(© Ben Johnston 2015)
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s Nico Rosberg set the
fastest time of the session on day 2 of the final winter test at the Barcelona
Circuit de Catalunya.
The German completed 106 laps of the Spanish circuit with a
fastest time of 1m 22.792s. Speaking following the session Rosberg stated:
‘Today was a difficult
day to start with but ended on a positive. During the early runs, even though
the numbers looked like they were in the right place with the setup, it was
actually very far away from where it needed to be, which was unusual and caught
us off guard a little bit.
We didn’t really understand why, so a big part of
the day has been chasing the setup and finding the right direction. It was
really difficult to understand where to go. I had a lot of oversteer in the
car, so the rear was just all over the place with no traction. But eventually,
towards the end especially, it was feeling more and more decent. Then, putting
the soft tyres on, that gives you the grip anyway so it doesn’t really matter
what the balance is – more or less it will be possible to do a good lap.
I’m pleased with my
two laps at the end – I nailed them pretty well and they were both identical,
so a good ending to the day. We’re confident that we have a good car and I’m
starting to feel good in it. At the same time, of course, we’re well aware that
the others have been posting some quick times and we can take nothing for
granted. We have a great team who are doing a fantastic job and always want
better and better, so we will keep our heads down and keep working. It’s a work
in progress…'
Williams Martini Racing Team’s Valtteri Bottas showed that
the FW37 is an extremely competitive car as the Finn ended the day in second
place completing 90 laps of the Barcelona circuit with a fastest time of 1m
23.995s. Speaking following the session, Bottas stated:
‘It was nice to focus on performance today and work to get
the lap times lower. We are working hard and still have two days left of the
test so there is more still to do. The day was busy and we know there is still
more to come, I feel positive and the balance was good. We still need to make
sure we look at the longer runs and not just the one lap qualifying pace.’
The Grove based outfit’s Chief test and support engineer Rod
Nelson stated:
‘We started the day doing some aero work comparing data and
driver feel. We then moved onto a few performance based runs. Later in the day
we worked on race procedure including some longer runs and grid simulations. We
have had some new components that have performed as expected which has been
productive. We have a busy final two days of the test as we optimise the time
left until the first race.’
The Sauber F1 Team’s Felipe Nasr was third fastest for the
Swiss based outfit having completed 141 laps with a fastest time of 1m 24.071s.
The Brazilian was extremely happy with his day in the C34 and stated
afterwards:
‘Today was very productive as
we went through the whole programme. In the morning I was able to get a feeling
for the car during the short-runs on the soft and medium compounds, which was
quite positive. After the lunch break, I went through a race simulation on
different tyres. It was a good experience, and I now have a better
understanding for the car during the long-runs. I am also quite happy with the
balance of the car. Again today we made another step forward, and we have to
keep pushing in this direction.’
Speaking following the day,
the Sauber F1 Team’s Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall’Ara stated:
‘It was another good day for
us. The programme was more or less the same as yesterday, with aero
measurements and race starts in the morning. Later on Felipe went through a
race simulation, and we were also able to test a different rear wing at the end
of the day.’
Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest for
the Italian team. The four time world champion completed 143 laps in the SF15-T
working on aerodynamic and long run tests. Kimi Raikkonen will be back in
action for the Maranello based outfit. Speaking after today’s running,
Sebastian Vettel stated:
‘I drove
more than two Grands Prix today, but I don’t know if I won one, that depends on
what the others did! Jokes apart, it’s nice that at the final test we could
cover more and more mileage. Today we didn’t have any problem, we know there is
still a lot of work we can do as a team, but so far I feel very good. If I had
to pinpoint one thing, I’d rather be a bit quicker, but it’s difficult to
evaluate how quick we are, because some people tried more of a qualifying trim
and others did less so. I never drove the 2014 Ferrari, but I think this one
it’s a massive step forward. That doesn’t mean that we are satisfied as it’s
clear that if you want to win, you have to beat Mercedes. It’s exciting to see
what’s going on behind them, which I think it’s not clear judging from the lap
times we’ve seen so far.’
Ferrari technical director James Allison stated:
‘Today was
a much, much better day, with almost flawless reliability, and it’s much more
encouraging, as we get close to Melbourne, to have that. We did a lot of setup
work as well, were very conservative for outright performance, but were able to
get good direction for the start of the season.’
