Barcelona II, day 1: Team and driver quotes

McLaren Honda

The day kicked off with Jenson conducting some aerodynamic tests, which meant he only completed a single timed lap.

After just seven laps, Jenson noted a vibration and brought the car back to the pits, where we discovered a hydraulic leak that required a full power-unit change. The time required to complete the change unfortunately meant that our running for the day was over before lunchtime.

Jenson resumes testing duties again tomorrow.

Toro Rosso Renault

Just four more days of track action prior to the first race in Melbourne. Eight teams were in action today, back at the Catalunya circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona and in the Scuderia Toro Rosso camp, we continue our programme of alternating drivers over the course of the four days, with Carlos Sainz driving today and Saturday and Max Verstappen at the wheel on Friday and Sunday.

Phil Charles (Chief Race Engineer)

“As planned, we had various updates, as part of a new package, to try for the first time and so the bulk of the day was given over to aero and other measurements. It all went well, although we did lose some time in the middle of the day. Generally, the new parts produced encouraging results. In the afternoon, apart from a couple of aero tests, we also did some mechanical work. Carlos did a good job, running Hard and Medium Pirellis throughout the day.”

Carlos Sainz

“It was very nice to drive the car fitted with the update package. That meant much of my time was spent collecting valuable aero data for the engineers to study. Then towards the end of the morning, I managed to do a real run. I could immediately feel an improvement in the car, in terms of its overall grip and balance. That was a very positive and motivating feeling for the rest of the day. We did have an issue that cost us some track time in the afternoon, but the guys did a great job to fix it and get me out on track again, with enough time to do two more useful runs before the chequered flag.”

Lotus Mercedes

Romain Grosjean resumed test duties in the E23 Hybrid for the first day of the second pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Romain completed 75 laps over the course of a programme of set-up evaluations and performance simulations, in particular evaluating a new front suspension geometry. Romain’s best lap was a 1min 26.177secs.

Pastor Maldonado will take to the wheel of the E23 tomorrow.

Romain Grosjean: “We tried a lot of different set-ups today so there was a lot of returning to the garage for different things to be changed, which is all part of testing. The car’s been reliable again and we’ve gone through quite a bit of work even if the lap count isn’t as high as some other days – it’s all part of the learning process at a test. I’m looking forward to watching further progress with the car tomorrow then getting back out on track myself on Saturday.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We had a productive morning evaluating a new front suspension geometry, then we spent more time trying different set-ups in the afternoon. The E23 was once more reliable and we’ve collected plenty of data and good feedback from Romain. The track was damp for a while, so we avoided too much time on the circuit in those conditions as it’s not productive to be on circuit at those times for test purposes. We’re all set for another full day tomorrow with Pastor in the car.”

Williams Mercedes

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: The programme was slightly upset by the rain in the morning, but that just meant we had more work to do in the afternoon. We managed to complete the planned schedule though and we have made some positive changes to the chassis, as well as some aero adjustments. We are now looking at what we will take to Australia to make sure we are prepared for the first race. It has been a good day, with no reliability issues.

Felipe Massa: It was a good day for us and the car behaved well. When we tried to use the new soft tyre we managed to get some quicker laps in. The FW37 never showed a sign of an issue and this has been the case since we arrived at the first test in Jerez. We are doing a lot of work and seem to be moving forward. I have just one more day in the car before the first race, so Saturday will be important.

Red Bull Renault

Formula One’s final pre-season test of 2015 got underway in Barcelona today, with Daniil Kvyat at the wheel of the RB11. The day’s running started positively as the team embarked on improving the performance of the car but late morning rain then interrupted proceedings. A mechanical issue in the afternoon then meant the team could not pursue the run plan it had mapped out and Dany was switched to a series of shorter runs, with the Russian getting through 75 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya.

“We more or less had a decent day,” said Daniil. “We were able to get quite a lot done and hopefully we’ll get more done tomorrow. These last couple of days are really important in terms of understanding where we are, understanding the engine and chassis, so it’s good to get as much running as possible. It felt fine today. There’s always room for improvement though so we’ll be pushing to find that.”

Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin added: “Not a perfect start to this final test. After we sorted a small problem Dany had on the install lap, we ran well in the morning and got through some shorter runs, turning the car round quickly in the garage after set-up changes and trying to build up some performance. However, then the rain came and that set everything back a bit. In the afternoon we were planning on a long run but about 10 laps into his stint, we noticed a problem on the car and Dany came back to the garage. We felt it would be better to wait for some new parts overnight so we went back to shorter runs in the late afternoon and we’ll probably do the same first thing tomorrow morning until the parts are onboard.”

Sauber Ferrari

The first day of the second test in Barcelona started off well for the the Sauber F1 Team with Marcus Ericsson driving the Sauber C34-Ferrari. In the morning the team was able to do aero measurements and practice starts. After the lunch break Marcus Ericsson went through a race simulation and finished the day with short-runs. The Swede has been the busiest driver of the day, completing 122 laps in total and setting the second fastest lap time overall.

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:

“It was a good day for us. We completed a race distance and also did short-runs with a bit of a shuffled programme due to the unexpected shower before lunch. In the end it all went well, as we were able to complete the programme.”

Marcus Ericsson:

“It was a productive day, and for me the best one of the pre-season so far. The morning went well until the rain came, which forced us to slightly change our plans. In the afternoon we planned a full race simulation, which was a very good exercice for the team to get valuable data. Also for me it was important to get a feeling for the 2015 tyres over a race distance with different fuel loads. We finished the day with short-runs on soft and supersoft tyres. Overall, a positive day during which we have learned a lot. I hope we can continue for the rest of the week in the same way.”

Tomorrow, Felipe Nasr will be behind the wheel of the Sauber C34-Ferrari.

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen: “We learned something today, even with a few issues which I am sure we can fix. The car is not too bad overall, but there are some areas where we want to improve, especially when it get tricky with the conditions that we are experiencing and cause the tyres notto work the same way from one lap to another. Now we have another day of testing to put together what we have learned. In a few days in Melbourne we will find out where we really are”.

James Allison: “This wasn’t an easy day for us as we spent time chasing our tails on an annoying reliability problems which by the end of the day we managed to put to bed, but that interrupted our programmes for the day quite considerably. Now we can put what we learn today in place for tomorrow so to have a day much more like we want to have”.

Mercedes

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS began the third and final test of the 2015 season today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of the F1 W06 Hybrid

— Today’s schedule consisted of set up analysis in the morning
— Lewis emerged for his first run at 09:05 CET, completing 48 laps before the lunch break
— The F1 W06 Hybrid remained in the garage after lunch owing to an MGUK failure
— Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total of 1,052 km
— Nico Rosberg is scheduled to take the wheel of the F1 W06 Hybrid tomorrow for the second day of the test

Lewis Hamilton

I feel so much better this week. I have a lot more energy. I’m actually going to head back and go for a run now as I haven’t had much to do this afternoon! Of course, we would have liked to have a few more laps today – especially as the sun came out later on. But sometimes you have those days. I don’t see it as too much of a negative. It’s good that you find these things, whatever issues you might have, and iron them out now. It means hopefully you won’t find them at the first race. Testing is always difficult. If you get the whole day in the car, the sun is out and the tyres are working you can make more changes to learn where you want to put the car. Naturally, the more you drive the more you feel comfortable – but to be honest in the 50 laps I had today I felt ready to go. I had a positive feeling in the car and it was good to get the tyres working. I’ve got one more day to now hopefully have a clean run and really pinpoint where I want to put the car for the first race.