12/02/2011
NEWS STORY
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Nick Heidfeld served notice that he is the man Lotus Renault GP needs to replace Robert Kubica by topping the timesheets at Jerez today, his first time in the R31.
It was a dream debut for the popular German, who this time last week, must have thought his F1 career was at an end. In the wake of Robert Kubica's horrific accident in a rally last Sunday, 'Quick Nick' was one of the first names mentioned in terms of a possible replacement for the Pole. However, it wasn't until Wednesday, just three days ago, that the British outfit confirmed that the German was to be given the chance to prove himself.
Letting his talent speak for itself, Heidfeld stepped up to the plate today and delivered, posting the best time of the day and missing out on the best time of the week - posted by Michael Schumacher yesterday - by just 0.009s.
In addition to sizing up Heidfeld, Lotus Renault GP evaluated a new floor upgrade today, pressure tapping and flow viz paint allowing the engineers to verify its aero characteristics. The team also ran back-to-back tests on all four Pirelli tyre compounds for the first time, confirming the different degradation rates and variations in performance.
"I really enjoyed the day," said Heidfeld. "It was fun driving the car, although it obviously takes time to get used to things when it's your first time in a car and working with a new team. We had a good day, without too many problems, and luckily all the changes we made to the car went in the right direction and improved things, so I was able to push harder and harder.
"In terms of the lap times, it's very difficult for me to compare with the other teams because we don't know the fuel levels or what the others were doing," he added. "My first impressions of the car were positive, although there are always areas where you can improve."
"Today we had the chance to give Nick time in the car and we carried out a big evaluation," said Eric Boullier. "Our first feelings are very positive: he worked well with the team, gave good feedback and improved the car during the day. We managed to cover 86 laps and the times are encouraging, which is also thanks to Robert and Vitaly's early feedback and the hard work of everybody in the team."
"The day was based around getting Nick comfortable in the car and giving him as much mileage as possible," added Alan Permane. "He adapted to the car and the systems quickly. We played around with the set-up early on and changed a few things during the day, this included the weight distribution and the toes and cambers for the Pirelli tyres. Unfortunately the afternoon was disrupted by several red flags, so we were not able to complete the long runs we had planned."
While Heidfeld topped the timesheets, there is no doubt as to who the star of the show was today, certainly as far as the crowds were concerned. The locals turned out in the thousands to watch Fernando Alonso, indeed, such were the numbers one would be forgiven for thinking that a fully fledged Grand Prix was taking place.
Despite the huge traffic jams outside as thousands more fans made their way to the track to watch Alonso begin his second season with Ferrari, those inside weren't disappointed as the Spaniard completed 131 laps and finished second quickest.
The two-time world champion worked through a similar programme to the one that team-mate Felipe Massa completed yesterday. Running with an image of Robert Kubica's helmet on his own, in the morning he worked on a comparison between the four types of tyre that Pirelli had brought here. Then, in the afternoon, he concentrated on a long run.
"It is very important to be able to do so many kilometres one after the other, without experiencing any problems," he told the team's website. "It means we can pick up a lot of data which is useful especially when it comes to understanding the tyre behaviour, which is the biggest unknown at this test.
"I already said it in Valencia and I repeat it now," he continued, "we must not think about what the others are doing, in terms of times. It is better to focus on our own efforts and then we can see where we are in Bahrain in a month's time."
Michael Schumacher was in action for Mercedes again, the German completing 114 laps on his way to posting the third best time of the day. The German outfit's programme included systems checks with the adjustable rear wing, tyre evaluations with the different Pirelli compounds and development work on the balance of the car over longer runs.
"At the end of my two test days in Jerez, I can only be happy with what we have achieved," said the German. "Once again today, we completed a lot of mileage, and with the exception of some smaller issues, we ran very well which enables us to steadily progress with our testing programme. This is exactly what you want at this period of time. I am now looking forward to continuing the development at the next test in Barcelona starting on Friday."
A shortage of spare parts meant that Lewis Hamilton was only able to complete 36 laps. While this hampered running, on-the-spot repairs were effected, and the relevant new components will be delivered overnight ahead of tomorrow's running.
Despite the lack of mileage, the Woking team declared itself pleased with the progress made: Hamilton and the engineers made some positive new steps with car set-up and understanding tyre performance, and also re-confirmed some concepts previously tested. The team conducted some running with the new-for-2011 drag reduction system but will fully focus on the adjustable rear wing at next week's Barcelona test.
Jenson Button concludes the four-day programme tomorrow, carrying on from where his teammate left off, focusing on confirmation of today's set-up direction and long-run tyre comparison work on the Pirellis.
Despite stopping out on track twice, Sauber enjoyed a day of productive testing as Kamui Kobayashi took over the C30 from Sergio Perez.
"After not having been at the wheel in Valencia for a long time, today was Kamui's first day of proper testing with the C30 and the latest Pirelli tyres," said James Key. "We have been running on used tyres and did some general set up work, but actually not a huge amount of performance work.
"In the morning we did general mechanical work and set up changes, checking directions we found when Sergio was driving. In the afternoon we also tested some new development items and concentrated on longer runs, which in the end were cut short due to an engine problem. We are also looking forward to a full test programme for tomorrow."
Sebastian Vettel took over from Mark Webber for Red Bull. The Austrian team's schedule was similar to the one it ran yesterday, as today was the first chance the world champion had had to try some of the different Pirelli compounds on longer runs.
