18/05/2016
NEWS STORY
The Dutch youngster, who last week stormed into the record books with a convincing win in the Spanish Grand Prix, heads off to Monaco having topped the timesheets on the final day of the first in-season test.
The ten drivers on duty were busier than yesterday, despite two red flag periods, one when Jordan King went off into the gravel at T7 this morning and again later when Daniil Kvyat stopped on track.
Once again, the cars sported all manner of contraptions as the teams worked on aerodynamics for the coming races.
Verstappen had a busy day, completing 118 laps, running with tyres and a setup similar to those used at the weekend. He finished 0.739s ahead of his nearest rival. Of much greater significance, he completed his program with no reliability issues.
The youngster carried on the aero development work started yesterday by Daniel Ricciardo. His program, however, had the additional target of getting the driver comfortable in the car and comfortable with his crew. Despite having already won a grand prix in the RB12, Verstappen is still getting to know the car, and thus the great benefit of the test day was allowing him to fine-tune his setup preferences and develop relationships with his engineers and crew.
"It was good to get back in the car today," said Verstappen. "The car is good to drive, very enjoyable and we achieved very good mileage. We didn't have any problems and could run the whole day. For me personally it was good to have the opportunity to get even more comfortable with the car. I was able to try some new things and find ways to improve my performance. I learned a lot about the RB12 today, which is very, very positive."
"A big part of the day was for Max Verstappen to keep working with his crew and his team of engineers, just to build up that rapport," said Head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin. "We've also been looking at the setup options that he prefers.
"I know he's won a race but ultimately he's only been with us a week, so there's still a lot that we need to work on together as we get to know each other. We had to go through the various options and evaluate them with Max, see what he likes – things like the layout of his steering wheel and what he wants to see on the display. On top of that we had a normal run plan, very similar to yesterday, working on medium-to-long term development of the car. It went well.
"We did 118 laps despite doing some really short runs for aero-mapping. It was a very solid day and, overall, a very solid test with 200+ laps, no issues with the car and a good program of work completed."
Bahrain point scorer Stoffel Vandoorne returned to the cockpit of the MP4-31 for the first time since that amazing debut, the Belgian continuing yesterday's programme, evaluating components, fine-tuning set-up and adding to the data gathered. The morning's running focused on tyre testing and strategy, specifically on the softer tyre compounds, with several runs on the Supersoft tyre.
"The car felt good straight away," said the youngster. "Of course, I had a few laps of adjusting to the car, but it definitely has progressed since I raced it in Bahrain. It's been a positive and productive day.
"Although it's easier to get into the car having experienced a full race weekend, there is always a need to readjust for F1, especially after racing in Super Formula, but I quickly got used to it.
"The car feels better in every area, with downforce feeling much improved compared to Bahrain. As a racing driver, you want to spend as much time as possible in the car, but I try and optimise every moment I have, and I feel like I've had the chance to do that today. All in all, the progress with the car is good, so I'm happy."
"As we have come to expect, Stoffel has driven both quickly and consistently," added, Team Manager, Dave Redding, "providing good feedback on each and every test item on the programme.
"The morning started with a continuation of the aero correlation work from yesterday. Once completed, the rest of the morning was spent evaluating both aero and mechanical changes on new tyres, with the afternoon spent carrying out a similar programme on used tyres over longer runs. The programme featured both Monaco-specific upgrades, as well as medium-term development components.
"Both the chassis and power unit have run without any issues on both days, which, combined with the team's hard work, has meant we have been able to get through our extensive test programme."
"We have finished another good day of testing with Stoffel," confirmed Satoshi Nakamura, Honda's Principal Engineer. "During the morning, we continued the power unit mapping that we started yesterday, targeted for the Monaco circuit. We spent the afternoon on longer stints and race simulation, in which we focused heavily on energy management.
"The data gathered will be further analysed in Japan, and fine-tuned for next weekend's race."
A late change saw Pascal Wehrlein replace Esteban Ocon, a move that will cost Lewis Hamilton his chance of taking part in the Silverstone test.
The German completed 65 laps before the lunch break and a further 68 laps in the afternoon as he focused on aero data collection exercises.
"That was a good day," said the German. "A bit unexpected! The team called me yesterday evening as they couldn't finish their test programme and needed an experienced driver to finish it off, so I came back to the track to do a seat fitting that night!
"We did 133 laps today - two race distances - and finished the test programme, which was important for the team.
"We tried a few different setups during the morning - mainly looking at aerodynamic with the aero rig. Then we did some long runs in the afternoon, so a good programme. I must say I really enjoyed the car - it felt amazing! I'm now really looking forward to my first Monaco Grand Prix next week."
Having been dropped yesterday in favour of Sebastian Vettel, Antonio Fuoco soon got to grips with the SF16-H, completing 116 laps.
"We did a good job today, a lot of laps, a lot of kilometres and it was a very positive day," beamed the youngster. "The most complicated thing about an F1 car compared to the GP3 car I'm racing in the championship is managing the various procedures. And the extra downforce makes it more demanding, so some training is useful.
"Today, we worked on set-up, covering a bit of what Sebastian had done as a comparison. We tried some new components, but nothing special.
"Compared to last year's test I did in the 2015 car, it's hard to draw comparisons. When I was driving in Austria the conditions were completely different. However, I'd say this year's car is an improvement, it works very well. We ran a lot today and in general I did a good job with the team and I'd like to really thank the Scuderia and the Ferrari Driver Academy for this opportunity."
Toro Rosso had Daniil Kvyat at the wheel, taking over from Pierre Gasly, a good chance for the Russian to continue to get to grips with the car before Monaco next week.
"I think today was a very productive and good day," said the Russian. "We completed a big amount of laps, all of which are useful for both myself and the team. Tonight we will analyse all the data we've gathered and we will already be able to use this valuable information in the next events, starting with Monaco.
