20/02/2014
NEWS STORY
Despite problems that saw him side-lined for much of the day, McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen topped the timesheets on the second day of testing in Bahrain.
Between them the eleven drivers on duty today completed 676 laps, Valtteri Bottas being the busiest (116 laps) and Max Chilton the least (17 laps).
Yet again Mercedes leads the way, its four teams completing 306 laps while Renault (201) finally overhauled Ferrari (169), though the Italian team does only have three customers compared to the French manufacturer's four.
Magnussen set his fastest time on the supersofts, and while Hulkenberg also ran on the softer rubber his best time was set on the soft. Magnussen's 1:34.910 compares with the 1:33.247 posted by (pace-setter) Alonso in FP3 ahead of last year's Grand Prix.
Magnussen's second day started falteringly after the team encountered an IT issue that required much of the day to rectify. The Woking outfit only began uninterrupted running in mid-afternoon, but quickly got its programme back on track, logging 46 laps, completing a series of tyre evaluations over several long-runs, and completing a live pitstop practice. Magnussen set the best time of the day, and the fastest of the test so far, on supersofts at the very end of the day.
"It's a dream every time I get in the car," said the Dane, "it's just so cool to be here and to be driving. I'm really enjoying it. Unfortunately, we didn't get too many laps done this morning, but it was good to get some laps done at the end of the day. The afternoon was good for us, and we worked through our problems.
"The team is doing a great job to help me: they're giving me really good guidance and making me feel confident. There's a lot of discussion about lap times, and it feels good to get some good times recorded, but winter testing is just that - testing. It isn't about times.
"We're still learning a lot about the car. We have four more days of testing next week and there's still a lot of work to do. I'm sure everything up and down the pitlane will change a lot between now and Australia.
Yesterday's pace-setter Nico Hulkenberg confirmed the pace of the VJM07 though a technical problem in the afternoon limited track time.
"My two days in the car have been very positive," said the German. "We've made some improvements to the car, collected lots of data, and continued to learn with each lap. At the moment it's still early days, but I'm pleased with the progress we have made in terms of understanding the car. I think we are getting closer to seeing the potential of these cars, certainly compared with the performance in Jerez, but it's such a steep learning curve and I expect the times to become quicker and quicker."
"It's been another productive day with aero data collection, performance work and tyre evaluation," added the Silverstone outfit's Chief Operating Officer, Otmar Szafnauer. "We had some aero devices on the car this morning and then continued with the set-up programme that we started yesterday.
"Nico was able to try the various tyre compounds available to us. There was a small amount of downtime in the middle of the day, but on the whole it's been another solid performance with good reliability."
Whilst others uncharacteristically enjoy the limelight, Ferrari is quietly getting on with things. Fernando Alonso, who was second quickest yesterday, was the pace-setter for much of the morning and by close of play was third - having completed an impressive 97 laps - 1.6s off the pace as the team focusses on reliability.
The Spaniard and his team got through a lot of work, starting with aerodynamic tests, followed by detailed evaluation of adjustments made to all the operating systems linked to the power unit, including energy recovery and release. Attention also centred on testing the balance of the F14 T, doing short and long runs with the various tyre compounds.
"We are not yet at the point where we can concentrate on performance," said Alonso, "but the important thing is to continue to rack up kilometres. The team has done a great job of preparation over the winter for these tests, which has allowed us to do a lot of running and test all aspects linked to these new and complex technologies.
"At the moment, everything is going as we expected," he continued, "but there are still a lot of new elements to learn about. Teams and drivers both have little time available and it will be a very big challenge for everyone to be ready when we get to Melbourne."
It was a mixed day for Mercedes where Nico Rosberg took over from Lewis Hamilton. Today's programme was focused on longer runs to simulate a race distance, with the German completing 460 km in the car. However, the plan was hampered by two stoppages on track in the morning, both for different reasons, thereby costing the team a couple of hours running as it investigated the issues.
"We achieved another good amount of laps today which proves that the first part of testing in terms of reliability is going well," said Rosberg. We had a few small issues but it's important to find out what they are to see what is not yet running perfectly. We need to push the car to the limits to see how it works in every condition.
