26/11/2014
NEWS STORY
As the final day of 2014 testing came to a close, Pascal Wehrlein will have made his Mercedes colleagues Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg take notice as he takes advantage of opportunity to shine.
Meanwhile, no matter how much spin the McLaren and Honda PR machines might put on it, completing just five laps in two days of testing is not a solid foundation on which to rebuild a marriage.
The world champions programme focussed on aero testing, the 2015 Pirelli tyres, system checks and set-up work as well as testing new parts for the 2015 regulations. During the day's running the new supersoft, soft and medium tyres were all tested, with Wehrlein completing 96 laps over the course of a problem free all day.
"I really enjoyed today; it was a great day," beamed the German. "The first time in this car and the second time in a Formula One car; I had a lot of fun. We completed our planned test programme and there were no problems.
"The change between a DTM car and a Formula One car is a big difference," he admitted, in a masterpiece of understatement, "so this was the biggest challenge today, particularly with the brakes.
"It's a fantastic racing car; it's good to see myself quickest but at the end of the day it doesn't matter as everyone has a different test programme. The important thing was that I was able to improve a lot during the day and complete the full test programme. I've been in the simulator since the beginning of the year and I enjoy the work there, so I hope to continue that in 2015 to be able to learn even more. This test will certainly help with the feedback there too."
At Ferrari, Raffaele Marciello, a product of the Maranello outfit's Driver Academy was on duty, the youngster settling in quickly and working with the team providing precise feedback.
Today's programme included aerodynamic measurement work as well as set-up tests, based on the data acquired yesterday when Kimi Raikkonen was in action. In the afternoon, the team continued with a comparison of the 2015 tyre compounds and those used in the season just ended.
"Today was a dream come true" said Marciello. "For an Italian, to jump into a Ferrari, at an official test no less, is a really strong emotion and I am grateful to the team for giving me this opportunity. You can really feel the difference, compared to a GP2 car, especially in terms of engine power and the braking force. This being my first time at the wheel of an F14 T, I had to gradually adapt my driving style, but in general, I felt comfortable and I hope I helped the team gather useful data.
"It was impossible not to think about Jules," he added, referring to Jules Bianchi a fellow member of the FDA, "he and I joined the Ferrari Driver Academy at the same time and if I am here today, it's in part because he is not. Jules taught me to always push myself to the limit and here today, I tried to do that for him."
The next time the team takes to the track will be at the first of the winter tests, at Jerez de la Frontera in early February, when the new car will make its debut.
Max Verstappen's apprenticeship kicked up another gear with a major engine failure the cost valuable track time and brought about one of the numerous red flags today.
"We had a very good morning with a lot of running, which allowed us to test quite a few new things on the car in preparation for next year," said the teenager. "We had the possibility to go through the intense programme that we had planned, to catch up from yesterday without delays or hitches. I really enjoyed spending four hours without getting out of the car; it was a great feeling.
"Unfortunately in the afternoon we had a Power Unit issue which stopped us for quite a while, but we managed to fix the problem in time to go out again before the end of the session, getting some more useful driving time. I want to thank the team for everything they have done to make these two days a great start to the new season together."
"We had a very productive day, especially in the morning, when we ran continuously, even squeezing in an extra run before lunch," said Chief Race Engineer, Phil Charles. "However, at the start of the afternoon, a technical problem kept the car in the garage for around three hours.
"The mechanics worked really well to get the car back out on track and we even woke up some of our nightshift guys to come and help! Thanks to their efforts we managed to give Max a further three runs. He has really got stuck into his learning programme over these past two days, doing long and short runs and finding out a lot about tyre management. Overall, this has been a good end to our time on track in 2014."
Marcus Ericsson continued with the C33 as Sauber continued to focus on aerodynamic testing, 2015 tyre comparisons and working on different set-up configurations on low and high fuel loads. Despite a number of technical issues, the team was mainly able to get through its planned programme and declared itself pleased with the outcome of the day.
"I have had two great testing days with just a few problems," said Ericsson. "We have completed a productive test programme over both days, and we have covered almost everything we had planned. I had a good time getting to know the people within the team, and starting to work with everyone. Starting to drive the C33, building my feeling for the car, and giving my input for next year's car was important.
"Overall, we had two constructive test days. Today we continued to work on different set-ups, aero measurements and tyre evolutions, which will be beneficial for next year. This was a good start. Now I am even more motivated to work extremely hard with the team over the winter to be prepared for the first test."
