Barcelona II, day 3: Team and driver quotes

Williams Mercedes

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: It was Felipe’s last day in the car before Melbourne and we have had a busy day. We focused on chassis and aero work as well as longer runs on scrubbed tyres to see the degradation and tyre performance. We did a grid simulation at lunchtime to ensure the procedural processes are all in place for when we arrive in Melbourne. We have just one day of the test left now, and it will be another busy one for the team.

Felipe Massa: We had another good day with over 100 laps completed. We reached the end of the programme in good time and the car has remained very reliable over all three tests. Our long runs look positive and the car remains consistent throughout the stints. We are not the only quick car on the track though and the fight behind Mercedes will be interesting. I now have to get ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne, which I am really looking forward to.

Toro Rosso Renault

Carlos Sainz was back at the wheel of the car for his second and final day of winter testing in Barcelona this week, before he jumps into the car in Melbourne for his first ever F1 Grand Prix in only two weeks’ time. The rookie had another busy day, posting what would eventually be the fourth fastest time. Max Verstappen takes over in the STR10 for the last day of pre-season track action tomorrow.

Phil Charles (Chief Race Engineer)

“Another good day’s work during which we got through a range of tests. In the morning, we did just a small amount of data acquisition runs, before switching our focus to the needs of the driver. So it was nice for Carlos that he was able to concentrate on getting the car to suit him in terms of set-up and the feel of the car. The first item in the afternoon was a race simulation and after that was completed successfully, we still had time for some short runs looking at the pure performance side of things. Unfortunately, almost at the very end of the day, a minor electrical problem left Carlos stranded on track.”

Carlos Sainz

“This was the sort of day we needed and it went really well. It means we can go to Melbourne with a boost to our confidence. This afternoon was particularly productive, after we had a couple of minor difficulties in the morning. The race simulation went well and overall we did a high mileage, which is obviously the most important thing. I’d like to thank the team for all their efforts during this pre-season period, as they helped me learn a lot every time I jumped in the car. Two weeks from tomorrow I will take part in my first Grand Prix: I am looking forward to it and I feel ready, especially after this test. Clearly, I’m very excited that it’s all about to start.”

Lotus Mercedes

Romain Grosjean drove for his final day of pre-season testing today, completing 116 laps in the E23 Hybrid at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Romain ran a comprehensive programme including a race simulation, clocking a best lap time of 1min 24.200secs.

Pastor Maldonado will take to the wheel of the E23 for the final day of pre-season testing tomorrow.

Romain Grosjean:

“That was a long day and the track conditions varied quite a lot. This morning went pretty well, we had a lot of work to do with some aero and set-up tasks as we’re trying to test as many things as possible before Melbourne. In the afternoon we ran a race simulation and other performance evaluations. There’s potential for improvement in some areas but we have plenty of data to get the car more to where we want it to be for Melbourne. I can’t wait to for the season to start.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:

“Today we completed another extensive programme with the E23 running reliably throughout. Track conditions were quite difficult for establishing a baseline as the track temperature varied a lot through the day, but nevertheless we ran for over 100 laps and have a lot more information relating to the various aero and set-up configurations. We have quite a long night ahead of us as tomorrow is the final day of testing where we hope to make further progress with Pastor at the wheel.”

Red Bull Renault

Daniel Ricciardo was at the wheel of the RB11 for the penultimate day of pre-season testing. The Australian completed 128 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya with a best time of 1:25.742. The team ran a familiar pattern of short runs in the morning followed by longer stints in the afternoon, concentrating on the medium compound after an early run with the hard tyre. The team enjoyed a trouble-free day, with only set-up changes. Two red flags late in the afternoon caused stoppages.

“There’s definitely plenty of positives to take from today: we did a lot of laps and worked through the programme,” said Daniel. “Most of the other teams did some performance running today but we were focusing on ourselves and didn’t get onto the soft or supersoft tyres and the low-fuel stuff. Our long runs look pretty good and completing nearly 130 laps means reliability is where it should be too. We’ve just got a bit of fine-tuning to do tomorrow.”

Guillaume Rocquelin, Head of Race Engineering added: “We did a normal race weekend run plan today. The car was really reliable and we completed a lot of miles; it was the sort of good, sound testing that engineers like. We’re very happy with how today went. We’ll carry on with the programme tomorrow as planned but because we got a lot done today it gives us a little more flexibility as we can afford a bit more downtime.”

Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India completed another busy day of testing in Barcelona as Nico Hülkenberg clocked 158 laps at the wheel of the new VJM08.

