25/02/2010
NEWS STORY
 |
While conditions were almost ideal, with sunshine and just a few gusting winds in the afternoon, it was the numerous red flags - as opposed to the weather - which restricted running.
Red Bull's programme included a race weekend simulation within one day, as the Milton Keynes outfit ran through procedures for P3, qualifying and a race. The Australian completed 109 laps in total, the only hiccough being a technical problem which caused the RB6 to stop out on track in the middle of the simulated race.
"We had a pretty good day," said Webber. "We did some simulations and performance items in the morning and a race simulation in the afternoon. We had a precautionary stop in the middle of the race simulation because of a gearbox oil alarm, but the guys got the car turned around pretty quickly and we finished the session, so it wasn't too bad."
"Today was always planned as a race weekend simulation day," added Ian Morgan, the team's head of race engineering, so we did some testing along with P3 and qualifying in the morning and a race simulation in the afternoon. Everything went very well up until halfway through the race simulation, when something in the data made us decide to stop the car on track. It was nothing major though and we got the car repaired and back out until the end of the session. It went well today, apart from that small reliability issue."
For Williams, Nico Hulkenberg spent the day working on set-up, long runs and systems checks, like cooling. He also did some aero testing. Tomorrow, the German will drive Chassis 02 and continue working through the Grove outfit's programme.
"We had a good day," said the German. "I did quite a lot of laps on different set-ups so we can continue to learn how the car will react. It’s my last day tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to getting lots of laps in to be in the best possible shape for Bahrain."
Nico Rosberg kicked off the programme for Mercedes, the German spending much of the day focusing on set-up work with the car over longer runs alongside working on the team's race weekend procedures including qualifying and pit stop simulations.
"We had a productive day today," said the German, "and we were able to learn a great deal from doing so many laps. We're making good use of the testing time that we have and I'm feeling quite confident and comfortable in the car. Aerodynamically the car will change quite significantly for the first race in Bahrain so we're not focusing on the details but on general set-up work and seeing how the car behaves over long runs. Working through the race weekend procedures and pit stops is also very useful in our preparations for Bahrain."
Pedro de la Rosa was at the wheel Sauber, as the Swiss team focussed on set-up work. The Spaniard, driving on his home track, completed 73 laps on his way to posting the fourth best time of the day.
"We did an aero test for Bahrain and were trying to get the car's balance right for this circuit, which is a demanding track with lots of bumps," said de la Rosa. "I think we learned a lot today and are looking forward to tomorrow."
"Today we have been concentrating on different mechanical set-ups and different downforce levels in preparation for the Bahrain Grand Prix," added Willy Ramp. "We are not satisfied with the car's balance yet, but we have recorded a great deal of useful data which will help us further improve it."
Jenson kicked off McLaren's programme, concentrating primarily on mechanical and aerodynamic set-up work. Despite not setting any headline lap times, the team declared itself pleased with progress, gaining a greater understanding of the behaviour of the tyres over a long run. The Englishman stopped out on track with an unspecified problem in the final moments of the session.
Tomorrow, Lewis Hamilton takes to the track. The 2008 champion will continue today's programme, developing set-up and working with the tyres. Button will to the cockpit on Saturday before Hamilton concludes the running on Sunday.
Tonio Liuzzi was on duty for Force India, the Italian completing 65 laps on his way to posting the sixth quickest time of the day. Liuzzi's programme principally concentrated on pit stop practice and drills and general set-up work. The Italian will remain in the car for a second day tomorrow before Adrian Sutil takes over on Saturday.
"Once we realised the track was really green and not good enough to conduct some useful testing, we concentrated on set-up and pit stop practice to get back into the rhythm of a race weekend," said the Italian. "Overall it was quite OK but we concentrated a lot on the pit stop practice to get the guys back up to speed. Tomorrow will be where we move to look at performance and long runs so it should be a more representative day regarding the pace of the new car."
"The first day of our final pre-season test was concentrated on race team pitstop practice," added chief race engineer, Dominic Harlow, "with simulations of live race stops and various different race scenarios conducted through the day. The circuit conditions weren't particularly good today, and tomorrow will be used to continue our set-up and development programme."
It was mixed day for local hero Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard worked mainly on overall development of the car, beginning to use a few new aerodynamic components, however an electrical problem led to a long stop in the garage in the morning losing the team valuable running time. However, in the afternoon the team's programme was worked through according to plan.
"It wasn't a perfect day, but it was very helpful nevertheless," admitted the Spaniard. "We had several new things on the car and we collected some data to see how they work. Now we've got to understand how to exploit them. The track wasn't great today. A little dirty and windy. It's always interesting to drive on a circuit, where you'll also have a Grand Prix, because you start seeing some aspects you'll have to deal with later on. All in all I'd say it was a good day."
For Renault, which had Vitaly Petrov on duty, the programme included practice pit stops in the morning and set-up work in the afternoon.
"The track conditions were pretty good today," said the Russian, "and it was nice not to have to drive in the rain! The day went quite well and we did a lot of pit-stop practice to begin with and then some set-up work, which was useful."
"We spent part of the morning doing pit-stop practice with Vitaly, which went very well," added Alan Permane. "This was the first chance for our pit crew to practice with a running car at the circuit without refuelling and there were no procedural problems. Unfortunately we had a hydraulic problem in the early afternoon, which meant we had to change part of the hydraulic system and that limited our running. But we were still able to do some set-up work as we concentrated on getting Vitaly comfortable in the car on this circuit."
For Toro Rosso, the morning was dedicated to set-up work on the STR5, while in the afternoon, the team evaluated a new braking system. Throughout the day, the car ran on just one of the three Bridgestone compounds available here.
With Alguersuari and two other Spanish drivers on track today, the crowds began queuing to get in well before the start of the action at nine o'clock, while members of the Toro Rosso driver's Fan Club soon had a banner hanging from the grandstand opposite the pits. The youngster gave them plenty to see, as he completed 111 laps, the most of any driver today.
"It was encouraging to have another trouble free day, completing a high mileage," said the Spaniard. "We learned a lot doing long runs on the soft compound tyre and I'm looking forward to tackling a different programme tomorrow."
After last week's hydraulics problems - not to mention the weather - Lucas di Grassi and Virgin were looking forward to getting some good mileage under their belts. Sadly, there were a few smaller issues to contend with early this morning but then the Brazilian was finally able to take to the track in earnest.
He had completed 31 laps before a spin into the tyre barriers at Turn 9 brought an end to the day's running much to the frustration of all concerned. The Virgin crew faces a long night as they replace damaged parts ready for Timo Glock to join the programme tomorrow.
"We are continuing to debug the car hydraulics and making good progress in our understanding of the issue," said Nick Wirth. "Unfortunately when we were running some experimental control settings on the car, which were adversely affecting its handling, this caught Lucas out on the entry to turn nine resulting in a spin and contact with the barrier. We're going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage."
The 76 laps for Fairuz Fauzy marked another satisfactory day for Lotus Racing, even though the Malaysian team - like Virgin - remains well off the pace.
"It was a very productive day," said Mike Gascoyne, "76 laps with no mechanical worries on the car. In the morning we conducted some engine LAMDA running which we completed successfully. We ran through a series of system set up checks, completed our first starts and evaluated a number of other control systems on the car, as well as monitoring temperatures and pressures throughout the car.
"All in all this was a successful day both on the track and we ticked off a lot of behind the scenes tasks ahead of the first race. Fairuz did a very good job today, with no mistakes, and we were able to complete our whole program."