Lotus end final day of testing early

(Lotus F1 Team via Twitter)

 

Reports emerging from the Bahrain International Circuit are suggesting that for the second day in a row the Lotus F1 Team have cut their day short following a fire in the E22. Today is the final day of winter testing and so far Romain Grosjean has completed only 32 laps today.

 

The Frenchman admitted yesterday that the Enstone based outfit are on the 'back foot' heading to the opening race of the season in Australia which is just two weeks away.

 

Grosjean believes that it will take the team a number of races to get on top of their new car.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014

 

 



Bottas fastest in the morning of the final day of Winter testing in Bahrain as Red Bull's troubles continue

(Williams F1 Team via Twitter)

 

The Williams F1 Team continued to show that their new car has great pace as Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets on the final morning of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Finn set the fastest time of 1m 34.797s in the FW36 which has proven to be an extremely reliable car.

 

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was second for the Italian team as he wraps up the team's winter test programme. The Spaniard set a time of 1m 35.507s. The general feeling in the F1 paddock is that Ferrari are yet to show the true potential of their new car.

 

Nico Hulkenberg once again showed the Force India like Williams have a good car under them as the German finished the morning session in third place. Toro Rosso's Jean Eric Vergne was the quickest Renault powered car as the Frenchman who took over from team mate Daniil Kvyat was fourth fastest.

 

Following a difficult day for the Sauber F1 Team yesterday the Swiss outfit recalled Adrian Sutil for the final day of Winter testing and the German was 6th fastest in the C33.

 

Jenson Button was back in the MP4-29 for McLaren today and was 7th fastest albeit 3.3 seconds behind Valtteri Bottas. The Woking based outfit have shown some great pace over the course of the winter testing programme.

 

Following an extremely impressive run of laps yesterday Caterham continued to progress this morning as Kamui Kobayashi was 8th fastest finishing the session ahead of the Lotus F1 Team's Romain Grosjean and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel.

 

The Milton Keynes based squad started the morning well as the German completed 44 laps before smoke was seen coming out of the back of the RB10 he also spun.

 

Max Chilton is the only other driver to have set a time so far this morning for the Marussia F1 Team as Mercedes AMG F1's Lewis Hamilton on went out on track for the first time at 09.40 (Irish time) after the team discovered a problem with W05.

 

In other F1 news, the Bahrain circuit officials have confirmed that they have named Turn 1 in honour of Michael Schumacher.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grosjean - Lotus on the back foot

(Bernard Asset - Renault Sport F1)

 

Romain Grosjean has admitted that the Lotus F1 Team will struggle in the opening race's of the 2014 season. The Enstone squad endured another difficult day in Bahrain as Romain Grosjean stopped out on track this morning with an electrical fault with the fan in the gearbox of the E22.

 

In the afternoon session Grosjean's running was once again interrupted this time by a problem with the cars Energy Recovery System.

 

Due to the problems today the Frenchman could only manage to complete 31 laps in the Lotus as the team were forced to cut short their Saturday test programme. Winter testing concludes tomorrow and Grosjean has admitted that it will take a number of race's for the Enstone outfit to get up to speed as they are not ready for the opening race in Melbourne.

 

The team missed the opening test of the Winter in Jerez so that they could work on the development of the E22 a little longer however like most team's they have suffered teething problems with their new car.

 

The team just have tomorrow's running to complete a race simulation before Formula One decamps and heads to Australia.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014 

 

 



Massa tops the sheets as Red Bull struggles continue

(Williams F1 Team via Twitter)

 

Felipe Massa continued the Williams F1 Team's great winter testing form at the Bahrain International Circuit today as the Brazilian topped the timesheets in his FW36 with a fastest time of 1m 33.258s to finish just ahead of Mercedes AMG F1's Nico Rosberg who, despite a late start to the session managed to rack up over 100 laps in the W05.

 

Kimi Raikkonen, who was conducting his last day of Winter testing for Ferrari had a start to the day  however, the Finn managed to complete a race simulation in the F14T and finished up his Bahrain test in third place with a best time of 1m 35.426s he finished the day just ahead of McLaren's Kevin Magnussen who put in another solid day of running for the Woking based team.

 

Daniil Kvyat gave Toro Rosso and Renault something to smile about early on in the session as he topped the times briefly, it was the first time a Renault powered car had topped the times during testing as the manufacturer as suffered a number of problems during pre-season. Kvyat eventually finished the day in 5th place.

