22/02/2013
NEWS STORY
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Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets on the final day of the second pre-season test however, the day's running was badly hit by the weather as rain, and even hail, caused red flags aplenty.
Although the rain eased off enough for some dry running in the morning, it returned just before the lunch break and pretty much continued for the remainder of the day, indeed, at one stage - as drivers, including Mark Webber, huddled around heaters for warmth- there was even a hailstorm for good measure.
Hamilton's morning programme focused on making the most of opportunities for dry running before the rain began again in earnest. He was able to complete an 18-lap run (16 timed laps) on the medium tyre just before midday. In the wet conditions in the afternoon, the team focused on systems checks and tyre evaluations. A stop on track around half-an-hour before the end of the session brought out the eighth of nine red flags witnessed over the course of the day.
"The conditions today meant that we didn't complete as many laps we would have done in the dry," said Hamilton, "but we have gone through the test items that we wanted to achieve this week.
"We have been working on our consistency over long runs and we managed one run this morning on dry tyres; the car felt okay but the conditions were also very cool, so we cannot draw too many conclusions.
"Like I said in Jerez, I can feel that we have a good foundation with this car but there is still a lot to learn and we know that the name of the game is to improve our downforce. From a personal point of view, my relationship with the team is growing all the time and it's going really well. I'm happy working with the guys, we are working in the right direction together and I'm pushing to extract the most from the team, just like they are with me."
"Overall, we've had a good week in Barcelona and achieved the programme that we set ourselves for this second test," added Ross Brawn. "The rain today was a little unfortunate; however we made the best of the conditions and were still able to take some useful data out of the day.
"Nico and Lewis are becoming more familiar with the car and its behaviour as each day progresses, and Lewis is settling into the team very well. Both drivers are providing excellent feedback which is pushing the development of the car both here and at the factory, and it is very rewarding to see their enthusiasm and commitment.
"We now have just four days of testing left until the first race in Australia, and a lot of work will be done before we return to Barcelona next week."
Button, one of the few drivers not to cause a red flag today, conducted only one single run on slicks however, the Woking the team completed a full programme and was pleased with progress.
The rain also allowed the team to run the Intermediate and full wet compounds - another very useful opportunity ahead of the unpredictable weather often encountered at the opening races. The Englishman completed 70 laps on his way to posting the second best time of the day.
Toro Rosso was one of the busier teams today. In the morning, Jean-Eric Vergne did some aero work, while the afternoon was given over to assessing the wet weather tyres, which like the 2013 slicks, are different to those used last year. The final part of the afternoon was spent giving the race team some valuable pit stop practice.
"Another productive day, even with the rain," smiled Vergne. "We had many things to test, especially on the aero side and I feel we got some good answers. Later, it was useful for me to drive on the Extreme and Intermediate Pirellis and I got a good understanding of how they behave, even if the conditions were extremely cold, so it was actually surprising we had rain and not snow! Now I am looking forward to the final test, which will be very important for everyone."
Dearly hoping that this was not a shoot-out, Jules Bianchi completed 60 laps before grinding to a halt at the end of the pitlane five minutes before the end of the session and bringing out the last red flag of the day.
"It was good to be back working with the team and to feel the car in all conditions when the track was both dry and wet," said the French youngster. "It's more useful experience for me. We did most of our dry running this morning and then did our aero work this afternoon when the track was wet. We didn't manage to do the long runs we planned because it was so wet, but we still managed to look at a lot of things."
"The mixed weather conditions today made it difficult to complete a massive amount of meaningful work," admitted Chief Race Engineer, Jakob Andreasen, "but it was useful to run Jules on the dry, intermediate and wet tyres at various points during the day. But with the track condition constantly changing, it was difficult to make comparisons from one run to the next. Also, the low track temperatures of about six degrees are not representative of the conditions we expect at the upcoming races. Even so, Jules did a good job for us once again and pushed on despite the damp conditions.
"Looking at the test as a whole, we leave here reasonably happy with our reliability and performance, and we know what we have do to next week to be ready for Melbourne."
