01/03/2019
NEWS STORY
Mercedes
On the last day of the 2019 pre-season test, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport continued to work on the set-up of the W10 and ticked off the last test items of the two-week programme. The team also collected more aerodynamic data before the focus shifted to single-lap performance. Both drivers set their fastest lap times of winter testing today.
Valtteri was behind the wheel in the morning, gathering aero data and working on qualifying performance. Lewis took over for the afternoon, also working on qualifying simulations on different compounds running a similar programme to Valtteri.
The Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+ completed a total of 1,190 laps or 5,539 km during winter testing.
Valtteri Bottas: That's the final day of testing done, next time we'll drive the W10, it will be in Melbourne. We've used our time on track here in Barcelona efficiently, learning a lot and improving our performance over the past two weeks. We've also learned that the competition is going to be very, very tough this year, but we're looking forward to the challenge. We need to keep pushing and find more performance if we want to be competitive in Melbourne, but we have a strong team and have made good progress in the last days. We have a few days left to work on the car, so we will give it everything. I'm looking forward to Melbourne!
Lewis Hamilton: The last couple of days have been very positive: it felt like the changes we were making helped us progress and gave us clear feedback of when we were moving in the right or the wrong direction. Today, it was nice to feel the car on lighter fuel and to discover it a little better; I really enjoyed the day and got a good feel for the tyres as well. I'm not the biggest fan of testing, as everybody knows, but it has been a positive week overall. Even so, there is still a lot to do and we are not there yet; there are lots of areas that we are working on and we are heading in the right direction.
James Allison: It was a nice final day. We've waited for a number of days to run on the softer rubber and have a look at the car in its Melbourne spec. We're reasonably pleased because we had a good balance with both drivers and both set competitive lap times. But we've got plenty of work ahead of us before Melbourne. We can look back on eight days of testing where the car has been very reliable, where we've made steady progress throughout those two weeks with the performance and the set-up, we've run through a huge range of the procedures and tests that we need to complete in order to be ready for the first race of the season. All in all, it's been a very long, very tiring but successful test.
Ferrari
The second test prior to the 2019 season came to an end today. Sebastian Vettel was at the wheel for Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow, completing 110 laps in the SF90. This means that, over the entire winter test sessions, the car did 996 laps, equivalent to 4,636 kilometers.
Before the day's work began, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann arrived in the garage to show his support for the team and wish everyone well prior to their departure for the Australian Grand Prix.
On track, Vettel spent the first part of the morning working on set-up, doing 68 laps, with a best time of 1:16.221. In the afternoon, Sebastian did a series of long runs so that the team and the driver could replicate several of the scenarios they will face in Melbourne in around a fortnight's time.
Two hours before the end of the session, Vettel was asked to stop at Turn 2, because of an electrical problem. The car was brought back to the garage and it was decided to call a halt to testing.
During the lunch break, Team Principal and Managing Director Mattia Binotto met the media to run through how the eight days of testing had gone. "These past days have been very intensive and interesting. We are still focusing on our car to understand its limits in terms of performance and reliability," he said.
"Overall, I am pleased with the work we have carried out," he continued. "I am pleased with how the car behaves and it was well balanced at this track. However, we cannot be completely satisfied at the moment as we would like to be faster and more reliable. So there's still a lot to do. Our programme didn't always run as smoothly as we would have liked, due to reliability issues and Sebastian's crash when a wheel rim broke. There are still many issues to be addressed and we must push forward on the performance front. The fact that our car is running properly is a good starting point, but we are still not ready for Melbourne and I'd say it's a case of a work in progress."
"Both drivers set very similar lap times," concluded Binotto. "We already knew that Charles is a very fast driver, as we have seen throughout his years with the Ferrari Driver Academy and last season in Formula 1. As for Sebastian, his performance shows him to be the multi-world champion we already know."
Red Bull
After two productive weeks at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the final day of our pre-season test schedule was cut short by a gearbox issue that limited Max to 29 laps of the Spanish Circuit.
Max Verstappen: "The guys in the garage did an amazing job to turn the car around after yesterday's crash and get it on track this morning, but unfortunately we had a gearbox issue and the nature of it meant we had to stop. I think overall we've had a really positive test here. If you look at the longer runs it looks pretty promising. I think we have a good package and the engine works really well, so I'm very happy and I'm looking forward to just going racing now."
