20/02/2011
NEWS STORY
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Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets on the third day of testing at Barcelona, on a day of changing weather conditions.
The action got underway on a wet track, the rain and heavy cloud lifting as the day progressed, finally giving way to some sunshine
Like his rivals, the damp track meant Rosberg's programme was restricted to several exploratory runs to gain experience of the Pirelli intermediate tyre. However, as conditions improved for the start of the afternoon session, the team was able to complete its programme.
Rosberg continued his familiarisation with the KERS system in conjunction with set-up comparisons over longer runs to further develop the team's understanding of car and tyre behaviour. His day concluded with qualifying simulations, including operation of KERS and the adjustable rear wing.
"It was interesting running with the intermediates this morning and, although the warm-up is tricky, we definitely improved our understanding of the tyres," said Rosberg. "Our long runs this afternoon included some aero work in preparation for our next upgrade package before going into lower-fuel, new-tyre running at the end of the day. We made good progress in understanding the car and the tyres, and the reliability was solid once again. Overall, I've enjoyed two positive and productive days here in Barcelona."
Second quickest was Vitaly Petrov as Lotus Renault GP gathered data on the intermediates. The R31 was fitted with a different spec of exhaust tail pipe today and aero data was collected to assess its effect on car performance.
"We used the intermediates to begin with," said the Russian, "it was one of our first opportunities to do a lot of laps with them. The only issue we had was warming them up because it was very cold early on. The plan was to do a race distance in the morning and we managed quite a lot of long runs while the track was wet. Then, we put the slicks on just before lunch and started improving the set-up. We learned a lot of new things and I'm starting to understand the tyres more and how to get the most from this car."
"It was a slow start to the day with the wet conditions," added Alan Permane, "but we did some long runs on the intermediates. However we were interrupted by several red flags. For the afternoon, Vitaly started a set-up programme, and we made some good progress with the suspension changes at the front and rear. We also did some work with tyre pressures and found some more improvements. Overall the car has responded well to the changes today and Vitaly has been much happier."
Lewis Hamilton's day began with some installation laps on wet tyres - his first experience of Pirelli's intermediate and full wet compounds. The morning was spent focusing on shorter runs, with some brief downtime shortly before lunch to correct a minor mechanical issue. In the afternoon, the Englishman conducted longer runs, evaluating tyre behaviour over the course of a stint.
"This was a positive day," said Hamilton, "we've been focusing on our programme, trying to complete as many laps as possible, improve reliability and understand the Pirelli tyres. We're learning more and more about them every day.
"We've had a few technical issues with this car, but the guys have been working incredibly to rectify them. To get more than 90 laps under my belt today was a big positive, and I'm looking forward to a trouble-free day tomorrow."
At Williams, Pastor Maldonado focussed on set-up work and mileage, the Venezuelan completing 60 laps on his way to posting the fourth best time of the day.
"It was a good day for us overall," said Maldonado. "This morning it was wet and we lost some time as I spun the car trying to judge the track conditions when it was quite slippery. After that we had a problem which lost us more time while the team fixed it. This afternoon was really good though and we put in some consistent times while trying different things in the car. Everything is running well and I am happy as I feel we have improved the car from Jerez."
"The circuit was wet this morning, which meant the time was spent mainly on Pirelli Intermediate tyres," added Sam Michael. "We had a problem with the alternator late morning that necessitated a change so most of our laps were completed in the afternoon session. We went through many systems checks while Pastor continued putting mileage on the FW33. Furthermore, we evaluated some setup directions to explore some different areas on the car aero map."
After Sebastian Vettel went through qualifying and race simulations yesterday, more of the same was planned for today for Mark Webber - until the weather intervened.
"We had a lot of rain overnight and it did upset our plans for Mark today," explained Ian Morgan. "The conditions in the morning meant we couldn't do a P3 or qualifying simulation, but it did allow Mark to get some running on the intermediate tyres, which was useful as he hasn't had that opportunity before.
