03/02/2015
NEWS STORY
Ferrari continues to set the pace at Jerez de la Frontera, albeit in the form of the Ferrari-powered Sauber of Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr.
On a day which started out damp following overnight rain, meaning drivers either started on full wets or inters, the pace quickened as the eight drivers on duty completed over 700 laps, three of them, Nasr, Nico Rosberg and Carlo Sainz each over one hundred.
Despite the changing conditions and the sheer amount of laps there were just three red flags over the course of the day; the first when Nasr went off into the gravel, the second around midday when Rosberg stopped on track and the third in the final moments of the session when Pastor Maldonado also ground to a halt.
As previously reported, it was a day of mixed emotions for McLaren, which had Fernando Alonso on duty. The Spaniard, having completed 32 laps, six times the amount he managed on Sunday, was side-lined in the afternoon with another technical problem.
"We've had a loss of cooling water pressure and have removed the power unit for inspection," revealed the Woking outfit. "That's a long process, so it ends today's running.
"We can replace those components ahead of running tomorrow," it added. "The issue was promptly spotted by Fernando on an out lap - so quick to trace."
The day was difficult for Red Bull also. The Austrian team, having lost valuable track time yesterday as it had no spare front wing to replace that damaged when Daniil Kvyat went off, was stuck in the garage again for much of today with an engine issue. The presence of team owner Dietrich Mateschitz no doubt adding to the pressure.
Elsewhere, a telemetry problem meant that Pastor Maldonado was late getting to work however, once up and running the Venezuelan was on the pace.
Once again, Williams, which had Felipe Massa on duty, got on with the job in hand, doing the sort of quiet preparation we have grown used to on Friday's, ‘softly, softly' appearing to be the Grove outfit's new mantra.
With his teammate having dominated on the opening two days of the test, Kimi Raikkonen looked set to make it a hat-trick however, despite trading fast laps with Nasr and Rosberg, eventually had to settle for second, 0.205s off the pace, the Finn looking very much as ease with the SF15-T.
Once again, the Toro Rosso drivers have looked impressive, Sainz adding another 136 laps to the team's tally on his way to the sixth best time of the day.
All in all, an interesting day, and one which - should the form be carried over in to the season - set us up for a real thriller. That said, the Mercedes still appears to be the class of the field. Indeed, on his final lap, as he headed back to the pits, Rosberg, who hands over to teammate Lewis Hamilton for the final day tomorrow, told his crew: "Thank you everyone... a really top start to the year."
With the track still damp in the morning, Nasr ran on wet tyres as well as on slicks to make some comparisons. With dry conditions in the he used different dry compounds and completed 108 laps on his way to posting the fastest time of the day.
"It was another positive day," said the Brazilian. "We did a lot of mileage, and we were able to get a better understanding of the car. On top of that, we used different tyres in different conditions, and we played with the set-up. In the end I had the chance to do some long-runs to get a feeling for the car with high fuel loads like they would be in race conditions. It was important for me to get used to all these different things.
"Overall they were two very positive days," he concluded. "I'm glad that I already feel comfortable in the new environment, and I'm really happy with everything I've seen so far with the team. I'm already looking forward to Barcelona."
"The day was a bit more complicated than the previous two," said Giampaolo Dall'Ara, the team's Head of Track Engineering. "In the morning it was mainly down to the weather conditions. When the track was still damp we decided to test different wet tyres, and make some comparisons. In the afternoon we continued with the set-up work and some additional scans. We lost a little bit of time with a minor technical issue, but, nevertheless, we were able to complete more than 100 laps. In the end we can be satisfied with the day."
"It's too early to talk about results," said Raikkonen, who spent the day focussing on aero and set-up work, "but we are going in the right direction. There is still a great deal to do, however this has been a positive start, very different to a year ago. A good job has been done on the car with a lot of improvements. Even though these are only early days for testing, we have done plenty of laps, after Sebastian got through two good days of work."
"We had a better day in terms of reliability and with Kimi we managed a good number of tests," added James Allison. "It was interesting to get his feedback on the handling characteristics of the SF15-T, when compared to last year's car."
Mercedes programme comprised long runs and practice pit stops, Rosberg Nico emerging for his first run at 09:00 and completing 93 laps before lunch and a further 58 in the afternoon. His running was briefly interrupted when the W06 was brought to a halt by an engine cut at T10 just before 13:00.
"Reliability was our main issue over the last year," said Rosberg, "so our goal for 2015 is to sort this out. That is why I can be happy with my first pre-season test as I did a lot of mileage on both days. A big thank you to the team for a reliable Silver Arrow so far. They did a really good job over the winter.
"Performance wise I don't know where we are but the Ferrari times look very encouraging for them, so it will be an interesting year for Formula One, I guess.
"However," he continued, "I recently heard about the discussions concerning the German Grand Prix and it's really sad for me and the German fans to hear that nothing is confirmed yet for 2015. For as long as I can remember, the German Grand Prix was part of the Formula One World Championship, so I really hope our Grand Prix will be held this year and beyond that. The fans deserve to have a great show every year because there are so many great supporters out there. Also there is plenty of Germany in F1, with us German drivers like Sebastian, Hulk and myself, plus of course Mercedes-Benz. So I really hope that Bernie and the promoters find a good solution for everybody."