Guillaume Rocquelin, Head of Race Engineering: "We came here with a new car, a new engine partner and a new driver, and we leave Barcelona with all of those elements working extremely well together. Problems such as today's inevitably arise during testing and it's a shame that it disrupted our final day. However, I don't think we should let it colour what we have achieved over these two weeks in Barcelona. We've had an enormously productive period of testing and we've learned a great deal about the RB15 and the direction we want to go in as we head into the season. Honda have been outstanding throughout, we have had great reliability and the rapport with the Team is exceptional. It's also a big task for Pierre coming into a new team and he's learned a huge amount - about the car and procedurally. As for the car, the balance is good, the performance is there and we're ready to go racing."
Haas
The final day of preseason testing Friday at Circuit de Barcelona - Catalunya again saw Rich Energy Haas F1 Team split driving duties in the VF-19 between Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.
Grosjean enjoyed a productive morning where he accumulated 73 laps and set the team's fastest outright lap in testing at the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track. His quick time of 1:17.076, utilizing a set of C5 rubber - the softest Pirelli compound available in testing, was good for seventh overall from Friday's 13 participating drivers.
Magnussen was back behind the wheel of the VF-19 in the afternoon focusing on timed runs on the C3 and C4 tires, before setting his personal best lap, a 1:17.565, on the C5 compound - placing him 10th. A race simulation followed, including pit-stops, with Magnussen ending his shift with 94 laps recorded.
In total Rich Energy Haas F1 Team racked up 871 laps in preseason testing for 4054.505 kilometers (2518.932 miles). The mileage was shared between Grosjean (407 laps), Magnussen (403 laps) and Pietro Fittipaldi (61 laps).
Romain Grosjean: "It's been a good morning. We ran our full program, which is very positive. We're finding a bit more time in the car, run-after-run, which is great. I'm generally very happy with winter testing to-date. Maybe we've had a few more issues than we'd have liked, but if we react well and sort them out, there are many things we've ticked in the box. I think we're ready for Melbourne, I'm looking forward to getting there."
Kevin Magnussen: "Overall, I think it's been a productive two weeks in Spain, today's been another good example of that. From the start the VF-19's felt good, and I can see how we've continued to make progress each day in terms of balance and performance. Of course, you never get enough miles in testing, that's just the way it goes, but I'm happy with what's been achieved. There's a lot more work to do before we hit the track in Melbourne, but from my side, I can't wait to start the season and go racing again."
Guenther Steiner: "We've had our best day of the test today, and it's always good to leave on a high. We completed our run plan with Romain (Grosjean) in the morning, and our race simulation in the afternoon with Kevin (Magnussen). It's been very positive, and all went well. Our testing's been a little bit up and down, but the outcome at the end is good. We've ultimately done everything we wanted to do. We were maybe a little too nervous at the beginning due to a few problems, but we sorted them, and it seems now that the car is running well. Hopefully we've found our issues, that's why you go testing. I'm pretty happy with our two weeks of testing."
Check out our Friday gallery from Barcelona, here.
McLaren
Carlos completed 134 laps on a productive final day of pre-season testing in the McLaren MCL34. In its last on-track opportunity before the first grand prix weekend, the team carried out a number of tests including aero evaluation, qualifying and race simulation runs, as well as pit-stop practice.
Having today completed the most laps during the test on our final day - bringing our pre-season total to 873 laps/4,064km/2,525 miles - we head to Australia with a better understanding of the MCL34. The team will now collate all the data and make its final preparations back at the factory before heading to Melbourne.
Carlos Sainz: "It's always nice to go to Australia finishing the test on a bit of a high, having covered a lot of mileage - the most for me in all four days of testing. I also finished my first race simulation without any issues, and did some performance runs in the morning which were useful for our understanding of the car.
"Now I'll go back to the factory to do some final work with the team so we can feel fully prepared before the first race. We've been very focussed on our own preparation and performance, so it's impossible to tell exactly how that compares to our competitors.
"Thank you to the team for their hard work over the past two weeks, and now we look forward to getting the season properly started."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "We came to testing with a few goals in mind - to do a lot of laps to ensure reliability and sign off systems, to understand our new car and the new Pirelli tyres, and perhaps most importantly, to integrate our new drivers into the team and prepare them as best we can for the season ahead. I think we've accomplished all of these things satisfactorily.
"From a competitive perspective, it's difficult to gauge exactly where we are. People are doing different things all the time - at different times of the day, with different fuel loads and tyres, so it's hard to confidently be precise about where we rank compared to the rest of the field.
"Next stop, Australia, which we've been working hard towards all winter, and the beginning of what hopefully will be an exciting Formula 1 season."