"Overall it was a good day," added Test Engineer, Paul Russell. "We carried on with the aero work from yesterday. Besides that, we continued to investigate what the tyres for next year were like, which was more detailed today. We had technical issues with the brakes. Therefore, we did some brake tests, which were interesting. Although we had a short delay because of this, we were able to get almost everything done. We continued working with Marcus, which was good. At the end of the day, he did short runs with qualifying settings."
It was another impressive day for Caterham and will Stevens though a technicasl issue brought the day to a close around ninety minutes earlier than anticipated.
"Today's been another very good day," said Stevens. "We started to do our performance runs at the end of the day - I managed to get one run in and put a good lap time on the board, but we unfortunately had a small issue when I was on a better lap... Having said that, we cannot complain about the reliability here in Abu Dhabi, it's been a trouble-free week. I've learned so much over the weekend and the past two days, I've got to the point where I now feel very comfortable in the car.
"Looking back, I wish I could have the race weekend beginning now, after these two days - I've definitely made the most of this test. I've had a great time and it's very nice to be able to say that I've raced in my first F1 Grand Prix - I didn't make any silly mistakes, learned a lot, enjoyed every second and did a good job. It's been a great week and I want to thank both the team and the fans for giving me this opportunity. Now let's wait and see what the future brings."
"It's been a very positive two days of testing here in Abu Dhabi,"added Gianluca Pisanello, the team's Head of Engineering Operations. "Will has done an excellent job, making no mistakes and providing very valuable feedback. Today we continued to work on the test programme that we started yesterday, evaluating the new 2015 tyres as well as working on different set-ups and fine-tuning the car. We can be happy with our reliability throughout most of the test, we only had a small hiccup right at the end of the day. We were able to complete plenty of laps over the two days and to do so at a good pace and overall the test run very smoothly.
"It's been a difficult end to the season for the whole team, but we can be very pleased with what we have achieved here in Abu Dhabi after having missed two races. The team has worked extremely hard and it's been a pleasure to work with a group of people who never stopped believing we would be here and, of course, we cannot forget the fans who also helped us on our journey here. We can end the season with a smile on our faces."
At Force India, Spike Goddard, who has competed in the FIA European F3 Championship for the past two years, took over from GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer, the Briton, enjoying his first outing in an F1 car, completing 89 laps on his way to posting the sixth best time of the day.
"I felt today went really well," he said. "The VJM07 is a massive step up from my Formula 3 car so the first part of the day was devoted to adjusting to the new machinery. The power and downforce of these cars is something on a completely different level; it was a massive shock to the system, but I got used to it fairly soon.
"We chipped away at the lap time in every run and in the end we got to a pretty good time and 89 laps, which is a fair bit of running. I am pretty happy about the work I did with the team and the way everyone worked with me. I'd love to keep a link with Sahara Force India: it's a fantastic group of people and I'd like to contribute and help as much as I can."
"Completing 89 trouble-free laps is a successful way to wrap up our 2014 trackside programme," added Chief Engineer, Tom McCullough. "Spike did a good job and really made the most of his first opportunity in a Formula One car. It's always a big jump from Formula Three to Formula One, but he adapted quickly and gradually built up his confidence and speed throughout the test.
"We used the early part of the day to complete the aero work we started yesterday with several devices fitted to the car to collect further data. The rest of the programme involved some other aero and mechanical test items. With relatively few rule changes between this season and the next, the mileage completed over the last couple of days has proved valuable for exploring some design avenues for next year."
Days after the end of a highly successful season which saw him finish third in ther standings, Daniel Ricciardo completed 87 laps of the Yas Marina circuit before mechanical failure forced him to stop on track. With a little over two hours of the session remaining, and with the team needing time to analyse the problem, the decision was taken to halt running for the day.
"Today was pretty good," said the Australian. "Obviously we got cut short by a couple of hours and it would have been nice to finish the session, but we did a lot of laps and all of those were productive. There was a little bit of work with this year's tyres and a bit with next year's, trying to understand how those behave. We also did quite a few things on starts, trying to understand what's happening there, which was positive. I felt pretty good in the car. It's a good way to end the season, we achieved a lot. Now that's it, a bit of time off and look forward to next season."
