18/11/2008
NEWS STORY
 |
Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Barcelona, ahead of a trio of Toro Rosso hopefuls.
Unlike yesterday, however, for much of the day it was overcast, with temperatures barely reaching 14 degrees C, but that didn't prevent the 16 drivers present from completing 1277 laps of the 2.892 mile circuit.
Given that the teams are running a wide range of different aerodynamic configurations, in preparation for the 2009 rules, it doesn't mean too much, but nevertheless, Sebastian Vettel's first session as an official Red Bull Racing driver got off to a good start, as he posted today's fastest time. In fact, the top four times all came courtesy of a chassis designed by Red Bull Technology, as sister team Toro Rosso, set the next three best times.
Once Vettel was settled in, he carried on with the programme begun yesterday by Sebastien Loeb, which centred mainly on tyre data acquisition, running the softer of the two types of slick available here. Unfortunately, a brake problem meant some track time was lost in the morning, but the programme was back on schedule come the end of the day. Vettel drives again tomorrow, the final day of this test session.
For Toro Rosso, Sebastien Buemi drove all day, while Takuma Sato jumped out of the cockpit at the end of the morning, to hand over to Sebastien Bourdais.
Buemi and Sato did some long runs to gather data on the new slick tyres, with the Swiss driver having an off-track excursion on his first set of new rubber. However, he recovered well to complete another high mileage day, after yesterday's performance, which is a testament to his physical condition, given that the cars are more physically demanding to drive on slick tyres.
Sato finished his programme by doing a long stint at race pace, before handing over to Bourdais. "I have really enjoyed the test and it was great to be back in the car," said the Japanese driver. "The last test in September was a little disappointing, because I could do only 3 hours, as it rained in the afternoon. But this test has been great - I have now done my first full day's driving in 7 months and completed a total of 200 laps.
"The car has worked really well and felt great to drive," he added. "I enjoyed working with the team and it was very interesting for me to see how the engineers work. It was a great experience and chance for me and so I would like to say a big thanks to Red Bull and Mr. Mateschitz, as well as to the Scuderia Toro Rosso team."
Bourdais, no stranger to slick tyres because of his time running them in Champ Cars in the USA, believes that Bridgestone has made a step forward in tyre performance and consistency, since he tested them earlier in the year. However, it was evident that the softer of the two types of tyre had a clear advantage over the harder one.
McLaren had Gary Paffett on duty while Pedro de la Rosa helped out at Force India. Today, the Englishman switched to the KERS test car (MP4-23K) driven by the Spaniard on Monday, but his day's work was cut short at lunchtime when a minor oil leak prompted the team to effect a precautionary switch to the vacant MP4-23. The team spent the afternoon running aero and slick tyre evaluation runs. Paffett, whose best time was posted in the KERS car, will continue in the MP4-23K tomorrow.
Nick Heidfeld joined Robert Kubica for BMW as the Munich outfit once again concentrated on development work with the 2009 season in sight. Both test cars were interim cars based on the F1.08 with some aerodynamic components complying with the 2009 regulations. Kubica and Heidfeld completed 76 and 81 laps respectively, tyres and reliability being the main focus of today's work.
"Of course we loose a lot of downforce compared to the 2008 car," admitted Kubica, explaining the effect of the new rules governing aerodynamics. "But because we are back from grooved to slick tyres, we have substantially more grip in slow corners. So with some more development I don't think there will be too big a difference between the 2009 and 2008 cars."
Nico Rosberg was Williams sole representative, the German completing 113 laps on his way to posting the seventh best time of the day.
"Nico joined us today to carry on set-up and development work with the new slick tyres," said Test Team Manager, Dickie Stanford. "Once again we were also running components from the 2009 aero package and experienced no mechanical problems with the car. Tonight we will convert the chassis back to Nico Hulkenberg's set-up who resumes testing tomorrow."
For Honda, Jenson Button joined Lucas di Grassi, the duo finishing eighth and tenth on the timesheets, completing 210 laps between them.
Nelson Piquet was once again joined by Giedo van der Garde. The Brazilian completed a full day's work, while van der Garde drove for half the day as reward for winning the World Series by Renault earlier this year.
The team worked on a similar programme to yesterday with the main emphasis being data collection and evaluation of the slick Bridgestone tyres. There was also further running with 2009-type set-ups to give the team further information, which will be fed into next year's car.
The Dutch youngster enjoyed another strong outing with the team, completing 37 laps and building on the work he completed yesterday. He adapted well to the team's technical programme and, according to the team, continued to give the engineers valuable feedback.
Piquet will remain in the car tomorrow as the team runs just a single car for the final day of testing.
"It was a similar day to yesterday," said the Brazilian, "as we continued learning about the slick tyres and working on the car set-up by trying to simulate next year's settings. It was a bit cooler than yesterday, but the track conditions were not too bad and we didn't have any problems with the car, which allowed us to get a good number of laps in. So a positive second day, which we can build on tomorrow."
"I've had another really enjoyable day working with the team and helping them with their preparations for next year," added van der Garde. "Towards the end of the morning I had the chance to do a couple of new tyres runs, which helped me build confidence in the car and each time I improved my lap times. We made good progress across the two half days and the team was happy with how things went so overall it has been a very positive experience. I'm grateful to the ING Renault F1 Team for giving me this opportunity."
"Another interesting day's testing, which saw us continue with the work we did yesterday by trying to understand the tyres, as well as some R&D work," said Christian Silk. "We had a good morning running Giedo and he was quite competitive and gave good feedback to the engineers and worked well with the team. Nelson had a busy day jumping between the cars, working on the set-up and collecting basic data on the tyres, so it's been another productive day for us."
Luca Badoer and Marc Gene continued for Ferrari. The two drivers continued with the work programme initiated yesterday, which focused mainly on engine and gearbox reliability for the Italian and a comparison of different set-ups for the Spaniard.
At Force India, Adrian Sutil was joined by Pedro de la Rosa, a move which has had the Spanish media in overdrive claiming that the McLaren tester will be back on the grid next season... though considering he'll be 38 in February this seems highly unlikely. Instead, it's an obvious way for McLaren to glean reliable information on the current Force India chassis, the team and the Ferrari engine.
Unfortunately, the Spanish veteran made a mistake on one of his first runs, hitting the McLaren of Gary Paffett at the first corner and breaking the Englishman's wheel rim. On returning to the pits, de la Rosa was warmly greeted by members of the McLaren crew who clearly feel (above) that the Spaniard's eyesight is deteriorating with age.