06/02/2013
NEWS STORY
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Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets for Lotus on the second day of testing at Jerez however, it was Lewis Hamilton's 161 mph off at Turn 6 that grabbed the headlines as Mercedes misery continues.
Grosjean, whose programme included systems checks, temperature monitoring, data correlation, evaluation of the performance of the car with its initial aerodynamic package and tyre performance assessment, completed 95 laps, many of which dipped into the 1:18s. He ended the day with the best time set thus far this week, with no other car running under 1:19.000s. In the final minutes of the session he stopped at Turn 3 having run out of fuel.
"It was good today," said the French youngster, "the programme went to plan and we showed we have good reliability. For me, the whole test has gone well which bodes well for the year ahead. My feeling in the car is good and it was great to be at the top of the times.
"Even if it doesn't mean anything during testing, it's still good to be at the front. We used the soft, medium and hard compounds and whilst we're not 100% yet on the differences between each we have a good idea. Kimi will be working on this area for the next two days so we'll have a better understanding when we head to Barcelona. It's not easy to understand everything about the car and tyres yet, but I think we're working quite well and it's up to us to find the best solutions."
"I'm very happy with today's performance," added Trackside Operations Director, Alan Permane. "The pace looks good and we haven't had any issues with reliability meaning we could complete all of our programme without interruption. We focused on learning more about the 2013 Pirelli tyres and ran with the soft, medium and hard compounds with a variety of different set-ups, both mechanical and aerodynamic, to understand how they react. This combined with a good mileage today to give us some very good data to work through ahead of Kimi getting in the car tomorrow."
Second quickest was Paul di Resta - the Force India continuing to impress - who handed over to James Rossiter late in the afternoon. In total the British pair completed 114 laps, over 313 miles, without any significant problems.
"Another very productive day of work as we completed a similar technical programme to yesterday with aero passes, balance work and longer runs after lunch," said Jakob Andreasen, the team's Chief Race Engineer. "Paul's feedback and consistency have given us lots of direction for improving the set-up and with 114 laps completed we are gathering lots of data to continue understanding the tyres.
"We put James in the car late this afternoon to give him time to acclimatise ahead of tomorrow. He's doing a lot of simulator work for us back at the factory so it's important that he has a good understanding of the real car to be able to make a valid comparison."
"I managed to do 95 laps today," said di Resta, "which was a good effort, and we got through the programme without any issues. We did some more good aero work this morning and then tried some set-up changes on the car. Testing is a good chance to make bigger changes than you would make during a race weekend and that's allowed us to really see how they affect the car and has given us valuable data on tyre performance. The handling of the car so far is good and I'm feeling comfortable after two days in the car."
"It felt great to be back in a Formula One ca," added Rossiter, "I was impressed with the performance straight away. It's only the second day of running, yet the car already feels quite nicely balanced with a lot of potential. Having already done work on the team's simulator, it's good to get a feel for the real car and get acclimatised today so that I can really make the most of my running tomorrow morning."
Though it's early days, another team that continues to impress is Toro Rosso, Daniel Ricciardo finishing second quickest, albeit 0.9s down on Grosjean's best effort. The Australian ground to a halt at Turn 11 shortly after the start of the session, some speculating that the car was out of fuel.
The Faenza outfit's engineers carried out the first scan of the car in terms of set-up and the programme also included some long runs to have a first look at the car in race trim and generally it was another positive day's work. Tomorrow, Jean-Eric Vergne will have his first encounter with the new car, as he takes over for the final two days of the test.
"A few more laps today and a bit of a clearer picture of what the STR8 is like," said Ricciardo. "We completed our programme, with short runs in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon. We also tried the Medium Pirelli, having only used the Hard yesterday, so at least for this circuit, we have established a good compare of the two compounds. We ran through several other test items and I think we can be satisfied with the day's work that has produced some useful information."
Mark Webber completed his first two days at the wheel of the RB9 with a further 101 laps. After scoring the day's fourth-best time, he emerged from the car saying he's confident that both the car and the team are heading in the right direction as the new season approaches.
