01/03/2015
NEWS STORY
Anyone hoping for a final shoot-out or a qualifying sizzler as pre-season testing came to a close today will have been sorely disappointed.
The fastest lap of the day - the third quickest time of the entire eight-day Barcelona test - was set over an hour before the lunch break, with few significant improvements in the afternoon.
On the other hand, a couple of things we have come to expect proved correct, Jenson Button spent most of the day in his garage whilst Pastor Maldonado brought Lotus' preparations to an early end when he stuffed the E23 in to the barriers fifteen minutes after lunch.
Running on development tyres Rosberg set the early pace, with Nasr and Perez, getting his first taste of the new Force India also looking good.
Fifty minutes into the session came the inevitable message from McLaren. "Bit of a delay with today's programme," said the Woking outfit, "the team are running some system checks, but hope to be out later this morning..."
Running the winter tyre, Bottas posted a 25.099 to go quickest, the Finn subsequently making further improvements on the soft (23.859) and then supersofts (23.63) to post the best time of the morning. Nasr, also on the supersofts, took second with 24.023, while Perez slotted in behind with a 25.113.
Ten minutes before the break, Vettel bolted on a set of supersofts, and despite being quickest in S2 could only manage 23.469, 0.406s off Bottas' time.
When Bottas took to the track after the break we expected to see the Finn challenge for the top spot, but it was not to be, long runs and reliability appeared to be the order of the day.
Daniel Ricciardo caused the first red flag of the day when he ground to a halt in the pitlane - something which has become a bit of a habit for the panda-liveried car. Shortly after lunch, Maldonado went nose first into the barriers at T4, causing the second red flag, and while the damage to the car meant an early end to the Enstone outfit's preparations, the only damage to the Venezuelan was his pride. The third red flag followed when Max Verstappen stopped on track between turns 11 and 12.
Having suffered as ERS issue things were looking bad for Ricciardo but the team got him out again ninety minutes before the end. Likewise Verstappen, the Toro Rosso crew doing well to get the youngster going following an (unspecified) engine problem.
About the same time that Ricciardo returned to the fray, Williams decided to call it a day, clearly happy with its day's (week's?, month's?) work. "So that's winter testing completed for us," said the Grove outfit. "Next stop for the guys is the Australian Grand Prix. Well done team!"
Button, who had completed just one installation lap shortly before the break, saw a little more action in the afternoon, but not much. Over the course of the day he completed just 30 laps, his best time, on super-softs, over 2.2s off Bottas' pace.
Sebastian Vettel is another driver who posted his best time this morning, like several others, he devoted his afternoon to a race simulation.
With around half-an-hour remaining, Mercerdes revealed that Rosberg wasn't "ready to head into the sunset just yet". When the team announced that he was going out on scrubbed softs we wondered if this might be the moment when he might really go for it, but instead practice starts were the order of the day. Nonetheless, at 148 laps the German was one of the busiest men out there.
No surprises then; Mercedes clearly has reliability and pace - and then some - whilst Williams appears to be picking up where it left off at the end of last season. Red Bull hasn't shown its hand, though the Renault seems a lot better, whilst there remains a question mark over Ferrari.
Whilst the midfield teams look to be well matched at this stage, we won't really know about the pace until Saturday in Melbourne, and stamina the day after.
That said, the one team that faces many sleepless nights before then is McLaren. There will be a lot of midnight oil being burned in Woking over the next two weeks.
"It was a really good day and a great way to finish the test," said a delighted pace-setter Bottas, who had concentrated on performance and aero work. One of the main points we have learnt is that the FW37 is very reliable. The car we are taking to Melbourne is very competitive and should make for an interesting start to the season. We have made the most out of our time testing and I need to say a really big thanks to the team, not only trackside but also everyone back at the factory as they have produced a really quick and reliable car."
"Today's programme was similar to yesterday," added chief test & support engineer, Rod Nelson, "as we try to get the drivers in the best position before heading to Australia. Due to this the focus was more on performance with a mixture of long and short runs rather than just reliability work. Both drivers have worked extremely hard throughout the test and the entire team have worked very well together. We are really looking forward to Melbourne."
"The positive thing is that, once again, we have done a lot of kilometres and gathered useful information," said Vettel, who had worked on aerodynamic evaluations, set ups and a race simulation. "The fact that our race simulation went more or less as planned is encouraging from a reliability point of view, although this is an aspect where we can still improve.
"From a performance point of view, it's clear that Mercedes is still ahead by quite a way," he admitted, "but right behind there is us, Williams and Red Bull, all very close. We will know more in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile we must move forward one step at a time, looking above all at what we are doing ourselves."
"The day did not run as smooth as yesterday," said technical director, James Allison, "but, in spite of this, we managed to score plenty of laps on our board, successfully completing a race distance, so that now we have two of them under our belt prior to Melbourne. We leave the winter testing pretty happy with the way the car is performing, the way the test has been done and the way the team is operating."