It was a fantastic day for the McLaren-Honda F1 Team as
Jenson Button completed 101 laps with a fastest time of 1m 25.590s ending the
day just ahead of the Lotus F1 Team’s Pastor Maldonado. Button who stopped out
on track towards the end of the day called it ‘a massive leap in terms of the
atmosphere within the team’.
Speaking following his day where he ended in 6th
place with a 1m 26.705s having completed 140 laps Pastor Maldonado stated:
‘We ran the car for a long time today which
has been a good endorsement of my winter training programme as I still feel
fresh after 140 laps! We did a lot of different assessments so I had plenty to
think about and it was good to do the race simulation as we’ll soon be heading
to Melbourne. There’s a lot of information to digest from today and I can’t
wait to get back in the car on Sunday.’
The Lotus F1 Team’s Technical Director Nick Chester stated:
‘We’ve completed a high tally of laps today and
the E23 has run reliably throughout. This is great for us as we’ve been able to
try a number of different set-up and aero configurations to enable us to get as
much data as possible to make further progress in our understanding of our new
car. Pastor did a great job despite driving the equivalent distance of more
than two Grands Prix and we’re looking forward to Romain jumping back into the
car tomorrow.’
Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was 7th
fastest for the Italian team having completed 139 laps with a fastest time of
1m 26.766s.
Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat was 8th
fastest in the RB11 with a 1m 26.965s completing 84 laps and speaking
afterwards the Russian stated:
‘We had a couple of issues today but nothing too
serious. So, while it would have been nice to do a few more laps, we did get a
lot done today. You always want more and we’re always looking for improvement
but overall I’m happy, Today was my last day of testing and I’m happy
with the level I reached with my group of guys over the past few weeks. I think
we’re heading in the right direction, we have a good understanding between us,
we’re not lost anywhere and we know what we need to do for Melbourne.’
Infiniti Red Bull
Racing’s head of race engineering Guillaume Rocquelin stated:
‘It doesn’t sound very exciting but aside from
a couple of minor glitches it was a very normal day of testing – exactly the
type of day you’re looking for. We had some parts arrive overnight as a fix for
the problem we had yesterday afternoon and while we were waiting for those to
be prepped we spent the morning doing aero work, which was part of the plan
anyway.
By the time we got through that, we were ready
to run the new parts in the afternoon. We were focused on long runs but then we
had a problem with a sensor, which stopped us briefly. After that though it was
business as usual. It was Daniil’s final day of testing and he has been
excellent throughout. His ability in the car was never in doubt but it is a big
ask for a driver to start with a new team and to familiarise yourself with
everything in just six days of testing. However, he integrated into the set-up
very quickly, got to know his guys well and got to grips with all the systems
and procedures in double quick time. He’s been very impressive and I think he’s
well prepared for the first race.’
The Sahara Force India Formula One Team completed a
productive day on their first day running the 2015 car, the VJM08 with Nico
Hulkenberg completing 77 laps with a fastest time of 1m 28.412s with the German
impressed with the initial outing in the car despite suffering a puncture on
his out lap. Speaking afterwards he stated:
‘It was a very good day, at least in terms of the
running we managed to do. We were able to run reliably straight out of the box
and that is very encouraging. The boys and girls at the factory and here at the
track have been pushing really hard in the last couple of weeks and to do 77
laps in little more than one afternoon is a remarkable job by the team.
Obviously we still have a big task ahead of us
and we are playing catch-up in certain aspects, but I am quite satisfied so
far. The car feels pretty good, although making a direct comparison with our 2014
car is not easy as the conditions in winter testing are always very particular.
One of our team's strengths is to learn about the car quickly, so we will need
to get as much data as possible to get in a good position for Melbourne.
Tomorrow we will be looking at doing more long runs, working with the various
tyre compounds and putting more mileage on the car.’
The Sahara Force India F1 Team’s
Chief Race Engineer Tom McCullough stated:
‘It has been a real big effort from all the staff
back at the factory to get the car ready and out here for this test. Managing
to run our installation laps before the lunch break was very useful and helped
us achieve a solid first day with the VJM08.
These are the very early stages of the VJM08's
running and it is encouraging to get 77 laps on the board: we could have got
even more mileage hadn't it been for the red flags at the end of the day. Today
was all about achieving a first understanding of the new car and to run this
long allowed us to collect a sizeable amount of very valuable data. We will go
through it tonight and it will help us prepare for what is hopefully going to
be another productive day tomorrow.’
© Ben Johnston 2015
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