Perez leads the way at Sakhir

27/02/2014
NEWS STORY

Sergio Perez topped the timesheets today as the final pre-season test got underway.

While the morning session suggested that several teams had put their previous problems behind them, it was soon clear that the issues continue, with Red Bull, Lotus and Toro Rosso still very much on the back foot whilst their Mercedes powered rivals go from strength to strength.

Daniel Ricciardo, who clocked 32 laps in the morning was sidelined for almost the entire afternoon, completing just seven more laps as the RB10 continues to suffer overheating issues. And while there were early baths for Pastor Maldonado (exhaust) and (even) Nico Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen, who had also lost a lot of track time, made a late re-appearance and improved on his time.

Yet again, the Mercedes powered teams showed pace and reliability, with four drivers in the top six and three completing more than 100 laps.

While Mercedes and McLaren continue to impress, Williams and Force India are both very much in the mix and look sure to capitalise on the misfortunes that look likely to overshadow the Renault powered runners in the early stages of the season.

"We really needed a good day to start this week and today we had it," said a grinning Sergio Perez. "We managed to do a lot of laps, try several different compounds and mappings, and it's been a fantastic day in terms of learning about the car. Tomorrow is my last day in the car before the season starts so hopefully we can have another solid day to be in good shape for Melbourne."

"It has been a very productive day for the team and we managed to complete a high number of laps," added Andrew Green, the Silverstone outfit's Technical Director. "The morning was mainly devoted to working on the tyres, gathering data about the various compounds at our disposal, in addition to a few performance runs to optimise our set-up. We were satisfied with the results of this work, so in the afternoon we switched to longer runs. We were able to do some good long run simulations, which sets us up nicely for the remainder of the week."

At Williams, Valtteri Bottas began the day with aero evaluation then moved on to race simulation and set-up work. Having completed a full race distance the Finn subsequently went out and banged in the second best time of the day for good measure.

"It's been another good day for us," said Bottas. "It was nice to get the whole run plan done. We didn't have any issues all day so well done to all the team for getting the car running so well. We have a lot of data to analyse tonight after doing some aero work this morning and a race distance and set-up work this afternoon. We did some very interesting tests and there are still plenty of things to improve so we'll keep pushing."

"We started the morning by testing some aero components," added Chief Test & Support Engineer, Rod Nelson, "all of which correlated well with what we were expected from the wind tunnel. We then did a race simulation this afternoon including laps to the grid and everything that goes into a race and that also went well. We then completed our programme for today with some new tyre work for Pirelli. Overall, it's been a really good day completing 128 laps."

At Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen was sidelined for much of the morning due to a problem that couldn't be fixed before the lunch break. Once back on track in the afternoon, the Finn managed to run regularly, alternating between aero measurements and a series of set-up tests over short runs.

"We had a small problem today, which limited the number of laps but still managed to learn some new things about the car," said Raikkonen. "You always want to do better, but every team has unexpected things happen and we are still trying to do all we can to be ready for Melbourne.

"During the race weekends there will be little time to try different things in terms of setup, so it was important today to keep on this track to find out what's the best direction to go in. On the final day of the test, we will put everything together that we have learned so far and will concentrate on the conditions we will encounter in the races."

At Mercedes, where Nico Rosberg was on duty, the programme comprised long runs and a limited amount of setup evaluation in the morning, followed by race procedure work, including practice pit stops and starts, in the afternoon. Rosberg emerged for his first run just after 9:30, completing 64 laps before the lunch break. A further 25 laps followed in the afternoon, before an unspecified problem brought running to an end one hour earlier than planned.

"That was not a fantastic day for us," said the German. "We tried some new parts on the car and you find out a lot through doing that. But unfortunately we did not only discover good things today. I managed to do a couple of good laps before lunch but in the afternoon we had a few small problems which ended my running a bit earlier than planned. This shows that we are pushing everything to the limit and we still have a massive challenge in front of us during the last three days of testing. We need to maximise our time here to be prepared for Melbourne. But after a difficult day overall we are on the right path."