"In the afternoon, with the track dry, we got down to the race simulation and I'm happy to say we got through that with absolutely no problems, which is always encouraging. It was a shame Mark didn't get to do a qualifying simulation but it was a pretty productive day otherwise, with some time on inters and the full race in the afternoon, so we're happy enough."
"Today went well," said the Australian, "with nearly 140 laps completed, and you can't complain about that. Obviously, we now have a lot of data to digest and we're learning a huge amount about this car and how to get the best from it. It was damp all morning and that meant we had a pretty condensed programme this afternoon but we got through it well and, I have to say, the car ran really, really well. A good day and we'll come back tomorrow to learn some more."
Jarno Trulli was on duty for Lotus, the Italian completing just 48 laps dut to a water leak, but posting the sixth best time of the day.
"A slightly frustrating day as our running was limited by a problem with a cracking water pipe this afternoon," said Mike Gascoyne. "We knew about the problem but did not have spare parts for it so we had to use parts repaired at the circuit. The team did a good job today to make sure Jarno could get more laps done in the dry conditions and he was fairly happy with the car by the end of the day. We also managed to do a reasonable amount of running in the wet so although it was one of those quite tough days we managed to make fairly decent progress and with new parts available tomorrow we will look to complete some more significant mileage."
"Despite some mechanical gremlins which cut short my running time today we managed to collect some good data and overall I have a good feeling about the car," added Trulli. "It's good to see that without doing many miles, and it being my first day in the car today on the new tyres in Barcelona, I managed to do some consistently good lap times throughout the end of the afternoon session. This morning we were running on wet and intermediate tyres and evaluating them, and working on some setup changes.
"All in all it's been a very positive day and it's great to see we're getting closer to the top. It gives me a lot of confidence and gives the whole team encouragement to keep pushing forward. Tomorrow we want to carry out more setup evaluation as today I didn't run that much and didn't get the chance to explore the car as I would have liked. We had a number of small problems which eventually we solved but I want to get some more mileage done as there is definitely more potential to come from the car."
On his first day of testing at Barcelona, Sergio Perez completed 115 laps in the changing conditions and carried out a race simulation in the afternoon.
"Although the track conditions were not so good in the beginning, it was a positive day," said the Mexican. "We did some long runs, and we were able to collect a lot of information on the tyres. I learnt a lot, and I'm happy how things went today."
"It was good to have Sergio back in the car," said technical director, James Key. "It was a bit of a compromised day with the conditions this morning, which were both wet and cold, and it took quite some time to dry out. However, it allowed us to use both the wet and intermediate tyre again and to evaluate how the set-up needs to be changed from dry to wet with the Pirelli tyres.
"In the afternoon we ran a race simulation with three stints. Sergio put in some consistent lap times first on the hard, then the medium and finally the hard compound again. Unfortunately we had a problem with the rear wing so we had to bring him in. Apart from this, it was another trouble free day with many laps that allowed us to gather a lot of data. Tomorrow we will concentrate more on further set-up work and some test items we want to use on the final day."
Adrian Sutil took over the VJM04, the rain giving him the opportunity to try the wet and intermediate Pirelli tyres for full laps for the first time, thereby getting useful information on the crossover period between the two compounds. Work also continued on set-up and evaluation of the drag reduction system,.
"A lot of laps again today, without any real reliability issues," said the German, "so my second day of good driving in the car. The rain before the start of running gave us the chance to complete full laps on the wet tyres after only doing install laps on them with Paul on Friday. As the track dried later on we moved over to the intermediate and then to the dries after lunch. We didn't get the opportunity to try the supersoft tyres at the end of the day, which would have given us an improvement in lap time, but overall the balance is getting there and we know there's a lot more to come from the car. The DRS is working well and we're going in the right direction with everything we do now."
"Wet conditions quite similar to day one this morning and we collected some useful data on both the wet and intermediate tyres," added Dominic Harlow. "In the afternoon a dry programme allowed Adrian to compare the tyres and evolve the set-up. He covered a solid mileage and we're expecting slightly better conditions tomorrow to conclude the test in a similar fashion."