Sergio Perez: "It's been a positive final day in the car for me. We did a lot of work and I think we have a good idea of where we stand with the car. Today was about final race preparations with lots of long runs. Every time we go out, we learn more and more and I feel ready for the season ahead. It's been a long winter and I'm extremely motivated: I can't wait to go racing again. Starting the season with some points would be good, but in the end it's a long season so we need to get to Melbourne and see how we really compare to the other teams."
Tom McCullough, Performance Engineering Director: "It's been a successful eight days of testing where we have achieved all our main test objectives. We were able to get a good understanding of the RP19 launch car and also of the five tyre compounds we will be using throughout the season. Today was a useful day: the car ran reliably again, as it has done all week, which is encouraging. Our race runs were slightly hampered by the timing of the red flag, but we still finish the day having learnt a lot about our car. We have plenty of work to be done between now and Melbourne, but we can look forward to the start of the season. Overall, it has been a huge effort by everyone in the team, both at the track and back at base."
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Racing has concluded winter testing with Kimi Räikkönen completing a total of 132 laps behind the wheel of their 2019 contender today.
Over the past two weeks, the team tried out various set-ups, tested different tyre compounds as well as aerodynamic configurations and got a first impression of the Alfa Romeo Racing C38 with which they will head into the 2019 Formula One World Championship, eager to fight for ambitious results.
Kimi Raikkonen: "Today was our last day of testing. We got to know the car over the past two weeks and know where our strengths lie. We will see where we really are when we arrive in Melbourne. I look forward to our first race together there."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat: "We've had quite a successful pre-season test. We were able to complete many laps, so I think we can be satisfied with the work put into these past two weeks. We did our homework between the two tests which is important, and that resulted in the car being comfortable to drive by the end of the second week. We tried some new bits and different setup approaches to see how the car would react as it's testing, because trying this during a race weekend would be too risky and time consuming. We evaluated these items and found solutions to make the car as quick as it could be, so I would say we made the most out of winter testing. Today we did some short runs and qualifying simulations in the morning, while in the afternoon we moved to a race simulation. Both went quite well, so now we can focus our attention to the start of the season in Melbourne."
Jody Egginton (Deputy Technical Director): "We have had a pretty productive final day of testing today with Dany covering a good number of test items - a qualifying simulation in the late morning and a race simulation in the afternoon. The planned run programme has been completed allowing us to sign off our 2019 winter test campaign in a positive manner. On the Power Unit side, we have continued along the same trajectory of impeccable reliability and operation of the PU, which is a credit to everybody at Honda. A special mention should go to our staff, both trackside and back in Faenza and Bicester, for their commitment and support in what has been an incredibly busy but productive period. We now turn our attention to preparing everything for Melbourne and look forward to the first race of the season."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Despite the cold temperature in the mornings, the weather in general has been kind to us for the two pre-season tests here in Barcelona. This gave the team the chance to learn a lot about the new STR14, different setups, and the tyres in favourable conditions. The synergies project has delivered what we expected, which means we had quite a reliable car from the very beginning, having covered 4,352 km between the two tests without any major problems. We experienced some little issues here and there which is normal at this stage of the season, but all of those were immediately addressed and certainly didn't create any reason for concern."
Williams
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: For the final day of the pre-season testing we planned an ambitious programme to mirror George's from yesterday. This involved more data gathering in the early cool track conditions which we achieved very well, followed by some performance experiments and a qualifying simulation before lunch. The long running in the afternoon was unfortunately brought to a halt because a number of critical bodywork parts had reached a stage of degradation that meant that we were no longer learning useful information from the car nor indeed for Robert. So we decided to switch our time to those final race procedural practices (starts, pit stops etc.) that we need to do before Australia.
Having arrived late to the testing, our reliability during the running itself has been incredibly high. Up until today we were on track to complete our originally intended mileage and to consume all available tyre sets. But today this car has become ultimately too tired to continue. In the interest of saving our resources for the important racing in Australia we felt it was right to change the plan. In general, the car is not as its best and this has affected our performance most particularly this morning with Robert in the qualifying simulation and to some extent with George yesterday.
This is an important moment as we finish the pre-season testing to acknowledge the huge effort that has been put in by everybody to design, manufacture and operate this car. The car build and testing itself has required an extremely intense period of more than three weeks working 24x7 by the trackside team. What we have achieved despite our huge challenges is remarkable; well done to the whole team.
Robert Kubica: It is a pity to end testing with a difficult day before we head to the first race. Out of the runs that we did, we managed to learn some things, but it hasn't given me the level of confidence that I would have liked ahead of Australia. It wasn't the day that I was hoping for after the delay to the start of testing, but you have to take the positives out of these difficult situations.