"I think in terms of consistency it's great," he said. "I'm very happy with the car and myself. I might have bombed a few laps here and there, but I've done 170 or more, which is a good total for the first two days with a new car. Overall, it's been very good. The car gives me the confidence to push pretty hard and that's always an indication that you have something you can build on.
"The run plan this morning was pretty ambitious, but we have a lot of departments in the team looking for feedback, so it was important to get through the list. We accomplished most of it and that's all you can ask for. People always ask about the times being done up and down the pit lane but, to be honest, I haven't looked. We can only look at what we're doing, and so far we're satisfied with where we are.
"We've learned a lot more since yesterday and I'm sure that will continue tomorrow with Sebastian. I think we've put the car in a good position for him and hopefully he'll be able to push on from there. If you ask me where I think we are compared to this time last year, I'd say we're in a better position, but of course a lot of that is down to a lack of regulation changes."
"After a good start yesterday, I'd say we had an even more productive day today," added Race Engineering Co-ordinator, Andy Damerum. "We were able to get through most of the items on our agenda and focused on general car set-up work and aero-tests. We also managed to get through some background tests as well - making sure that everything is working as it should. The weather was ideal and, although the wind picked up in the afternoon, it didn't upset anything. I think Mark can be pleased with his first days with the RB9. We now have a lot of data to get through and some preparation work to get the car ready for Sebastian's first day in the car tomorrow."
Nico Hulkenberg, who was first out on track this morning, also came to a halt in the final minutes of today's session, the German parking at Turn 8 having run out of fuel.
Other than that the Swiss team had a productive second day. In the morning, when the track's temperature was still cold, the team concentrated mainly on aerodynamic tests. Later in the morning and in the afternoon - in better track conditions - the engineers and Hulkenberg started with some basic set-up work, and then made some runs on heavier fuel loads. The car ran without any technical problems all day. At the end the team did a fuel system check, and Nico ran out of fuel.
"For the second day in a row it was pretty successful," said Hulkenberg. "We went through a lot of test items and did a comparison of the compounds - soft, medium and hard - which was quite interesting. Otherwise I was able to continue my familiarisation with the car and I did some long runs. Like yesterday, it was a positive day."
"It was a very good day with Nico achieving all our goals," added Head of Track Engineering, Tom McCullough. "Nico is building up a good working relationship with the engineers, which is important. We continued our work on understanding the Pirelli tyres. Without doubt the temperatures will be different once we go racing, but we still got to understand them well. The car was, again, very reliable, which gives us a solid basis.
It was doom and gloom in the Mercedes garage where Lewis Hamilton's day came to an end after just 109 minutes of the session. The Englishman had completed 15 laps before suffering a loss of rear brake pressure. The front brakes enabled him to slow the car however he could not avoid hitting the barrier. According to the team Hamilton was doing 186 mph at the end of the straight, 161 mph when the problem ocurred and 37 mph when he his the barrier.
The problem was subsequently traced to the hydraulic brake line connecting to the right-rear calliper however, the team did not go out for the remainder of the day as work continued to complete the required repairs.
"We had a good start but then unfortunately we had a failure which brought our day to an early end," said Hamilton. "These things happen and it's all part of testing.
"Of course, it's better that we get these small issues out of the way sooner rather than later, and the guys are working really hard to overcome them," he continued. "From the few short laps that I completed this morning, my general feeling was very positive. I got a good understanding of where the base of the car is and, whilst we need to do work in certain areas, it was good to have some laps to get a feel for what those areas are. I've told the guys that we just need to keep pushing and I know that we all will be doing that.
At Hamilton's old team, Sergio Perez was king his debut, the problems at Mercedes taking some of the media focus away from the Mexican youngster.
The morning kicked off with a continuation of yesterday's aero calibration work, carried out across a number of shorter runs. Attention then turned towards acclimatising Perez to his new office, running through a prescribed programme of mechanical and aerodynamic adjustments with the MP4-28 to give him a greater understanding of the inherent feel of the car and the way it reacts to set-up changes.
The acclimatisation session continued throughout the afternoon, concluding in a number of longer runs. Perez racked up 81 laps - a positive start to his McLaren career.