Felipe Nasr was the busiest man today, the Brazilian completing 159 laps as he worked on race preparation with short and long runs. Over the course of the winter tests the C34 has i completed an overall mileage of 5708 km, the second highest done by any of the teams. The Swiss team says it is satisfied with its final preparations before the season opener.
"It was another very good day," said Nasr. "I am very happy that we did not have any issues on the car. I ran 159 laps, which is quite pleasing for the team and also for myself. The car is reliable, so we were able to collect a lot of data. Today we went through many procedures to be well-prepared for the first race weekend in Melbourne, including short runs, race simulation, practice starts and pit stops. Now I cannot wait for Melbourne."
"Today we had a positive end to an overall satisfactory pre-season campaign," said Giampaolo Dall'Ara, the Hinwil outfit's head of track engineering. "Once more the focus of the team was on race preparation, with Felipe working on refinement of the set-up on short and long runs and evaluating tyre compounds. The team gathered some more useful data and practiced race-relevant operations.
"In the three tests, the team covered the whole of the planned mileage and was able to sign off the entire test list. The Sauber C34-Ferrari ran reliably and the weather was kind to us. The pairing of Marcus and Felipe developed into a solid working relationship. All involved at the track and back at the factory worked relentlessly on a tight schedule, and we are now looking forward to the season opener in less than two weeks' time."
"Today, we didn't do as many laps as we wanted," admitted Max Verstappen, "but overall, I have had a very good winter test season, completing a lot of laps. Today, the team did a very good job to get me back out on track. I learned a lot about the car, in terms of set-up and I could see in which areas I can improve. In two weeks' time, we will be racing in Melbourne. I can't wait and I believe we have a good package. Together with the team I have learned a lot over these three tests and I feel ready to go racing."
"Twelve days of very intensive winter testing have gone by very quickly," added James Key, the team's technical director. "The team has done a great job, because the mileage we have put together with our partners at Renault has been excellent, covering more kilometres in these four tests than we did in all testing opportunities last year.
"We began with our car in "Launch spec" just to get miles under our belt, allowing our drivers to settle in. Then we brought what we consider the race car to test 3 in Barcelona and it has performed exactly as we had expected in terms of the numbers we were seeing in the wind tunnel and from the chassis. Is it enough? We must wait until Melbourne to have an answer, but so far we are happy and the drivers' feedback has been positive. The staff in the factory and in the wind tunnel worked very hard to produce effectively two different cars in a matter of months."
"With two new drivers, we put them through a massive programme, aimed at giving them as much track time as possible, going through all the procedures that need to be well rehearsed for Melbourne. They have both done a competent job and we are encouraged by their attitude and approach. Now it's time to put everything together and go racing."
"This was the last test session and we were lucky with the good weather conditions, which is always important," said Franz Tost. "The performance of the car is promising, as the new upgrades are working well and I'd like to thank all the engineers in Faenza and Bicester for the great job they've done. I also want to thank the production department, as all the parts arrived on time.
"We arrived in Jerez exactly a month ago with two rookies and we leave Barcelona tonight with two young drivers who are ready to make their Formula 1 debut. They have definitely grown as drivers in a very short time, showing a good learning curve as well as growing in confidence as the days have gone by. Pre-season testing has been a crucial part of the year for us to prepare the car, drivers and team for the season ahead. We've completed a total of 5536 km - which is already more than the total we covered last year, including the in-season tests - showing good reliability and performance.
"Of course we still have some work to do back at the factory and a lot of valuable data to go through before we fly to Australia, but all in all we achieved our goals. We are all very much looking forward to the start of the season in Melbourne."
Red Bull's programme came to an end with Daniel Ricciardo completing 72 laps. The day began positively, but just over an hour into the session, the Australian stopped at the end of the pit lane. After investigation, an ERS issue was diagnosed and the team spent the morning rectifying the problem. He returned to the track in the afternoon and completed both long and short runs after which he claimed the day's fifth fastest time.
"We had an ERS problem in the morning but in the end we more or less did what we needed to do today," said Ricciardo. "We did a bit on lower fuel and soft tyres plus some longer runs. In terms of the pecking order, which is obviously what everyone wants to talk about, it's hard to say where anyone is at. Aside from one team, I'd say it's pretty close after that, but we'll see in Melbourne. I think there's more to come from us. Personally, I feel really ready to race now and I think we'll be good come Melbourne."
"It was a bit of compressed programme today because of the electrical problem we had this morning," admitted Guillaume Rocquelin, the team's head of race engineering. "It's a problem we've had before and one we are on top of, but it just takes time to fix, so that ruled us out for the rest of the morning. We crunched things down a bit in the afternoon and got in some short runs and long runs, so it was a useful day.