It was a busy and eventful day for Esteban Gutierrez, the Mexican youngster spinning out twice, thereby being the cause of two stoppages. That said, it was his first time in an F1 car in the wet!
"It was a very interesting day for me as well as for the team, because it was important to get some experience in wet conditions," he said at the conclusion of the day's running. "For me it was the very first time I had driven a Formula One car in the wet. It was particularly interesting in the morning, when the track was wet to begin with and then started to dry out. I was able to drive with dry tyres in very tricky conditions, which was a situation I could experience in a race. It was important for me to feel this change in conditions. In the afternoon I got the opportunity to compare the Intermediate tyres with the Full Wets. I learned so much today. This was just what I needed."
"As forecast, the final day of the test was dominated by intermittent rain showers," added Tom McCullough, the Swiss outfit's Head of Track Engineering. "During the short dry spell in the morning we were able to complete an important aero test giving us useful data in preparation for next week's test. For the rest of the day we gave Esteban plenty of running with the Intermediate and Full Wet tyres in preparation for the season ahead."
At Caterham, Giedo van der Garde was another driver who enjoyed an eventful day, the Dutch youngster spinning off once and later suffering a technical problem, both incidents bringing out the red flags.
"Despite today's weather it's been another relatively productive day," he said. "It's certainly been one of the coldest days I've had on track, but even with the cold track temps and the rain that stopped and started we were able to get through quite a bit of work.
"The cold weather meant it might not have been much fun for the fans in the stands, but it was useful to get some laps done on the intermediate tyres as it was my first time in an F1 car in the wet, and to experience the car in the wet / dry conditions we had today. We also tried a couple more ideas to help improve the rear stability but, again, as the tyres weren't really coming up to temperature we weren't able to push too hard today.
"Even with the weather today it's been a fairly good test for us. We're steadily working through the plan, making sure we're covering everything we need to and now we have a lot of information to help us prepare for the final test back here in Barcelona next week."
Like many, Ferrari's programme was adapted to the track conditions to allow Felipe Massa to get a taste of the behaviour of the F138 with wet tyres. Unfortunately, the Brazilian was an early visitor to the gravel trap, thereby bringing out the day's first red flag.
"Today was a difficult day for everyone and it's a pity that the weather conditions ruined the last day of testing," he said. "I would have preferred to continue the work on tyres and set-up that Fernando started yesterday but the unpredictable weather made it very difficult to make accurate judgements about the car's behaviour. When the rain gave us a moment's break I completed a long run on the medium tyre compound - but the track was very cold and still slippery so it was hard to warm up the tyres and make a clear comparison between performance and degradation.
"In the afternoon, the wet track didn't allow us to return to slick tyres so we concentrated on some set-up tests with the intermediate tyres. I tried different aerodynamic configurations and I am satisfied with the behaviour of the car. Certainly I would have preferred to test with better conditions but it was still useful to get a reference point in the wet."
Mark Webber managed to get through the full programme planned by Red Bull and at the end of 64 laps he praised his team's work during a tough day at the Circuit de Catalunya.
"It was cold out there today," he said, a masterpiece of understatement, "I can't remember having a full test day this cold. But actually it was reasonably consistent; the conditions were pretty stable all day, although not very representative of a grand prix weekend. So, unusual conditions but I was happy with what we got done today. The mechanics were incredible in getting through everything. We got a lot of good stuff done today. The boys did a great job - the best I've seen them, I think, so all credit to them.
"We did a lot of housekeeping work today," he continued, "whether it was pit stops or other race weekend elements and we did that really well - as a team," he added. "We're back here next week and we'll do more of the same for sure: ongoing investigations into how the tyres work, learning more about those, checking how they perform in different temperatures, all of that kind of thing. That will be right at the top of the list but also we'll undoubtedly be doing some performance stuff, which you constantly need to keep putting on the car in order to stay close to the front."
With Luiz Razia seemingly sidelined by a lack of cash, Max Chilton got to enjoy a fourth day in the Marussia MR02. The English youngster completed 51 laps and was one of the few drivers not to cause a red flag.
