19/02/2015
NEWS STORY
The first day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya had a little bit of everything; a crash, a sick driver, a technical failure and even a driver piloting two different cars. At a time the sport is seeking ways to attract the fans, this was certainly the right way to do it.
The day got off to a bright, albeit chilly, start, and championship favourite Lewis Hamilton was first to post a time. Sadly, his day was to end soon after, the Briton withdrawing from the rest of the day's running after suffering a fever.
As the Brackley-based outfit called on reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein, on duty along the pitlane at Force India, to replace Hamilton, it emerged that Nico Rosberg is also unwell, the German understood to be suffering from an inflamed nerve in his neck.
Over the course of the day there were four red flags, two in the morning, both caused when Pastor Maldonado stopped on track with a technical problem, and two more in the afternoon.
The first of these was when Susie Wolff and Felipe Nasr clashed and ended up in the gravel at T5 shortly after lunch. The Sauber appeared to come off worse, suffering damage to its rear wing, rear suspension, gearbox and floor, Wolff subsequently admitting that (on a slow lap) she hadn't seen the Brazilian in his blue and yellow car. cue a number of suitably moronic comments on Twitter.
Following lengthy repairs, both drivers were able to continue, though Nasr stopped on track in the final seconds of the session bringing out the final red flag of the day.
It was another difficult day for McLaren. Despite a promising start, Jenson Button's day was brought to an end after just 31 laps following an issue with the MGU-K.
"We've had to stop running today due to a faulty seal on the MGU-K which caused an issue that requires full replacement of the power-unit," revealed the Woking outfit. "Such issues are all part of testing and we will plan for a productive day of running with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel tomorrow."
Sadly, there are fears the problem might not be resolved until Saturday, costing the team further valuable track time.
Despite a late start, Ricciardo was soon on the pace in the camouflage liveried Red Bull, whilst Max Verstappen in action for the Austrian outfit's sister team added another 94 laps to his (already) impressive tally.
Up until 'the crash' it had all been going well for Wolff, who had completed over 80 laps without any significant issues.
Jumping from the 2014 Force India to the 2015 Mercedes didn't prove to be too much of an issue for Wehrlein - presumably because both are using the same power unit - the German youngster completing 32 laps in the former and 48 laps in the latter. His best times in the two cars just 0.160s apart.
While the pace of the Lotus, now aided by Mercedes power, is impressive, Maldonado's 1:25.011 just over 0.2s quicker than Hamilton's 2014 pole time, the sceptic in us wonders whether the Enstone outfit is still out to impress potential sponsors, something that could be said of Sauber also.
Ferrari continues to impress, Kimi Raikkonen still appearing much happier with the SF15-T than at any time in 2014.
Lots of drama and over 600 laps completed. What more can we expect over the next three days.
"It is always good to see your name at the top of the timing monitors and my fastest lap was just in the course of our normal programme for the day," said Maldonado. "It feels good to drive the E23 in Barcelona. The car responded well to the changes we made and we were able to complete a good number of laps. The team has made strong progress since Jerez and we have a great starting point for the rest of the week. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a perfect track to assess a new car so we're happy with progress today."
"It's been a positive day," added the Enstone outfit's technical director, Nick Chester. "We had a couple of software niggles in the morning then we were able to work through a solid programme of setup work during which we racked up a good number of laps. The car did have an extended lunch break whilst we changed the clutch, then we were able to complete further work in the afternoon. We're happy that we've made good steps forward since Jerez and we're working steadily through our evaluations whilst confirming directions for improvement."
Third and reserve driver Jolyon Palmer will get behind the wheel of the E23 tomorrow.
Jerez pace-setter Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest as Ferrari focussed on system checks, long runs, set-up work and tyre testing.
"It's not that different from Jerez," said the Finn, "we don't know about the fuel other cars had, and some of them were on soft tyres. We keep doing our stuff, have made our plan and try to follow it. The car is a completely different story from last year's, we've still got a long way ahead of us but the team is working well and has produced a very nice car."
