Barcelona II, day 2: Team and driver quotes

Sauber

The Sauber F1 Team had a positive second day of testing with an intensive programme for both Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson. The German was able to complete 59 laps in the morning session after which the Swede took over the Sauber C36-Ferrari again for the afternoon test – running 47 laps in total.

Pascal Wehrlein:

“It was a positive day for me. I was able to get more and more familiar with the procedures for the car. I was able to get up to speed running a good amount of laps. We had an intensive programme in the morning with set-up work and aero tests, during which we learned a lot. All in all it’s getting better for me day by day.”

Marcus Ericsson:

“It’s been another busy day for us, trying to understand our new car. We both, Pascal and I, have done a lot of laps continuing to evaluate different set-up options. Some things we tried were positive, some negative – as it is in testing. We have loads of data to analyse in order to get a better understanding of the car to make progress tomorrow.”

What comes next:

Tomorrow, for the third testing day on the Circuit de Catalunya, Marcus Ericsson will be behind the wheel of the Sauber C36-Ferrari for the morning session and Pascal Wehrlein will take over the car in the afternoon.

Red Bull

Day Two of the second pre-season F1 test in Barcelona saw Max Verstappen put more than 100 laps on the board at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, despite a late-morning technical issue that cost the team valuable running time. The day began with short runs, coupled with pit stop practice, but as the lunch break approached the team detected an issue and elected to undertake an engine change in order to ensure a productive afternoon. That proved to be the case, and although he was forced to pull over again at the very end of the session, Max managed a day-best total of 102 for the day and best time of 1:20.432, which netted the Dutchman P4 on the timesheet.

“It was not bad today. We had some stoppages obviously but then in the afternoon we almost completed a full race distance, so that was good,” said Max afterwards. “It felt good, and we got a lot of information today again, which is the most important thing. It was unfortunate that we had to stop at the end but I think we’re pretty confident we can solve those issues without any trouble. The long run this afternoon felt good…. quite long! It’s pretty boring when you’re out there on your own, but everything felt well.”

Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin added: “In the morning we again looked at shorter runs and a number of test items, plus some pit stop practice so that the boys can get their eye in before the season starts. But then before lunch we noticed something in the data, and given that we wanted to concentrate on long runs in the afternoon and didn’t want to take any risks, we decided to change the engine. We lost some time but it was the right thing to do as we had a good afternoon and Max was able to work through the rest of the programme. We then encountered another problem right at the end of the day, which we’re looking into. Not an ideal outing, as we would have liked to tick a few more items off the list, but Max got through more than 100 laps today, so we can’t be too dissatisfied. We’ll run a similar programme with Daniel tomorrow but hopefully without any issues.”

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz (Car 55):

“I think today was a much better day compared to last week and we’ve definitely made a step forward in terms of reliability. Our test programme this week is a very tight one as we still have a lot of catch-up to do, so it’s therefore still too early to make any conclusions. Even though we lost a bit of valuable track time, I’m happy with the fact that I was able to do so many laps, because that’s what testing is all about!”

Jody Egginton (Head of Vehicle Performance):

“A day of mixed fortunes really, with some very good steps forward made with the set-up but, at the same time, we have been dealing with some small but frustrating background issues which have broken up our running and cost some track time. Evaluating what we have learnt today, we can say that feedback from the development items tested has been interesting. It’s provided some valid directions for the short-term but also a useful basis for further medium-term. This is good to see, as it allows a constant stream of development items from early on in the season onwards. The afternoon session was spent conducting various tests and run configurations on a couple of different compounds, focusing on understanding the tyres. Looking forward to tonight’s activity, the mechanics, who have been putting in a massive effort in the last days, have a very busy night ahead of them preparing the STR12 for tomorrow’s running. At the same time, the engineers will be working through the data from today in order to optimise the starting set-up and test plan for tomorrow when Daniil gets back into the car for his final day of pre-season testing.”

Force India

Sahara Force India hit a century as Sergio Perez continued the team’s development plan in Barcelona.

Sergio Perez: “It’s good to reach 100 laps and learn more about the car, but it was quite a disrupted day with the red flags and it meant we didn’t manage to complete the full programme. It was important to do the long runs this afternoon and get a feel for the performance of the tyres. The low degradation makes them more fun to drive – you still have to manage them but you can push more than in previous years. With a new car, it’s important to get to know all the strengths and weaknesses, and work on the latter, so that’s the focus of the team. With every lap we learn something new and it helps us take a step forward. We now need to make the most of the final couple of days before Melbourne, but I still feel optimistic.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer: “Another busy programme with Sergio clocking up 100 laps. The day started with an aero programme before we focussed on performance work and experimented with set-up options to improve the car’s balance. We ran on several different tyre compounds to make performance comparisons and then ended the day with some long runs. Esteban is back in the car tomorrow for his final day of work before Melbourne.”