"We don't yet know where we are in terms of performance, but today was a great day for me personally because I felt at home in the new car for the first time. All the settings were as we would like and the buttons on the steering wheel are now easier to get used to. I look forward to getting into the car again on Saturday.
"Our day today was slightly troubled compared to other recent days," admitted Paddy Lowe, "however, we still managed to get a lot of mileage done. We experimented with the medium tyre and found this to be a slight improvement on the harder compound with more consistency. We're working to understand the issues that delayed running at various times throughout the day and this is exactly why we go testing as it gives us a good chance to resolve them before the racing begins.
"It's pleasing to see that all the Mercedes-Benz powered cars are achieving good mileage up and down the pit lane, which gives us a great base to work from going forwards," he added.
Having only completed 5 laps yesterday, Williams more than made up for it today as Valtteri Bottas added 116 to the team's tally, over 390 miles. Yesterday's issues clearly sorted, the Grove outfit worked on reliability tests, aero evaluations and a race simulation.
"Today was a good day," said the Finn. "After the problems we had yesterday it was great to complete 116 laps. We still have things we are working through but we were able to do the aero work we needed as well as complete a race simulation so we now have lots of data to look at. There is a lot of work still to do so we need to aim to have more days like today."
"Having spent yesterday dealing with an apparent fuel system problem we tracked it down to a wiring-loom manufacturing issue late last night," revealed Chief Test & Support Engineer, Rod Nelson. "With this repaired the result was the mileage that we achieved today.
"We are still getting to know the car performance wise, but it's good to see that we are getting some good reliability out of it. Every time we run the FW36 we are understanding it more and more. We tested some aero components and systems this morning before completing a race simulation this afternoon which, aside from having to stop briefly for a red flag, went to plan. Overall, we have had a good day."
It was a day of two halves for Caterham and Kamui Kobayashi, getting little running in the morning but finally getting in some decent mileage in the afternoon.
"It was good to be back in the car and even though we had quite a few interruptions in the morning with a telemetry issue, we still completed 66 laps which is another useful day's work," said the Japanese. "It's still too early to know where we really are, but being able to build the mileage every day is the only way we'll be able to get the most out of the car.
"Reliability is going to be so important this year," he continued, "and it's good that the issues we've had here have been fixed well enough to allow us to keep running. It's also good to finish the day with a relatively quicker lap, but even though everyone knows lap times don't really mean anything in the tests, it's good for the team to start to see us unlocking some of the car's performance."
"From our side today was comparatively problem-free," added Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1's Track Support Leader. "We completed another decent number of laps and continued to unlock the Power Unit's performance, working steadily to improve driveability and outright pace. Tomorrow Marcus is in the car and we would obviously like another clean day to give him the maximum time to continue his familiarisation with the 2014 car. We have a lot more pure performance to come and the plan is to continue building as we go through the tests, so tomorrow we would like more of the same that we saw from Kamui and the team today."
While he and his team would have probably liked a few more laps in the bag, and a slightly smaller gap to the pace-setters, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull must be feeling a little more comfortable tonight following a fairly productive day. It total the German completed 59 laps - 24 more than achieved over the previous five days of testing - as the Austrian outfit made progress towards solving the reliability issues that have so far hampered its pre-season preparations.
"Definitely a better day today," smiled Vettel, who now hands over to teammate Daniel Ricciardo. "We did more laps, so that's encouraging. It's good to check the car, check the reliability, but obviously there is a lot still to do. It was good to get a proper first feel for the car and it feels OK but there's a lot more to come.
"It's difficult to talk about catching up (to rivals)," he admitted, "because I don't know what other people are doing, but we did more laps than we have done so far and that's the big thing. We're learning every single lap, even if the quality of the lap is sometimes not the best. However, the most important thing is to run and we did that. The last two days have been very useful. I hope Daniel can get some more good laps in tomorrow."