"Overall we are content with the day," added James Allison, "happy because the work we've been doing in learning how the car responds to set-up changes was very satisfactory, less happy with the aps count for the day. I hope that in the remaining days we get some more mileage under our belt."
The bulk of Daniel Ricciardo's laps were completed in the afternoon, as the team made a late start to the morning session due to a number of upgrades needing to be fine-tuned before the Australian took to the track. Thereafter, the Austrian team's running was trouble-free, with Ricciardo enjoying a brief run on the soft tyre to slot into third place on the timesheets.
"The car felt good today," said the Australian, "we got a bit of running done on a few different compounds, which was interesting and we got a lot of data, which is always good. I think we're chipping away. We're definitely making progress but it takes time. However, I think come Melbourne we'll be there."
"A slightly difficult morning for the team but not wholly unexpected given that we had some new parts here which needed to be dialled in," added head of race engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin. "There were some software issues in the morning, which held us back a bit, but while those were being sorted out we were able to get through some aero mapping work, which was useful. Then the car got better and better through the day and in the end Daniel was able to run on the pace.
"We did mostly short runs today as that suited the game plan for the updates we have but by the afternoon I think we could have sent him out for as long as we wanted as the car was running well at that stage. Ultimately, what we got today is pretty much what you'd expect from the first day of a test at which there are quite a few new things to factor in."
Pascal Wehrlein made his Force India debut in the morning, with Sergio Perez taking over in the afternoon as the team completed a total of 66 laps. The Mexican will resume his testing duties tomorrow.
"It was great to spend the morning with Force India and to have the opportunity to drive their car for the first time," said the German. "It's a good team and everyone was really welcoming. After a few laps I felt very comfortable and confident in the car. Then, of course, I had to move across one garage and drive the Mercedes for the afternoon which was a bit of a surprise. But I will have another day with Force India this week. Driving two Formula One cars in one day was amazing and I am really looking forward to getting back out there again."
"It's a very nice feeling to be back on track after the break and to start getting back into a racing rhythm," added Perez. "When I got the call to come to the track, I was really excited about having an earlier start than planned. There is so much to do: I have to get to know my new race engineer, Tim, we have new tyres and new parts to try. I think it was a positive afternoon and a good head-start on the work we are planning to do tomorrow. We can be happy about our day's work, it was a promising beginning and we can build on it in the remaining three days. 34 laps was a good number for half a day and tomorrow we will be aiming to add many more to the tally."
"It was a very positive start to our on-track season with no technical issues and lots of mileage," said chief race engineer, Tom McCullough. Even though we had to deal with an unplanned driver change, we managed to achieve all our main goals for the day. Pascal settled into the team straight away and was able to give good feedback on the test items he covered this morning; for Sergio, it was a matter of getting back to action and having his first experience with the 2015 tyres as he completed all the outstanding items on our test programme. In addition to the work on the new Pirellis, we completed a series of tests on development mechanical components on the VJM07. The aim is to have a similarly productive day tomorrow."
With Felipe Nasr on duty, Sauber was able to fulfil its programme, which consisted of measurements as well as testing different mechanical and aerodynamic set-ups, in the morning. However, he lost three hours of track time in the afternoon, following that crash.
"I feel quite comfortable with the car," he said. "This morning everything went according to plan, and we were able to go through the planned programme. I think we made steps forward in comparison to Jerez, and we are heading in the right direction.
"In the afternoon we started the programme as scheduled, but were then stopped by an incident. I think Susie did not see me coming, and then we unfortunately collided in turn five. We had quite a lot of damage to fix, which hurt our programme. Considering the damage, the team did an amazing job to put the car back together in only a few hours. We were able to go out again and complete some checks. Despite the incident, it was a good day and I am positive about what I have seen today. We will keep improving on that."
"The day started well," added Giampaolo Dall'Ara, the Swiss outfit's head of track engineering. "The morning went pretty much without trouble, so we were able to fulfil the programme. In the afternoon everything was a bit unfortunate, starting off with the accident which caused a loss of track time. The team did a good job getting the car back for the last half an hour. Obviously, the programme could not be completed, but it was still positive to go out for a few more checks. When we went out late the car was repaired in a rush, and we noticed something that was not normal in the data, therefore we stopped the car on track as a precaution."
At Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen was the busiest driver today, completing 94 laps on his way to posting the sixth best time of the day.
"We didn't get as much done in the morning as we would have liked," said the youngster, "but in the afternoon, we picked up the pace and I completed almost a race distance. I'm very pleased about managing that, as it's the first time I've done that many laps and it was a very useful experience. The same goes for the pit stops and the other race procedures that we practiced."
"A productive start to our second test session of the winter," added chief race engineer, Phil Charles, "with Max having his first experience of Barcelona at the wheel of a Formula 1 car and he settled in smoothly. Apart from a small problem around lunchtime, the day's programme went to plan. In the morning, we carried out some useful chassis tests, while the afternoon was given over to going through race procedures and pit stops, particularly useful for Max, but also for the team as a whole."
McLaren kicked off with a series of short runs to evaluate some mechanical balance changes. After the third run of the morning, and with the team getting into its programme, a broken seal on the MGU-K caused a problem that ended running for the day. Despite the stoppage and the limited running, Jenson Button was upbeat about the car's balance, handling and predictability.
"We had to stop running this morning after discovering a faulty seal on the MGU-K," said Yasuhisa Arai, Honda R&D senior managing officer - chief officer of motorsport. "That faulty part then caused an issue that requires full replacement of the power-unit - and the time needed to make those changes effectively ends today's programme.
"We'll need to run a re-designed component to avoid a potential repeat of the problem. Unfortunately, we won't be in possession of that updated part until Saturday, which means that we may face the same problem when we run again tomorrow.
"Such issues are all part of testing, but we'll make the best changes we can overnight, and will plan for a productive day of running - with Fernando behind the wheel - tomorrow.
"Hopefully, with a bespoke solution ready for Saturday, both drivers will have an opportunity to get some useful laps under their belts, with Jenson driving on Saturday, and Fernando concluding the test on Sunday."
With the prospect of limited mileage tomorrow, the team will look at undertaking some time-intensive bigger set-up changes in a bid to maximise learning about the car's balance - consequently there will be lengthy breaks between runs throughout the day.
At Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton emerged for his first run at precisely 09:00, completing 10 laps before being forced to sit out the remainder of the day with a fever. The F1 W06 Hybrid remained parked until just before lunch as the crew made the necessary adjustments to accommodate Wehrlein. The German completed 47 laps during the afternoon, bringing the day's total to 57.
"Today was a really good day in my career," said Wehrlein. "I was quite surprised in the morning when I got the information that I would be driving the Mercedes in the afternoon. But I am here and I want to drive, so I am ready for any opportunity. To drive two Formula One cars in one day was amazing, so I'm very happy. We lost a bit of time in the garage which was a shame as I would have liked to do some more laps. But the time I had I really enjoyed.
"Spending the morning with Force India, also, was a great experience," he added. "It's a good team, everyone was really welcoming and after a few laps I felt very confident in the car. I will have another day with them this week so I am really looking forward to getting back out there again."
Williams day was supposed to be about race simulation, systems and reliability checks, unfortunately the day was interrupted by that crash.
"We learnt a lot today," said Susie Wolff. "Carrying out some longer runs in the morning gave me experience of tyre management and it was good to get time in the FW37. The car has a lot of potential and the number of laps we completed today gave the team a lot of data. It’s just a shame I didn’t get the chance to drive the faster tyre. I got a good feeling of the car and as a driver, have learnt a lot."
Asked about the accident, she subsequently told reporters. "I think it's on video for everyone to see but the facts are that I stayed on line and he came across and his rear hit my front. It was an unnecessary coming together."
"We have had a reasonably successful day adding mileage to the FW37," added Rod Nelson, the Grove outfit's chief test & support engineer. "The morning’s focus was on completing a race distance and further set-up work with the car. This afternoon we had some system checks planned, but unfortunately lost a lot of time which affected the programme. We will be able to add these back in later in the week, it’s just a shame for Susie to lose the time in the car when we were having a productive day."
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