Mercedes

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport completed 149 laps - 694 km - of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday, as 2017 pre-season testing continued in Spain with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton taking turns at the wheel of the F1 W08 EQ Power+

Valtteri emerged for his first run as the track opened at 09:00, completing 70 laps before the hour-long lunch break at 13:00

Lewis took over in the cockpit for the afternoon session, completing 79 laps before the pit lane closed at 18:00

Today’s test focused on analysis of new aerodynamic development parts, followed by further car set-up work for the early races and data collection on the 2017 Pirelli tyres, with both drivers completing similar programmes

Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total 1,727 km

Lewis will take the wheel of the W08 tomorrow morning, Valtteri in the afternoon

Valtteri Bottas:

It was another good half-day in the car for me. We managed to complete our programme as planned and I have to say that I felt much better in the car today with the changes we’ve made. We’re definitely making good progress as a team and I’m feeling more and more comfortable in the car every time I go out on track.

We were focusing on shorter runs today. In the first part of the morning we did lots of aero tests to evaluate some upgrades and everything seems to be going in a positive direction. There’s still plenty of work to do so we need to maximise the next two days of testing.

Fastest laps don’t matter in testing. What matters is where you are when you get to Melbourne. I’m just pleased we managed to complete the full programme. I learned so much from today’s running. Now I’m just concentrating on tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton:

It’s been a pretty good day, nice and smooth with no issues. There is still a lot of work to be done but on the whole, it’s been another productive day for the team.

F1 is always fun. The cars are always amazing. But this car… it’s faster and it’s more of a challenge to extract everything from it. I love that I get to do this.

It was really great to see the fans with their banners in the grandstand this afternoon, so a big shout-out to everyone who came out to support us today.

Ferrari

No PR today

Haas F1

Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean had a methodical day of testing Wednesday at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, amassing 96 laps round the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track. Grosjean systematically worked through a variety of baseline setup configurations on the Haas VF-17 throughout the morning before experimenting with the full range of Pirelli’s tire compounds in the afternoon.

Grosjean’s quickest time was a 1:21.887, earned on his 66th lap while utilizing a set of Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tires. It placed him 10th among the 14 drivers who took to the racetrack.

The morning session mirrored the schedule teammate Kevin Magnussen followed Tuesday – a series of early laps on the White medium tire after an installation tour on the Orange hard option, followed by a switch to the Yellow soft compound to exploit its increased grip. Grosjean’s best time in the morning was a 1:22.428, secured on his 36th lap. He tallied 54 laps before the mandatory lunch break.

Haas F1 Team ceded 90 minutes of run time in the afternoon to fix an exhaust issue. The shortened run plan meant valuable race simulation laps were condensed following double stints trialing the Red supersoft and Purple ultrasoft tires, the latter of which Grosjean used to secure his fastest lap. There were two red-flag stoppages in the day’s closing minutes, denying Grosjean the opportunity to surpass 100 laps.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time (1:19.310) and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ran the most laps (102).

Romain Grosjean

“It was a good day in the car. We did most of the program we wanted to do. We’re still evaluating how the car is going and how we can improve the setup and find the weaknesses and strengths. Hopefully, before Melbourne we’ll have the time to make some small adjustments aerodynamically and mechanically to get there and be ready for a good performance. I’m very much looking forward to getting back in on Friday.”

Gunther Steiner

“We got good laps in today, over 90. In the afternoon we had some handling problems, understeer mainly. We need to work on that to get it better. It seems like when it gets warmer it comes up. It’s just one of those things when you go testing you find these things and you find the solutions. We also had a small issue with the exhaust. Every small issue on these cars takes a long time to fix, so we lost 90 minutes in getting it fixed, but nothing particularly bad."

Magnussen returns to the Haas VF-17 Thursday while Grosjean is in the car for the final day of testing Friday.

Williams

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:

Today was a pretty busy day again, and also included a driver change at lunchtime. Felipe was driving this morning and we tried the ultrasoft tyres for the first time, so we’ve got some good data to look at. Lance was back in the car in the afternoon and he did a good job. He’s never tried the supersoft tyres before but he acquitted himself really well considering the circuit conditions he had at the time. Overall we had a good clean day and completed 122 laps in total, which means we have a lot of useful data to look through tonight.

Felipe Massa:

It was a good morning. We completed all of our programmes and, like yesterday, I had a good feeling in the car. We’re happy with everything we tried in terms of set-up and trying different tyres. I’ve had a very good day and a half, but hopefully this is just the beginning and we can finish testing well. I’m very happy with what I’ve seen and what I feel in the car. It’s still difficult to know where we are compared to the others, but the car is definitely looking positive.

Lance Stroll:

I am quite happy with the afternoon and pleased with the morning watching Felipe do some solid running. I think it was a good day. As a team we got a lot of laps in, so we have a lot of positives to take out of today. I am not really focussed on laptimes, as it is testing and we are exploring a lot of different things on the car and trying to move forward. I am just happy with getting some good running in, trying some stuff on the car and moving in the right direction. That is what we are focusing on over these few days, and so far so good. We did some short runs, and tried some different compounds. I went to the softer compounds today. I tried the supersofts but still have the ultrasoft remaining that I haven’t tried. It was good to get a feel for them for the first time.