"We've re-grouped after last week's test and come back with the intention of running as close as possible to our Melbourne race specification with the F1 W05," revealed Paddy Lowe. "In addition to completing our final preparations from the reliability and performance perspectives, we have also brought a number of aerodynamic updates to the car for evaluation throughout the week. We've also been looking at a number of problems which arose during running last week and have introduced solutions for them.

"This first day got off to a slightly hesitant start," he continued, "with a few minor issues on our side combined with a number of red flags interrupting proceedings. Once we got going, however, Nico got straight into some relatively long runs on the medium tyre; commencing each with race start procedures, ending with practice pit stops and evaluating a few setup variations in between. By lunchtime and into the early part of afternoon, however, a number of problems with the car began to emerge which hindered Nico's progress and eventually brought our running to a halt an hour ahead of schedule. We understand what went wrong and will be reviewing it overnight with the aim of having a better day tomorrow."

Sauber focused on qualifying and race preparation, as well as further development work for the C33, while Adrian Sutil also had a chance to gain experience on the soft and super soft tyre compounds. The German, who completed just 7 laps on Saturday, completed 89 today on his way to posting the fifth best time of the day.

"We did a lot of mileage today," said Sutil. "However, we have to work on our performance. We still had a few issues. Nevertheless, we were able to do qualifying runs and almost a complete race simulation. We have collected a lot of valuable information, and we know we still have to make further progress. Also I was able to gain experience on all dry tyre compounds. Generally they are all a bit harder than last year, but I have no concern about them as they should last well over the race distance."

"The number of laps we did today was decent and we were able to work through the programme," added Head of Track Engineering, Giampaolo Dall'Ara. "In the morning we did front wing and suspension work. Then we went on to do low fuel qualifying runs until early afternoon, before switching to high fuel race simulations. In addition, Adrian was able to evaluate the soft and super soft tyre compounds properly. The purpose of this last test is to get the race team up to speed for the first race with the new procedures and a complex new car. At the same time, the development of the car goes on, so this is a delicate balance you have to find."

Without any new parts to evaluate, for the first two days of running McLaren will focus on mileage and reliability. Consequently, Kevin Magnussen spent the morning undertaking a series of short, set-up runs. After the lunch break, he completed a full-race distance, and fitted in some further set-up work.

The engineers also took the opportunity to run through a series of prove-outs, testing the car while running it on the pitlane speed-limiter, and doing practice starts.

It was a day of two halves for Red Bull where Daniel Ricciardo was on duty. After a productive morning in which he logged 32 laps, the afternoon was more difficult, leading to the team spending most of it in the garage. Indeed, whilst rivals were tweeting about times and laps completed, the Milton Keynes outfit was reduced to announcing that it (and Sebastian Vettel) had been nominated for 'Team of the Year' at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

"The morning was much better for us with a few longer runs," said Ricciardo. "Behind the wheel, that's the best I've felt so far. The package seems to be coming together better. We still had a few issues today, but at least when the car was on track it was much more useful running and we made progress in the morning. It's getting there. I'd love to keep going, but at least Seb has two days after me in the car, so I think we'll be looking pretty good for the next three days."

"We started really well this morning and put in some very useful laps straight away, which was good," said Race Engineering Co-ordinator, Andy Damerum. "We were able to run consistently and without issue and the plan was to increase the duration of the runs incrementally. That was all going according to plan. We sent Daniel out for a long-ish run, but we had to abort about five laps in, as we noticed some issues on the sensors. We brought him in, had a look at the car and discovered that we had a problem with the exhaust. So we had a long afternoon in the garage, but we did manage to get Daniel back out at the end of the session, which was good. We have some work to do overnight but hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to run in a similar style to this morning."

The day ran smoothly, with no major issues for Marussia, enabling Max Chilton to achieve the team's target and add valuable mileage to the MR03's pre-season tally. The Englishman completed 44 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:38.610, thereby out-pacing the Toro Rosso and Lotus.

