre available for the conditions. The Spaniard covered a total of 88 laps.
"The work was influenced by the bad weather," admitted the Spaniard, "but nevertheless we managed to drive many kilometres and almost did 90 laps. So we're satisfied, because we could collect lots of data, which is important for the reliability.
"We hope that the weather is better tomorrow," he continued, "because it's important to drive on a dry track, too. The car went very well on the wet track though and it's easy to drive. The feeling is good, just like on the dry. All in all I had some positive sensations today."
"We worked on the new car's reliability and we can confirm that we are very satisfied as far as this front is concerned," added Chris Dyer, head of race engineering. "Just like in Valencia we drove with different fuel loads and the results, even under these track conditions, were positive regarding the car's behaviour, driveability and ease. The performance level, compared to our competitors, remains a question mark, because we don't know under what conditions the other cars are testing. We haven't made any steps ahead as far as performance is concerned, but we did in terms of reliability. We collected lots of data regarding the rain tyres, because the track conditions remained pretty vague today as far as intermediates or super wets were concerned.
"Fernando has great experience, in the races and in terms of the car's development," he added. "His feedbacks are very helpful and really precise. His indications now won't have effects on the car's project, but he's extremely important now and in the near future. He's not a surprise for us: we knew that he's a great driver and his relation with the technicians is growing very well, day after day."
At Sauber, Kamui Kobayashi completed just 55 laps. The Japanese driver in action again tomorrow before handing over to Pedro de la Rosa.
"Sadly the weather conditions were not as we would have liked," admitted head of track engineering, Giampaolo Dall'Ara. "Because of this we had to skip some mechanical and aero testing. Most of the time Kamui was running on intermediates. We did some set-up work, system checks and start practice."
During the all too brief dry period at the beginning of the session, McLaren ran Jenson Button with a pair of strange looking devices on the sidepods of his MP4-25 aimed at gauging flow structures. When the team first ran with the devices - reminiscent of flattened versions of those X-wings a few teams ran several years ago - there were audible gasps along the pitlane.
Once the rain set in the Woking outfit switched to an alternative programmes for running in the wet. This afforded Button time to acclimatise to his car in terms of engine mapping, gearbox mapping and general set-up.
In the afternoon, the team was able to engage in brake material development for Button. Various types of brake materials were tested, allowing the English driver to determine which he preferred in extreme weather conditions. The variable rainfall also allowed the team to run the MP4-25 on intermediate and full wet tyres.
The Force India VJM03 made its official testing debut today just twenty-four hours after its unveiling. Tonio Liuzzi was on duty despite the conditions, completed 71 laps in a largely trouble-free run.
The programme focussed on system familiarisation in the morning and then balance runs in the afternoon. According to the Silverstone-based team it was able to finish its programme and create a solid platform for the rest of the test.
Liuzzi will continue in the VJM03 tomorrow before Adrian Sutil takes over on Friday and Saturday. Paul di Resta will drive the car on 17 February at this circuit.
"Today was definitely a good beginning to our testing programme," said Liuzzi. "It was mainly about getting comfortable in the car, running through the systems. We did more than 70 laps and the car was reliable with no big issues, which is a very good starting point. Unfortunately we did just three laps in the dry in the morning before it started to rain. We are however pretty happy with how the day ended and now are looking forward to tomorrow where hopefully the weather will be better."
"We are pleased to have completed just over 300km today in what turned out to be mostly wet conditions," added chief race engineer, Dominic Harlow. "The work consisted of general characterisation of the new car's systems. Tomorrow we will continue this process and start to find out more about the balance and the 2010 tyres. It's really good to be back at the track and to see the team working together again in earnest for the first time in 2010."
Vitaly Petrov completed just 27 laps in the Renault, the driver and his team clearly frustrated by the conditions.
"The weather was really poor today with lots of rain so we did limited running," said the Russian. "I usually enjoy driving in the wet but it was annoying to lose so my much track time to the weather. Hopefully we will have better conditions later in the week."
"The bad weather meant it was a frustrating day for us," added chief engineer, Alan Permane, "as we only managed to complete one dry run this morning on scrubbed tyres. We then spent some time doing systems checks in the garage and discovered a small problem with the brake system, which we managed to fix by the end of the day. Looking ahead to tomorrow, Robert (Kubica) will be in the car and fortunately the weather forecast looks a lot better."
Straight after its early morning unveiling, the Red Bull RB6 was put to work as the Milton Keynes outfit got its 2010 programme underway.
Despite the rain the team made progress as it began working through the new car system checks. However, an oil leak late morning led to a precautionary engine change for the RB6 in the afternoon, which lost valuable track time.
In a shrewd move, aware that the rear of his car is the subject of much interest to rival teams, when he stopped out on track Webber used his helmet and HANS device to block the view for any passing snapper.
"It was great to finally see the car in action after a long winter with no testing", said Ian Morgan, head of race engineering. "Everything ran very smoothly this morning and the build of the car was very structured. It's frustrating that a problem with a simple component late morning forced an engine change later in the day, as it cost us quite a lot of time. However, the most disappointing thing today was the weather - it's good to have a test in the wet, but it's not ideal when it's your first. We're hoping for better conditions tomorrow when we will continue working through the new car system checks."
It was a fairly inauspicious start for Virgin as it got its F1 debut underway. The team arrived on Tuesday night followed closely by some brand new parts which have been developed from last week's initial shakedown data.
To maximise the benefit of these new parts, the team worked through the night and into the morning to ensure that the car was fully updated for today's running. Unfortunately, the downtime meant that the one hour of early dry-running was missed. Timo Glock eventually took to a wet circuit at 13.10 local time for his opening lap and the team limited his running to a further two very short runs to ensure the car is ready for a full day of testing tomorrow. Lucas di Grassi waited patiently in the wings, keeping a close eye on the data and a close ear on Glock's radio feedback. He will take over the reins of the VR-01 on Friday for his own two-day programme.
"It's great to be back in the car," said Glock, "and to have the chance to open it up a bit around a few full laps of the track. It's early days but I'm encouraged by what I've experienced so far and in particular the fact that we haven't had any reliability issues on the first day of our first proper test. A big thank you to the guys for working all through the night. I hope they can get some sleep tonight so we can all start to put the car through its paces tomorrow."
"We've completed some short installation runs today without any car-related issues," added Nick Wirth. "A few new parts arrived here quite late yesterday and so the only option was for everyone to work through the night. Sadly, that meant we missed the dry-window, and we are not at a point where it is worth risking the car in wet running. As a result, we've kept things sensible and worked through the job list to prepare the car for tomorrow. Timo's early feedback has been as it was at Silverstone and so we all look forward to a solid day of running tomorrow. It's ironic that the weather was better on Friday in Silverstone than it has been for most of today!"
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