Renault F1

Renault Sport Formula One Team continued the second week of pre-season testing with both Nico Hülkenberg and Jolyon Palmer once more taking to the wheel of the R.S.17 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Nico drove first, racking-up a tally of 61 laps with a best time of 1min 21.239secs – the morning’s fifth fastest time – whilst running through a programme of set-up work. Jolyon jumped into the car in the afternoon after clutch work was completed, however a hydraulic issue meant his planned long-run programme was compromised. Nevertheless, he completed 29 laps with a heavy fuel load, with a best time of 1min 24.774secs.

Both drivers will be back in action tomorrow, with Jo taking to the wheel first.

Nico Hülkenberg:

“We’ve made some positive changes to the car since yesterday and I had a solid and productive morning with 61 laps completed. I feel that the car has good promise and we’re making definite progress every time we go out. We know we have a solid baseline which we can work and build on to make a fast car. I’m looking forward to continue work on track tomorrow afternoon.”

Jolyon Palmer:

“It was a bit frustrating for me with quite a bit of time sat in the car whilst it was being checked over. Unfortunately, there was some work required before I was due to go out then there was some kind of really annoying pressure leak which would only show its face when I was about to take to the track. It’s one of those things that I’m sure the team will trace overnight, but it cost me track time today. The positive is that Nico had a good morning in the car so we know what is possible.”

Nick Chester, Chassis Technical Director:

“We had a promising morning with Nico completing a good number of set-up evaluations, predominantly using the soft and super soft tyres. He posted a strong tally of laps and we were happy with the pace he showed with the programme we were running. The start to Jolyon’s afternoon was delayed whilst we completed routine work on the clutch then, unfortunately, we encountered a persistent hydraulic pressure loss issue which meant our long-run programme was compromised. We’ve made another good step in understanding of the R.S.17 today and hope for more progress tomorrow.”

McLaren

Today was a stop-start but ultimately productive day of running for McLaren-Honda. Despite losing out on mileage over the course of the test due to reliability issues, the team pushed ahead with its scheduled test programme: this morning with a focus on aeromapping, and this afternoon on handling and set-up changes.

The nature of the run plan dictated short runs punctuated with longer spells of set-up changes. A scheduled ESS pack and floor change meant lunch break would be longer than usual, however, while stripping down the car, the team noticed a small water leak, which was also fixed at the same time.

The team then took the opportunity to undertake a more thorough check of the car, its set-up and its systems, to ensure any running in the afternoon could be as productive as possible, but this meant the car remained in the garage for longer than originally planned.

Fernando re-joined the track at approximately 16:00, and despite only clocking up a total of 46 laps, the team gathered a lot of useful data on car and PU behaviour in preparation for Melbourne.

FERNANDO ALONSO

“Any mileage we can do is good, but as we’re starting to understand the car more, it’s important to try different set-ups. You can do this in 12 runs of 10 laps each, or in 12 runs of 3 laps each - you’ll still finish the day with 40 or 50 laps, but with exactly the same information.

“With the problems we’ve had, the team has very cleverly opted for these short runs, which gives us the same valuable information at the end of each day. I think we’re going in the right direction, but there are obvious areas where we need to improve.

“We’re not fully ready to complete a race distance at the moment, and we’re only two weeks away from the first race. We will improve – we have to improve – and I’m expecting a very strong reaction from the team.

“I feel ready for this new challenge, and I’m driving at my best. The car is good in the corners, it’s a good chassis, and we’re just missing one thing, which is power. We’ll do whatever we need to improve this and be competitive. I remain confident because we’re a big team, we’re going in the right direction, and I think we have the capability to improve the situation.”

ERIC BOULLIER

“On paper, today doesn’t look like it was too successful for us, but in reality we’ve managed to cover a lot of ground. We opted for longer set-up changes and shorter runs between them in order to get the data from each outing and ensure correlation, before making further changes. It meant less track time, but ultimately gave us the information we needed to validate the direction we’re going in with the car, and progress through our preparation work for Melbourne.

“We’d hoped to get back out on track earlier in the afternoon, but a small leak prompted a more thorough investigation, which took longer than anticipated. This is all part of the testing process, and there would’ve been little reward for going out earlier, only to then encounter niggles which may have taken even longer to address in the garage later on.

“There’s definitely a lot of work still to do, and only two days to get it done, but we’re working well through our programme. We hope to have another couple of productive days to finish the test, where we’ll be focusing on extracting more performance from the car and working closely with Honda to push forward with development in time for Australia.”

YUSUKE HASEGAWA

“Today we were able to make further steps forward. We have been able to run through our testing programme, and there were no major issues encountered.

“This progress has enabled us to gather the important data required to understand the functionality of our next spec of power unit, which was introduced for today’s testing.

“Of course, we still have lots of work to do, but today’s running has moved us in the right direction. The last two days of winter testing will now be essential to gather further important data, and to continue our race preparations in order to be ready for Melbourne.”