Felipe Massa continued the work of acquiring data on the F318's behaviour which began yesterday. Also on the day's programme was an assessment of various configurations of exhaust and some long runs. The Brazilian completed 78 laps, the quickest being around 1.69s off Grosjean's best.
"Today, we concentrated 100% on the aerodynamic side and on the exhausts," said Massa. "In the morning, I didn't even do a flying lap because we used the time available to do constant speed runs and to analyse various aerodynamic solutions. All the changes to the car took longer than planned, but in the afternoon, I managed to do three long runs which were very important in order to understand which direction we need to follow in the coming days."
Having lost most of the morning's running due to a clutch problem, Pastor Maldonado was able to complete some serious lappery in the afternoon.
"We had a clutch installation problem which was a bit disappointing considering it was the same as we had been running last season," admitted Mike Coughlan, the Grove outfit's Technical Director. "We quickly remedied this but it lost us time during our aero evaluations this morning. We will look to recover this time over the next two days.
"This afternoon the focus was back on tyre work and we also made some subtle set-up changes which has given us a good direction for the new car. The new technical team is working well and we will now prepare to change drivers with Valtteri taking over for the final two days, something he is very much looking forward to.
"We did some good running this afternoon going through our planned tests but there is still a lot to do to understand the tyres even better," said Maldonado. "We have a lot of data to look through from today and there is a good atmosphere in the team. I know Andrew, my new Race Engineer, well as he's been my Performance Engineer for the last two years, so it feels very natural to continue working together.
Giedo Van der Garde put another 88 laps on the Caterham CT03, the Dutchman finishing just 0.618s off Maldonado's pace, albeit with the 2012 car.
"We can be pleased with what we've achieved today," said the Dutchman. "For the second day running we didn't have any real issues and we're working through the program so the team on track and back in Leafield have a lot of data to work on.
"In the morning session we ran through a number of aero programs and then switched to comparing setup options on a variety of the tyre compounds. I think we found a good direction in the last run in the afternoon so now the team can keep making progress in the next two days. The other important thing for me is that I'm getting more and more comfortable in the car. The time I spent on track last year with the team was obviously a big help and it's meant I've come into this test knowing my way around the team, and to have completed over 150 laps in my first two days of testing is very positive."
Newly confirmed at Marussia, Luiz Razia got straight to work however, shortly before midday he stopped on the pit straight with an engine problem. Though the team pushed hard through the rest of the afternoon to get the car back on track, a red flag towards the end of the session meant that they were unable to go out and put further mileage on the car.
"It has been a very busy but happy day for me," said Razia, "first, the announcement of my drive for the team and then getting straight into the car for a first day of testing. It is not the first time I have worked with the team of course, but there has been a lot to take in and I need to get up to speed very quickly.
"I'm quite pleased with the way things have gone for me, so it is a shame that we were unable to run this afternoon. We had an engine problem but took that opportunity to do our KERS checks and then we were unable to turn the car round before the red flag came out. Overall though I think we have good reason to be positive as the guys are obviously pushing extremely hard. I'm looking forward to being in the car again on Friday but for now today is a moment I will savour because I have worked hard and waited a long time for it."
"After the issue we encountered yesterday, we had a lot of hard work to do last night to rebuild the car," said John Booth. "We were forced to effect some substantial repairs at the track, but the race team and factory worked hard to get the required new components out here quickly and we were ahead of where we thought we would be once this morning came around.
"Luiz has settled in well and he got off to a good start, aided by the fact that he is well-versed in all the procedures required to operate F1 machinery following his experiences at the recent rookie tests. We made good progress with the KERS this morning and the team and drivers are now getting to grips with the system. In the coming days, this will allow us to focus on other areas. There are a lot of new systems on the car and some of these are quite challenging for the team, but we will get to grips with these by the time we complete this test and on the whole we are making good progress.
"We were forced to stop at lunchtime due to an engine problem, and after fighting to get back out on track before the end of the session, the red flag conspired against us. Tomorrow is a new day and we are determined to get up and running and put some further mileage on the car."
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