(© Ben Johnston 2015)
The Sahara Force India Formula One Team endured a difficult final
day of the opening Barcelona test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Nico Hulkenberg who was in the VJM07 for the first time this
weekend suffered a number of mechanical issues with the car which meant that the
team’s activities for the day were disrupted. The car stopped out on track at
one point which resulted in the session being red flagged while the car was
recovered to the pit-lane.
Despite the problems, Hulkenberg was able to conduct testing
with the new 2015 specification Pirelli race tyre. It was also the first time
that the Hulk had been back in the garage since the start of the winter break
as the Sahara Force India Formula One Team opted to sit out the opening winter
test in Jerez two weeks ago.
Hulkenberg managed to complete 36 laps with a fastest time
of 1m 26.591s which was the eighth fastest time of the day. Speaking afterwards
he said:
‘It was a very nice sensation to be back in a
Formula One car and getting the feeling of being in the cockpit again. It was
exciting and I really enjoyed my time driving the car and working with the
engineers after the winter break. Unfortunately our day was shortened by an
issue with the power unit, something we will look into once the car is back at
the factory.
This, together with the very windy and cold conditions,
made our work harder but every lap is valuable in pre-season. I am really
looking forward to the final test next week and to try the new car. I am
especially looking forward to Melbourne and starting racing again.’
The team have been extremely busy this week as they have had
Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team test and reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein, Sergio ‘Checco’
Perez and Nico Hulkenberg in the car. Speaking about the test Chief Race
Engineer Tom McCullough stated:
‘It was not the most straightforward of days, with
a few technical issues costing us track time. A windy morning made it difficult
to evaluate some of the items we were testing, but it still made for a useful
first experience with the new Pirelli tyres for Nico, and we will be able to extract
some data from those laps.
Although we finish this test with a fairly
frustrating day for Nico, over these four days we gathered a lot of useful
information and we will put that into good practice for the start of the season.’
© Ben Johnston 2015
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