"Barcelona is a very good track to test at and a lot of the work we got done today will hopefully work on the car as we expect. All in all, it was quite an important day for myself today, as being able to get time in the STR11 was essential, and I now feel much more confident and ready for Monaco."
"We put Daniil in the car today with the main targets to get him further familiarisation in the STR11 and to start to work the set-up around him," revealed Chief Race Engineer, Phil Charles. "We have made some progress on both fronts: firstly, we have completed a number of different types of runs today (short, long, medium and high fuel) and Daniil has certainly started to look at home in the STR11 in lots of different scenarios and with varying wind and track conditions.
"The only small disappointment was that our running was cut slightly short with around 50 minutes of the day remaining with a car problem. However, the real positive of the day is that there were a couple of good directions unearthed during the set-up work which we can hopefully make good use of at the upcoming races."
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Force India continued with Alfonso Celis driving the VJM09 for a second day. The Mexican completed another 103 laps on his way to posting the seventh best time of the day.
"I am very pleased with the work I was able to do during these two days," he said. "It was quite a varied programme and I enjoyed it, especially feeling the car over the long runs. I am feeling much more comfortable in the car and I was able to help the team by bringing home a lot of data. I am getting much closer to the pace I want to show and I feel I can push the car harder with every run."
"We followed a similar programme to yesterday," added Chief Race Engineer, Tom McCullough, "with the morning dedicated to aero work with various measuring instruments fitted to the car.
The afternoon involved some high fuel running before a handful of performance runs at the end of the day. All in all it has been a successful test with the car covering 202 laps, running reliably, and Alfonso getting further valuable experience in the car."
Kevin Magnussen completed 122 laps in the R.S.16, ending the day eighth fastest with a 1:25.133 lap as his team assessed a variety of aerodynamic and mechanical improvements to the car including the latest specification power unit.
Over the course of the past two days the R.S.16 has completed a total of 227 laps.
"That was a full day for me and a productive one," said the Dane. "I think the only issue I experienced all day was wanting to take my helmet off for a little break.
"The car feels good and it was great to conduct such a wide variety of assessments as it shows we're clearly making progress. It wasn't just me busy in the car, all the crew were flat out changing bits or adding or removing rakes so a big thanks to everyone for their hard work after the race here.
"It's definitely been a positive test. The power unit feels stronger and has better driveability and there are some other good improvements too."
"Today has been a highly positive day following on from Esteban's good work yesterday," said Technical Director, Nick Chester. "Kevin gave us everything we needed over a wide range of simulations and assessments.
"We've now run for two long days with the latest specification power unit with no major issues or concerns. We've tested all the aero and mechanical parts we wanted which allows us to plan our next race upgrades effectively. It's just a few days before we head to Monaco but we have plenty to keep us busy to bring extra performance to the car for Kevin and Jolyon to enjoy on track."
Don't let the fact that Felipe Massa was ninth on the timesheets fool you, as has become the custom on GP Fridays, Williams was about testing and set-up as opposed to lap times. Indeed, whilst rivals tried the soft and supersoft, the Brazilian remained with the medium rubber.
"We spent most of the time looking at the aero performance of the current car and looking into development work for next year as well," said Rod Nelson, the Grove outfit's Chief Test & Support Engineer. "It was a fairly positive day with a clear direction, and we'll be using that data to feed back into the development work we are doing at the moment for this year's and next year's car."
"It was an interesting test," added Massa, who ran the intriguing wing the team unveiled yesterday. "We worked on so many things for developing and improving the car on the aero side, which was our biggest aim for these two days. We tried a lot of different things for the future so it has been an important two days and key to get a lot of mileage."
Jordan King concluded Manor's test, the Briton completing 91 laps on his way to posting a best time 4.348s off the pace.
"Despite having my first taste of an F1 car in Abu Dhabi last year, driving this year's MRT05 for the first time today was just as exhilarating," he said. "Possibly more so, actually, given that it's such a big step on in terms of power and braking stability in particular.
"As well as being an opportunity for me to get to grips with the car, today was still very much a working test for the team and I had a big programme of items to work through.
"We had hoped to make enough progress for me to get some time on the Supersoft but we had an issue at the end which brought our day to a close sooner than we'd hoped. That said, it's not all about the timesheets and it's just as valuable for the team to see what I can bring in terms of application and feedback. All in all, I'm pretty pleased."
"Yesterday with Pascal was extremely beneficial because he had just spent a race weekend running the new developments," added Racing Director, Dave Ryan, "so it was great to have the luxury of being able to spend a bit of time looking at things in a far more detailed and critical manner.
"Today was more about providing Jordan with the opportunity to get to grips with this year's package, but nonetheless we've been able to work through a programme of important items with him at the same time as giving him the valuable learning experience he needs in his role as Development Driver.
"He's done a good job today, working diligently and consistently, but it was unfortunate that a problem at the end of the day curtailed our running and he wasn't able to run the Supersofts. Now, it's on to Monaco where we are all very much looking forward to what is always a fantastic event and Pascal and Rio's first Monaco Grand Prix, so a huge occasion for the entire team."
"As this was an in-season test rather than a Pirelli test, the teams were selecting individual run plans and choosing their own tyres from the usual 2016 range, rather than testing new prototypes," revealed Paul Hembery, as he reflected on the two-day test. "Because of the wide variety of programmes that were being worked through, the lap times in isolation were of no great significance. However, some teams were also able to carry out specific tyre-related assessments, such as data acquisition on the ultrasoft tyre before it makes its debut in Monaco next week.
"From a tyre perspective everything performed as expected, and the teams were able to acquire additional information that will undoubtedly be very useful for the rest of the season."
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