"In terms of the winter programme overall, I'd have to mark it down as a success, if only for the reason that we did about three times the mileage as this time last year! Overall, it's been very good. We spent the time focusing on what we need to do and not chasing lap time, because at the end of the day what you want to achieve is the development of a set of tools you can use through the season and that will help take you forward. We've done that.
"The balance of the car is good, the consistency is there, we've built in good reliability and the drivers are happy and I'm pleased with how things have gone. There's more to come in the next while but I think we're in decent shape for the first race."
Sergio Perez completed his first miles in the VJM08, the Mexican completing 130 laps on his way to posting the sixth best time of the day.
"My first day in the car has been a good one, with a very high number of laps and a good atmosphere in the team," he said. "It's no secret that we have some catch-up to do but I am optimistic: the team has a clear direction to work towards and we have been able to collect a large amount of data in such a short time, which will help all those working back at base. Every run we do, here or at the races, teaches us a lot and moves us closer to where we want to be. Now we must focus on Melbourne: I am really excited about going racing again, the first race of the season is always a special one and one to which you really look forward since the end of the previous season."
"Our pre-season testing comes to an end with a solid 130 laps," added Tom McCullough, the team's chief race engineer. "Today was Sergio's first day in the VJM08 and, as he got accustomed to the new car, we continued our work of understanding its behaviour, trying various setups in both performance and long runs. All we have done in these tests in Barcelona will help us prepare for Melbourne, and even though we may arrive with less mileage than others, we have gathered lots of valuable data. We are making rapid progress with the car and we have a lot of material to analyse back at the factory ahead of the first flyaways.
"This last week's work highlights the spirit of this team: credit must go to everyone involved with the design, manufacturing and assembly of the car. It has been a massive effort from everyone in the team and to get so many laps is testament to the great work done by all."
Mercedes schedule consisted of setup evaluation work. Rosberg emerged for his first run at precisely 09:00, completing 70 laps before lunch and a further 78 after the break.
"Today was a good day and, overall, that was a very interesting test here in Barcelona," said the German. "We made some mechanical set up changes on the car which was very interesting to me. I also did a long run at the end today on the soft tyres which was okay. In Melbourne we will have the soft tyre and it will be a challenge to manage them well, so we need to look at that.
"After this test, though, we can be happy. The team did a fantastic job. Thanks to everybody, who was involved in the development of the car. We are very optimistic. Now, I look forward to flying to Australia and getting back to racing."
It was a slow start to the morning for McLaren, but Button managed to put some laps on the board during the day. While the Woking team's programme has been largely affected by unreliability, and a lack of running, it insists there's plenty of optimism that the performance foundations for the partnership are strong, and that development will continue strongly - especially during the early part of the season.
"Looking back at the last four weeks, our winter test programme has been difficult," admitted Eric Boullier. "However, that wasn't entirely unexpected: this time last year, we saw many teams in a similar situation when they introduced new power units for the first time. This year, we also had the added complexity that very tight packaging brings.
"In overview, the lack of mileage means we won't be as ready as we'd have liked, but we can take away the positive that all the running and data gathering we've done have confirmed that we're achieving the targets we set ourselves.
"Even if it's likely to be a difficult start to the season, we know we can develop hard and fast, and that we'll surely unlock the huge potential that lies within the McLaren-Honda MP4-30."
Lotus ended the day early after a systems issue compromised Maldonado's braking into turn four resulting in him making contact with the barriers. He had previously completed 36 laps, mainly of aero and comparison work.
With the E23 requiring a reasonable amount of rectification work for the damage sustained to the front wing and front suspension, the team opted to end the day's running early.
"It was a shame to end the day early," said Maldonado, "but that was the only issue we've had like this during testing so we can look to the positive that we have a lot of information to take the car in the right direction. My braking was compromised coming into turn four, meaning I went off the track and hit the barriers. I was able to brake and slow, just not as much as the maximum otherwise possible. The car was not too badly damaged and I am fine, but it's a shame we had this issue as we would have been looking at running the softer tyres in the afternoon and putting in some fast laps. I'm looking forward to getting back in the car in Melbourne as I think we have good potential this season."
"Certainly ending the final pre-season test in the barriers was not part of our game plan," admitted technical director, Nick Chester, "but overall we've had a productive two weeks here in Barcelona following on from our initial outing in Jerez. Pastor was unfortunate to have a braking-related issue which meant he wasn't able to slow sufficiently into turn four and the car was damaged. There was nothing Pastor or any driver could have done to avoid this accident which was systems related and we're investigating thoroughly to ensure it doesn't happen again.
"We now have a quick turn-around to get the car back to Enstone, then shipped out to Australia at the end of the week. It was a pity we weren't able to run any low fuel laps later in the day. We are looking forward to Melbourne where we will get a full picture of the relative pace of the E23."
Check out our Sunday gallery, here.