"I am happy after a good first day in the car," said Massa, who focussed on aero work, systems and reliability checks. "The FW37 is another step forward from where we left the FW36, which is promising. I am also confident in the car set-up. The feeling in the car was good even for a first impression and it's well balanced. We lost a bit of time in the morning due to the wet weather so hopefully tomorrow we can continue to get the miles in and head to Barcelona well prepared."
"It's been another good day," added Chief Test & Support Engineer, Rod Nelson, "and good to have Felipe get his first drive of the FW37 today. We have started to do a little more chassis work as we continue to work through our plan. Felipe gave us very much the same feedback as Valtteri did, so it's pleasing that they share the same views and characteristics as each other on the FW37. Overall it's been a positive day."
After a slow start, Lotus enjoyed a productive day with Pastor Maldonado completing 96 laps, setting a best time of 1:22.713 as the team continued with installation and functionality checks initial performance assessments. Tomorrow, the final day of testing here, Romain Grosjean will get his first taste of the E23.
"It was a good day and we've learnt a lot more about the E23," said the Venezuelan. "The car feels strong and we know there's more to come. We're still checking all the systems and learning how everything works, but I'm very happy with progress over the last two days. We were able to run with different tyre compounds today so there's a good basis for knowing where we need to look in terms of set-up. I'm really looking forward to getting back into the car in Barcelona."
"We've completed a solid programme today and been able to log a lot of data as we begin our initial understanding of the E23," said Alan Permane, the Enstone team's Trackside Operations Director. "Yesterday's issues were quickly diagnosed and rectified and today we've run very reliably with only a connection issue to delay our first run this morning. Pastor's jumped straight back into the car after the winter break and has given us everything we've needed over the last two days, now we're looking forward to Romain getting his first taste of the car tomorrow."
"It's been a really nice day for me and I enjoyed what I consider my first real day of F1 testing," said Carlos Sainz. "Hitting a target of 137 laps was quite an achievement. The fact we managed to do such a big distance is down to all the hard work of everyone in the team, the mechanics working day and night here at the track and also everyone back in the factory. They did a brilliant job and, thanks to them, I was able to learn a lot. All these laps also meant I was able to evaluate my physical condition and, on this front, I am quite pleased, as it seems the work we did over the winter has paid off."
"A very productive day, during which we completed a lot of laps," added Chief Race Engineer, Phil Charles. "Everything went smoothly, which was good for Carlos, as it meant he was able to do long enough runs to learn valuable lessons about tyre management. That was part of our chassis programme, as well as working on its performance during the morning. We were also able to get Carlos doing practice starts, including some on a wet track, which will be another useful lesson for the coming season. All in all, a good day's work."
Red Bull's day got off to a slow start this morning when the team detected an issue and elected to change the power unit in the RB11. Once complete, the team was able to get the Australian back out on track where the car ran reliably for the rest of the session, with Ricciardo registering a series of long runs.
"Although we were limited with running today, we got some long runs together and that was encouraging," said Ricciardo. "I was happy to do some 10-15 lap runs as that's always where you get a better understanding of the car. Every lap we do we understand something more about the car or the driveablility of the Renault power unit. So it was a decent afternoon.
"In terms of where we're at," he continued, "it's impossible to know about the pace because we don't know what people are running, but I think the consistency today was good, we put a few laps together in the end, so a few positives to take away from today."
"A day of two halves really," admitted Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin. "The engine issue arrived very early - I think Daniel had about five laps on the board at that point. We knew what the issue was and so we decided to change the power unit and that took some time. However, when we got Daniel back out the car ran without any problems and we were able to put together a couple of longer runs, which were good. In the end we managed a decent total of laps given the restricted running and we're happy with how the car performed."
After two tricky days, McLaren turned a corner this morning, managing 32 trouble-free laps, which enabled the team to put its first serious miles on both the MP4-30 and the RA615H power unit.
Great work from the night-shift mechanics ensured Fernando Alonso was able to take to the track as soon as the session started; and, after a couple of exploratory installation laps and aero checks, the team was able to ramp up his programme, extending the length of each run. Despite only running on a damp track, and using Intermediate tyres,the Spaniard put in a decent number of laps until he was side-lined before lunch.
He had just begun a timed run when he felt something awry with the car - he returned the car to the garage, where the team discovered a loss of cooling water pressure. Fixing the issue required the removal of the power unit - a lengthy change that couldn't have completed in time for the car to return to the track today. Nevertheless, it's a fixable problem, and the Woking team will get things replaced ahead of Jenson Button's final run in the car tomorrow.
"Jenson's final lap last night made us all feel happier, because we felt we'd cured the issues that had affected us on Sunday and Monday," said Eric Boullier. "This morning, it was a relief to see the car get out of the garage at 9am, and run without problems for several hours.
"Fernando's comments were very positive, too: he said the car was reacting well to changes, and felt stable. Operationally, we've already covered everything in our programme, but what's even more positive is that we've been able to carry out a number of longer runs. They've shown us that the car doesn't have any conceptual or architectural issues.
"It's good to see that the car is effectively able to run straight out of the box, without any major issues. That's the most positive point of the day."
Check out our Tuesday gallery, here.