 

After leading the field on Thursday and Friday Force India had to settle for a midfield position today as Nico Hulkenberg finished the day in 6th place in the VJM07 however the new car looks very quick and reliable so far and there is still one day to go so they may very well find themselves at the top of the class tomorrow.

 

Marussia's Jules Bianchi was 7th fastest for the Banbury based team and they were extremely encouraged by their performance yesterday and they appear to be ahead of Caterham at this stage of winter testing.

 

Marcus Ericsson was next up for Caterham. The Swedish driver conducted some good running today however he finished the day 4.8s behind Felipe Massa.

 

It was another difficult day for the Lotus F1 Team as Romain Grosjean finished test programme early due to an unspecified problem with the E22. The Frenchman was the last driver to set a time as neither Sauber nor Red Bull Racing completed any running today.

 

Red Bull Racing's team principal Cristian Horner once again denied that Sebastian Vettel had a 'hissy fit' in Jerez. The team struggled with the RB10 yet again today and Horner said that the team are currently 10 day's behind in their programme from where they would like to be. Sebatian Vettel could only manage four corners of the Sakhir circuit this morning before his car came to a halt. When he eventually managed to get back out the car came to a stop again this time in the pitlane. It is certainly worrying times for the reigning world champions who with just one day left of winter testing have an awful lot of work to do overnight.

 

Pre-season testing concludes tomorrow with exactly two week's to go until lights in Melbourne Australia it is anyone's guess as to who will take the first victory of the season.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lotus finish early

(Bernard Asset - Renault Sport F1)

 

The Lotus F1 Team have finished today's session with just under an hour of running left at the Bahrain International Circuit. Grosjean brought out the red flag after the E22 stopped on the back straight.

 

The Lotus F1 Team like many other outfits have suffered from poor reliability and today has been another difficult day as Grosjean lies down in 9th place and is the last of runners to have set a time. The Frenchman's time of 1m 42.166s which was 5.9 seconds behind Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren.

 

The Lotus F1 Team have not confirmed what the problem is with the car but they will be back in action tomorrow.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014

 





Former Ferrari spokeman joins Marussia as Partnership Director

(Marussia F1 Team via Twitter)

 

The Marussia F1 Team have confirmed today that former Ferrari spokesman Luca Colajanni has joined them as their new Partner Director. In his new role, the Italian will be responsible for liaising with the team's partners and suppliers including Ferrari who are Marussia's engine supplier.

 

Colajanni left Ferrari's Formula One team at the start of last year to take up a new position within the organisation.

 

Speaking about his new appointment Colajanni said that he is happy to be joining Marussia because although they are a young team their personnel have a huge amount of experience in Motorsport. He went on to thank Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemelo for giving him the opportunity to work for the Italian team and he is looking forward to working alongside the company in his new role at the Marussia F1 Team.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014

Massa leads Mercedes powered 1,2,3 this morning in Bahrain as Red Bull's problems continue

(Williams F1 Team via Twitter)

 

Felipe Massa led the way in this morning's test session in at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Brazilian set the fastest time of 1m 37.224s. Force India's Nico Hulkenberg continued to show how much progress the Silverstone based squad has made over the winter as was second setting the fastest time of 1m 38.000s.

 

Nico Rosberg was third for Mercedes AMG F1. The German was 1.333s behind Felipe Massa. It was a great morning for Toro Rosso as Daniil Kvyat was fourth fastest and the quickest of the Renault powered teams.

 

Kevin Magnussen was fifth fastest for McLaren. The Danish driver has shown fantastic pace during his time testing the new MP4-29.

 

On his final day in the F14T before the Australian Grand Prix Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was 6th for the Italian team just ahead of Caterham's Marcus Ericsson. Jules Bianchi 8th fastest for Marussia while Romain Grosjean was 9th for Lotus as he kicked off his final two days of running in E22.

 

It has been another horrendous day for reigning world champions Red Bull Racing as Sebastian Vettel, who took over running from Daniel Ricciardo today could only manage for corners in the RB10 before the car came to a halt. The car returned to the pit-lane on the back of a low loader and when the team tried to get the car back out on track it once again ground to a halt as Vettel came headed down the pit-lane.

 

It is going to be an extremely busy final few hours of running today for the teams and tomorrow will be an incredibly busy as it is the final day of winter testing before the pack up process begins and the teams head to Australia.

 

It is unclear who the favourite is heading to Melbourne. Mercedes have been installed as the favourites but Force India, McLaren, Force India and Williams look in great shape. Ferrari also look in great shape too so we'll just have to wait and see what happens in Melbourne.

 

©Ben Johnston 2014