"We had a good day," beamed Race Engineering Co-ordinator, Andy Damerum. "We did a tremendous amount of work overnight and the guys really pulled it together: so much so that we were ahead of schedule with the car this morning. We were able to fix the problem we had yesterday very quickly and there were no lingering issues, so we managed some good running today. Every lap you turn gives you a huge amount of data and that's gold dust, so we're pleased with what we got done today.
"We're not out of the woods yet," he admitted, "and we still have a lot of work to do but the direction we've taken is looking like the right one. After a successful morning we tried some new elements late in the day, which we had been waiting for. Sebastian felt those were a big step forward, so overall a very encouraging session. The times of course are irrelevant, as we're solely focused on reliability at the moment, and in that respect we feel we are making good progress."
'Sister' team Toro Rosso also had a much improved day, Jean-Eric Vergne completing 58 laps compared to Daniil Kvyat's 5 yesterday. The Faenza outfit managed to get through a lot of work, and is beginning to get an understanding of the aerodynamic behaviour of the car, evaluating a couple of rear wings and acquiring important data relating to cooling.
In addition, the respectable number of laps allowed for a first assessment of a couple of the tyre compounds, on what is a far more representative track than Jerez.
A problem on the car curtailed its running towards the end of the day, although Vergne was able to go out right at the end of the session to check that the repairs had been successful.
"A good day, the best since testing began," said the Frenchman. "This morning was relatively trouble free and we got through plenty of items on the job sheet. However, later in the day, we did experience a few minor technical troubles, that cut short our running time. It's the first time I've been able to push the car on track and I have to say in terms of its balance, it gave me a good feeling. I hope that, as from tomorrow, when Daniil drives, we can start doing more and more kilometres."
At Sauber, Esteban Gutierrez took over from Adrian Sutil as the Swiss outfit spent the morning running aero tests and systems checks before an electrical issue compromised running in the afternoon.
"The morning was very productive," said Gutierrez. "We managed to do a lot of laps and understand a lot of things that need to be done. There is a lot of work to do to understand everything properly, especially the engine and electronics. In Jerez it was important that everything was running and functioning. Here in Bahrain it's time to put everything together and make sure all the components are in tune, so we can start working on the potential of the car."
"In the morning we were able to work through the programme," added Head of Track Engineering, Giampaolo Dall'Ara. "We did several installation laps and short runs, focusing on checking the different systems settings. This way we ensure the drivers and the team know exactly what to expect when changing the settings of this complex power train. Like yesterday, we also gained experience on the hard and the medium tyre compounds and completed several aero tests. Unfortunately in the afternoon we lost time because of an electrical issue."
It was another difficult day for Lotus as the E22 suffered "various software and installation issues". Romain Grosjean, who was due to focus on installation and functionality checks completed just 18 laps posting a best time almost seven seconds off Magnussen's pace.
"We achieved some more laps today but there's still work to be done," said the Frenchman, in a masterpiece of understatement. "It's been a frustrating couple of days as I want to get as many laps under my belt as possible, but at least we're learning some things about the car. I'm looking forward to returning for next week's test and seeing what progress has been made."
"Obviously we fell way short of what we want to achieve here which is a strong tally of laps at a representative pace," admitted Alan Permane. "The car itself has looked solid at the pace we've run so far, but you only learn so much from lapping at our current level. Clearly there's work to be done and we're all doing everything we can to get ourselves in a position to be able to gain valuable data from our testing here."
After yesterday's disappointment, today's programme got off to a promising start for Marussia, which had Max Chilton on duty, before a fuel system problem surfaced around midday.
The work to identify and fix the issue took up much of the afternoon but the team was finally able to resolve it and return the Englishman to the track for a couple of late laps.
"My first day in the car got off to a good start," said Chilton. "We were getting into the aero programme and gradually building towards some longer runs. Unfortunately we experienced the fuel system problem and to get to the root of that is quite a long and complicated process, so it took up most of the afternoon. We were seriously up against it time-wise, so all credit to the guys for pushing so hard and enabling us to get a further three laps in before the session end. These problems are all part of testing of course but we hope to start putting some bigger mileage on the car over the next couple of days."
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Chris Balfe