"Testing has gone well today," said the German. "It's quite tricky with the rear wing; it acts in a similar manner to the f-duct last year, so naturally, as a driver, you want to use it as much as you can. When the tyres go off, it's not as easy to use as when the tyres are fresh, but you get used to it. KERS is not so easy to use, but again it's a case of getting used to it - its practice in the end."
"It was another good day today," added Ian Morgan, the team's head of race engineering, "we managed to get through our full programme, despite a number of red flags towards the end of the session. Fortunately we were up on our schedule at that point, so we didn't lose too much time. The car ran reliably all day."
At Toro Rosso it was Sebastien Buemi's turn in the STR6 for the first time since last week's Valencia test. In the morning, the Swiss worked on a tyre comparison, trying the modified Pirelli medium compound and also for the first time, the hard.
The afternoon programme featured two elements: first of all, some aerodynamic testing and secondly a long run, although the latter was compromised by some red flags and the fact that the car stopped with around ten minutes of the session remaining. However, by then, Buemi's lap total had already exceeded that required for a Grand Prix distance.
"The team has done a good job moving on with the development of the car since I last drove it in Valencia," said Buemi. "It is definitely better, although at the moment there is no point in talking about its performance level, as we are still working mainly on understanding everything about it. So I am happy with what we did today, when I also tried the hard compound Pirelli, which worked well and that means I have now run with all four compounds. We have one more day here, which we will use to work through many other elements."
Following yesterday's problems, when the team had virtually no running in the afternoon, today was far better for Team Lotus which had Heikki Kovalainen on duty. Like his rivals, the Finn was frustrated by the number of red flags, however, he was still able to complete 61 laps as the team worked on a DRS 'race mode' test, set-up work and tyre evaluations.
"Today was very encouraging and I really enjoyed driving the car," said the Finn. "I still have the same feeling that I had in Valencia - it's fundamentally a good car and there's a lot more to come from it. We managed to make very good progress today, even though we had a problem with the exhaust we still managed to get through most of the programme. The guys worked well to fix the problem, and by the end of the day we had made a number of setup changes, run through all the tyre compounds and had run on a variety of fuel loads.
"This morning we tried the DRS in race mode and even though I had thought the procedure to initiate it might be pretty complicated it actually all worked easily. Once you get used to it the system is pretty simple. I used it in both race and practice mode and it returns to position well so I have no problems under braking and am very happy with how it all works. By the time the day ended we finished right in the mix so we're all pretty happy with the day's work.
"I think we are all quite pleased with how the day went," added sporting director, Dieter Gass. "The morning and late afternoon sessions were good and even though we lost some time on track around the middle of the day with the exhaust problem we were still able to learn a lot more about the car and complete most of the programme.
"One of the key learnings from today is with the tyres," he continued. "I think there we have a lot more work to do to really understand how to get the best out of the tyres but we have definitely taken a step forward with Pirelli today. We also tested the DRS in race conditions today and it was our first chance to try the proximity system - that worked very well and it was good to see that in action as it will be used in race scenarios."
Rubens Barrichello was back on duty for Williams, and after the frustration of yesterday, when the team lost over three hours due to a KERS battery problem, there was further time lost today, as Sam Michael explains: "After a couple of setup runs this morning we had a problem with the KERS onboard cooling system. We had to stop and remove some components to ensure the car was safe, and that cost us three hours. In the afternoon we made good progress with the aero setup of the FW33 on long runs, with Rubens generating some good data for the wind tunnel."
Paul di Resta got his first run in the VJM04 as Force India continued its preparations. Picking up from Adrian Sutil's programme yesterday, the Scot concentrated on tyre evaluation and establishing baseline set-ups for the remainder of the testing programme. Di Resta completed 64 laps, bringing the VJM04's total mileage to almost 700km since its debut on Thursday.
"Today was really about me getting used to the new car," said di Resta, "plus getting as much information about the new tyres and set-up options as possible. We've still got a bit of work to do, but today was about determining the right way to go. We did find that there were a couple of issues with getting temperature in the brakes on some set-ups, and on the final run of the day I locked up into turn nine and went off into the gravel. Overall I think we can be fairly positive with the progress we've made over the past couple of days and have a good idea of where we can go tomorrow."
"Today was Paul's first opportunity to drive the VJM04 so was very much about acclimatisation to the car and looking at various set-up options," added circuit engineering director, Dominic Harlow. "We continued to learn about the car, and found some good and some bad directions. Unfortunately Paul locked the brakes at T9 on his final outing and had a small spin. There wasn't any damage but with another red flag almost immediately afterwards there wasn't time to continue so we missed a few laps. Tomorrow Paul will conclude the test, taking the opportunity to try the DRS rear wing in simulated race mode during the morning and further set-up work planned for the afternoon."
Today came Jerome d'Ambrosio's long-awaited turn in the MVR-02, the Belgian getting a first feeling of the new car and providing more valuable information to the team. He was able to start understanding the behaviour of the car and the consistency of the tyres by working up to some long stints as well as simulating pit-stops and formation laps. The team was also able to continue its evaluation of the new moveable rear wing.
"I was really looking forward to today and it's fantastic to finally be driving the new car," said the Belgian. "I was able to complete many laps and spend a lot of time in the car, which is what testing is all about. I am quickly getting used to driving the MVR-02 and tomorrow I hope we can continue to gather plenty of useful data to help us to continue moving forward."
"Today has been a very productive day," added John Booth, "as the time we spent confined to the garage was limited and we were therefore able to get plenty of track time and useful mileage under our belts. Jerome has done a great job in his debut run in the MVR-02 and it is great to see him developing with each time out in the car. We hope for more of the same tomorrow to ensure we end a very good first test on a high."
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