"We put in 59 laps in the morning, which was good," added Race Engineering Co-ordinator, Andy Damerum, "and just as yesterday that provided an enormous amount of very useful data on tyres, some development things we're running and on software updates we were trying. The afternoon was going the same way until we had the failure and Daniel was forced to stop on track. When we got the car back to the garage our initial investigations showed that it would take some time to be ready to go back out, so better to call a halt and have a proper look at the problem."
In his last outing for Williams before joining Sauber, Felipe Nasr worked on aero evaluations and 2015 tyre testing for the Grove outfit.
"Today was a really good day," said the Brazilian, "it's always nice to drive the FW36 and to have the chance to drive it on the final day of 2014 was very enjoyable. The focus of the day was on the 2015 tyres and longer runs, and we learnt a lot about how the tyre wears over a long distance as we covered nearly a full race distance. I have to say a big thank you to the whole team for the opportunities they have given me this year and I wish them all the best for the future.
"We had another productive day," added Chief Test and Support Engineer, Rod Nelson. "The morning consisted of aero testing, and the afternoon the focus was on longer runs comparing the 2014 and 2015 Pirelli tyres. Testing has gone well over the year, and we are positive going into the winter, although there is now a lot of work to do now before the test in Jerez. It was good to have Felipe in the car today and we thank him for his all his work this season. He has been a positive influence on the team over the year and we wish him all the best at his new team 2015."
Esteban Ocon and Alex Lynn were both on duty for Lotus, the Frenchman in the morning sand the Briton in the afternoon. Both drivers ran through aero and tyre assessment programmes rather than going for outright times.
"The session went well today," said Ocon, "I have had more time to discover the limits of the car as I already knew the E22 having driven it in Free Practice 1 during the Grand Prix weekend. We ran through most of the planned programme, but unfortunately I didn't get to test the 2015 tyres which were planned for late in my session. We still achieved good mileage in the morning and I feel my understanding of the car is improving all the time. I received great feedback from the team, which is a great positive for me."
"I am very grateful to Lotus F1 Team for giving me my first opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car," added Lynn, "and I'm glad I was able to deliver what they wanted from me today. It felt so good to be behind the wheel of the E22 as it reacts so well and does everything you want it to. It was an impressive programme we ran through with many different evaluations. The team were really helpful and it was a fantastic day all round. I can't wait for my next opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car."
"Another solid day of testing completed with two talented young drivers in the car delivering exactly what we wanted of them," said Alan Permane. "Aside from a small fluid leak today which cut Esteban's running short, our testing was uninterrupted by any reliability issues so we were able to complete the majority of our evaluations.
"Esteban was quickly up to speed after his experience with the car on Friday whilst Alex was rapidly able to deliver what we wanted from him too, so strong days from both drivers. We now head back to Enstone with plenty of data to analyse.
"After the toughest season I can remember for the team, we now bid goodbye to the E22 and say thank you to Renault Sport F1 for all the years we have enjoyed together. We now look forward to the fresh challenge of 2015."
Despite successfully firing up before the track opened at 9:00, McLaren's morning programme was scuppered by a hard-to-find electrical issue, which halted progress while the team traced the cause.
In the afternoon, the team got the MP4-29H/1X1 on track - Stoffel Vandoorne successfully completed an installation lap, and had begun a four-lap run when the car shut down. The team was unable to rectify the issue, and, with limited track time remaining, opted to conclude the programme.
"Although this looked like another difficult day, this is just part of the learning experience we expected when we took on the interim car programme," said Eric Boullier. "It's useful to discover these issues pre-Christmas, as it allows us to deepen our understanding of the complex integration between power-unit, ancillaries and the car. And, to be honest, I'd rather be ironing out these problems here in Abu Dhabi, than discovering them in Jerez, next February.
"It's definitely been a positive for both McLaren and Honda to conduct this test," he insisted, "there have been some troublesome issues, but we've made progress. We've also made an excellent start to the relationship - communication and interaction have been great, and you can really feel the positivity and sense of purpose in the garage. Any mileage we accrued this week would simply have been a bonus."
"In short, this was a tricky day," admitted Yasuhisa Arai, Honda R&D senior managing officer and chief officer of motorsport. "We encountered system start-up and data communication issues that prevented us from running as we'd planned.
"However, actually conducting testing at the track enabled us to understand the complexity of the system at a deeper level. We now know what is necessary to further develop the system, and we'll work together with McLaren to be ready for the next test - at Jerez in February."
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