With the performance programme hampered by the weather, the team used the opportunity to provide Chilton with his first experience of the Pirelli wet weather tyres and to conduct some familiarisation running with the KERS system in these conditions.
"We've had four important days of running here in which we ticked a lot of boxes and gathered some very useful data," said Chilton. "We may not have had the mileage that some teams have achieved, but we've have worked through a lot of different items and the detail of this work will be vital in preparing us for the next test here with the new aero package and ensuring we're in good shape for the opening race of the season. I'm looking forward to coming back next week and hopeful that we can achieve more mileage and explore the performance a little more. My thanks to the team for a good week."
"Although the weather has intervened today, we've made the most of the situation by conducting some important wet weather work, which is all useful information for our development and for preparing Max," said John Booth. "He has performed very well and his feedback, coupled with the data we have gathered, will be rolled back into the development cycle early next week ready for our final pre-season test starting Thursday. We are steadily stepping our way through the areas that need to be explored before the first race and looking forward to the arrival of our new aero package so that we can move to a more performance oriented programme."
Romain Grosjean endured a cold and wet day, collecting and correlating data whilst getting to grips with the latest wet weather tyres. Though no technical issues were encountered, a limited lap tally of 41 was the result of the day with the team not opting to set a representative lap time when the track was drier. Over the course of the day he worked on system checks, temperature monitoring, data correlation and assessment of the performance of the car with its initial aerodynamic package.
"I spent a lot of time in the car again today," said the Frenchman, "but this time it was in the garage and not out on track. It was certainly cold and slippery out on the circuit and the conditions were worse than we would expect during the season. This at least meant it was a good test of the performance of the wet and intermediate tyres.
"I'm happy that we had no issues and the balance of the car is good in these conditions. I'm really looking forward to getting more laps in the car next week and seeing the latest upgrade package as I'm feeling very positive with everything I've seen so far."
"Discretion was the better part of valour today," added Alan Permane, the team's Trackside Operations Director, "and we took the opportunity to evaluate performance on the wet and intermediate tyres as well as running a collection of non-weather affected data correlation programmes. We were successful in both these objectives and are well placed heading into next week's test back here.
"Romain reported the E21 to be a step forwards from its predecessor in terms of wet weather performance, which is another thing to be happy about. Being slowest of those who set times is not representative of where we are, as we didn't run seriously when there were drier conditions. It's nice to complete a test at a second circuit with only positive things to say about the car. We look forward to four more days testing here, starting next week when we will evaluate a package of new aero parts."
As was the case on Thursday, Williams had both of its drivers on duty today, Valtteri Bottas in the morning and Pastor Maldonado in the afternoon. Due to the weather conditions, both focussed on tyre testing and pitstop practice, neither posting a time.
"The full race team joined us in Barcelona today for pitstop practice," explained Mike Coughlan, the team's Technical Director. "The weather was wet as we expected which means we didn't lose any dry running time with the FW35 in doing this.
"Overall, we've had a very encouraging week as the core reliability of the car has proved to be excellent. We are now looking forward to the next test in Barcelona where we can concentrate on the performance."
"This morning we were focusing on pitstop practice and despite the weather we were able to achieve a lot," said Bottas. "The key things to work on as a driver are breaking as late as possible for the pitlane speed limit to minimise the time lost, perfecting your positioning in the box and finally pulling away quickly and cleanly. It's really interesting as there are a lot of things to think about, but the better I get, the more trust you build with the pit crew which means they are able to react even quicker. We'll be doing a few more at the next test but then I feel I will be ready for Melbourne when it comes to pit stops."
"Today was pitstop practice but it's been good for me and the team to get some training in after the winter break," added Maldonado. "Overall, I am very happy with the last four days, as we've had no problems with the car and it is looking quite good. We achieved everything we wanted from this test so the whole team is happy. There is still plenty more work to do, but we have a good idea about what we need to do next so I'm looking forward to coming back here next week to continue developing the FW35."
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