Toro Rosso ran two of its drivers: in the morning, it was Daniel Ricciardo, the Faenza outfit's reserve driver, while after the lunch break, his place in the cockpit was taken by Sebastien Buemi.
The Australian began the day on the extreme Pirelli rain tyres, switching first to intermediates and then to slicks when the track dried out. This provided interesting data in terms of overlapping tyre performance as the track surface conditions changed.
In the afternoon, Buemi concentrated on set-up work running two sets of slicks. He continues driving for all of tomorrow, the final day of the test here.
"It was an interesting morning in changing conditions," said Ricciardo, "especially as I was one of the first to switch to slick tyres as the track dried this morning. I was pleased to be able to test a few different compounds so the day was more productive than we expected, especially in terms of learning more about the crossover point from wet to intermediate to dry tyres. Now, I am not due to drive at any further test sessions, so my next time in the car should be during Free Practice 1 at the first Grand Prix."
"Even if I did not do so many laps this afternoon, I think the work we did was productive and it means we have plenty of sets to run with tomorrow, to increase our understanding of the different tyre types," added Buemi. "We also evaluated some elements aimed at increasing downforce, which was interesting and now I just hope it is dry all day tomorrow, so we can get plenty of laps completed."
Felipe Massa was at the wheel of the F150th Italia. In the morning, the Brazilian driver was able to run fairly continuously on the intermediate tyres. However, he did have a couple of off-track excursions, although the car was undamaged. In the afternoon, on a completely dry track, Massa concentrated on a race simulation, which was successfully completed.
"It was a really busy day, during which we managed to do a lot of kilometres in very different conditions," the Brazilian told the team's website. "It was important to be able to complete a simulation of a Grand Prix, which we did while trying to make the tyres last as long as possible: it's fair to say that it went off without any real surprises."
Today was a good opportunity for Timo Glock to evaluate the new wet and intermediate tyres and for the team to gauge the optimum window for switching to slicks when running on a damp track.
"It has been a very interesting day today for me and the team," said Glock. "It was useful to drive on a wet track and understand the new intermediate and wet Pirelli tyres. We were also able to continue adding good mileage to the car as I was able to complete many laps. More good progress and now my focus will switch to plenty of work in the simulator to continue preparing for the start of the season."
"Another positive and constructive day for the team," added team principal, John Booth. "We were able to sample a wet track again and keep on testing all the different types of tyres. Timo has done an excellent job over the past two days in Barcelona, and the team is heading in the right direction. We look forward to more of the same tomorrow when Jerome picks up the reins."
Narain Karthikeyan and Giorgio Mondini were both in action for Hispania. In the morning, the Indian was back on track for the second time this weekend. Despite the track conditions and a few problems with the gearbox, Karthikeyan was able to set a time of 1:30.722, leaving him 7th for the morning session and 14th overall.
In the afternoon, it was Mondini's turn. The Italian drove on a dry track with intermediate, soft and supersoft tyres and clocked a time of 1:28.178.
"Today was an interesting test day for us," said Colin Kolles. "The rain enabled us to test in very tricky conditions, therefore I am very happy with Narain's performance in the morning. In the afternoon, I was very pleased to see Giorgio driving. His last time in an F1 car was in 2006 and it was nice to give him the opportunity to drive at this level again. I'm pleased to see he was setting a good pace."
"The weather was unfortunate today," said Karthikeyan, "the track was pretty damp in the morning. We also had some trouble with our gearbox so we lost a bit of time before getting out. Towards the end of the morning, the track was pretty greasy so there wasn't much grip. But the car has improved a lot, there is much more front grip. Tonio's feedback has definitely helped the front end of the car and we were able to clock a pretty decent time in the end".
"I'm very happy to have driven today," added Mondini. "It was a test to see if I was still able to drive at this level. It's been two years since I raced competitively and physically I could really feel it. Now we must work on this."
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