"It's great to finally achieve some reasonable mileage and also to have some consistency to our running once again," said Chilton. "At this stage, there is still so much to learn about the car, so the information we have gathered is really important for the engineers. We have also had some positive signs in terms of reliability today, so all in all, I'm quite positive and we have a good basis now for the rest of the week. I'll be keeping a close eye on the work we are doing over the next couple of days and I look forward to being back in the car on Sunday."

"We are all very pleased that we have made such good progress today and achieved our target of being able to run the MR03 in high and low fuel specification," said John Booth. "We are reasonably happy with the performance of the car and the reliability is also starting to come, although these are complicated cars and we are treading carefully. There is only a short space of time now until Melbourne, so the work we will do over the next three days will be crucial. We have helped that process significantly by putting in place some firm building blocks for the rest of the week. We have had a challenging time in pre-season testing so far, but it looks like we are starting to turn the corner and motivation within the Team is high."

Toro Rosso, which had Daniil Kvyat on duty, enjoyed a solid morning, getting through part of the programme linked to some updated parts the team plans to run in Melbourne. These tests went well, producing encouraging results. However, shortly after the 30 minute lunch break, introduced for the first time this week, the STR9 suffered a technical failure, which could not be fixed in time for the car to go out again.

"It was nice to be in the car, even if we didn't get through the entire programme we had planned," said Kvyat. "However, I feel we have made some progress. We ran the Hard Pirelli most of the time, as we were definitely not chasing performance today. I hope Jev manages to get a full day's running tomorrow, before I drive again on Saturday."

At Lotus an exhaust issue shortened the day's running for Pastor Maldonado as the Enstone team conducted evaluations of new parts, including an updated exhaust. As a result of the failure the British team will revert to the earlier specification of exhaust for tomorrow's running.

"For sure it wasn't what we wanted today," said Maldonado, "but we are all working very hard to make progress and I'm sure we'll have solutions quite soon as a team, and it's clear we have good potential and the car is not bad. We have had some problems but we are fixing them and we are making improvements with electronics and software every day we run."

"Today started well and we evaluated new aero parts in the morning," added Alan Permane. "Unfortunately, our new specification exhaust system failed, causing a small amount of damage to the surrounding area of the car. This stopped us running early due to the rectification work required. For tomorrow, we will run with our previous specification of exhaust and we do not expect to see any similar problems to those we saw today."

It was another difficult day for Caterham, where Kamui Kobayashi completed just 19 laps, his track time compromised by a number of issues.

"Nineteen laps on the first day of the final test isn't how we wanted to start," admitted the Japanese driver, "but when each problem surfaces the whole team is working very hard to fix them. This morning we had an electrical problem, not related to the engine, that meant I had to stop on track. It was a lot less dramatic than it looked, but when there's smoke coming from the car it's obviously not good so we got the car back and had it fixed and cleaned up again by lunchtime.

"In the afternoon we were back out first, but found a series of power unit related software problems kept meaning we had to come back to the garage earlier than planned. I know how determined Renault are to fix these and I have another day in the car on Saturday to add to the good number of laps we ran in the first Bahrain test. Hopefully tomorrow Marcus will be able to do a similar number of laps to the 98 he ran last week and everyone's working harder than ever to make sure we leave Bahrain in a good position."

"Day one of the final test brought some challenges but we know what the issues are and we are working hard to resolve them for the remaining three days," said Cedrik Staudohar, Renault Sport F1's Track Support Leader. "In the morning Kamui stopped on track after seven laps with an electrical issue unrelated to the Power Unit, then we encountered a sequence of software and ignition issues this afternoon. We understand why they originate, but unfortunately some of the fixes take a reasonable amount of time to implement in the garage. Nevertheless we are working hard to correct everything for tomorrow to have a much cleaner day when Marcus is back in the car."

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Chris Balfe

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Published: 27/02/2014
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