Nico Hülkenberg

“It was a very positive day in terms of reliability and getting a lot of mileage under our belts. It was our first full day of testing so our main focus remained on getting to know the car, the way we set it up and its characteristics. I think we made some good progress in this regard and we managed to get a decent understanding of how the VJM08 feels under different conditions. That’s definitely a positive, although it remains very hard to judge where everyone is in terms of performance. Next time I will step in the car will be in Melbourne: I am very excited to fly to Australia as that’s when you get the racing feeling again. I am really looking forward to getting going and being back in a competition; that is something I relish. Hopefully the work we did in the last few weeks will pay off and we will be in a position for fight for a good result."

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer

"It was another solid day of testing with the VJM08, which is proving to be a very reliable car so far: the plan we had set for ourselves today was very ambitious but we managed to achieve all its main points. We have taken another big step in our process of understanding the performance of the car and we were able to work through both performance runs and longer stints. Track temperatures were not ideal as they were very much on the cool side, but we still learnt a lot and gathered a significant amount of data to analyse tonight. It was Nico’s last day in the car before heading off to Melbourne: the work he completed today will help us ensure we make the most of our final day in the car tomorrow as Sergio steps in the cockpit for the first time."

Sauber Ferrari

The third day of testing in Barcelona went according to plan for the Sauber F1 Team. Marcus Ericsson was driving the Sauber C34-Ferrari today continuing with race preparation. At the end of the day, the team observed a minor technical issue related to the power unit which did not affect today’s programme. Overall Marcus Ericsson was able to run for 123 laps.

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering

“The main target today was again getting ready to race, so we alternated between short and long runs. All the investigations on aerodynamic set-ups and the tyre side are done. The day went smoothly, and we had no major issue except for stopping on track in the last hour, which was a precaution as we saw something that was unclear in the data. We preferred to check the car before hitting the track again at the very end.”

Marcus Ericsson

“It was another good day during which I was able to complete a lot of laps. We went through a quite similar programme to that from two days ago. Overall it was a good day as we gathered plenty of data, which was important. I did more practice starts, pit stops, short-runs on different compounds and also almost a full race simulation again. All in all it was a good day for the final preparations before going to Melbourne.”

What comes next:

Felipe Nasr will drive the Sauber C34-Ferrari at the final day of testing in Barcelona.

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen: “Overall it hasn’t been a bad test since we covered a race distance today. Now we wait to go to Melbourne to see how we stand compared to the others. I wish to thank
the Team for the work it has done during the winter”.

James Allison: “We’ve got a lot of laps under our belt in this winter testing; but until you actually go out and do the laps for a race, one after the other, and not stopping except to change tyres, you really can’t claim that you’re ready to go to Melbourne and do it for real. So we’re happy to get our first race distance of the winter done, happy to have achieved at the first attempt, and with the reliability that we showed. So I’m pleased with the testing we did over the last two days, which shows clearly that the car works as we expected. Winter testing in Europe always asks slightly different questions from the car than you get when you’re in Bahrain: but it doesn’t turn night into day. Most of what the car really is is revealed here as much as on the other Grand Prix circuits during the year. And I think what we see is a well-mannered car, so we expect these characteristics to be broadly carried over to the other races”.

McLaren Honda

Test and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen deputised for Fernando Alonso in Barcelona today, completing a useful test programme – as well as providing an always-useful additional opinion on the car.

Kev quickly got to grips with the car, his first outing in MP4-30, but his programme was cut short by an oil leak.

Yasuhisa Arai, Honda R&D senior managing officer – chief officer of motorsport

“The power unit systems are all functioning well, and the spec is race-ready. We just need more practice on race simulation, and to improve our reliability.

“We still have strong ambitions to improve, and tomorrow we’ll be tackling durability issues.”

Kevin Magnussen

“This year’s car is really different to last year’s. It feels much more consistent; it’s more predictable and driver-friendly. It’s not fast enough yet, but it feels like a solid baseline, and there’s obviously still plenty more to come. I think McLaren-Honda should have a good car if they continue in this direction.

“It’s nice to be back in the car. I always enjoy driving new cars, and this is a car I haven’t driven before. I can see the work we did last year has gone into this car.

“It’s good working with Honda, they’re a very enthusiastic team, you can feel they have a desire to succeed – they’re here to win. It will take time, but that’s what they’re here to do.”

Mercedes

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS continued the third 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 aero evaluation work in the morning, followed by setup analysis and performance tests in the afternoon
— Lewis emerged for his first run at 09:05 CET, completing 36 laps before lunch and a further 40 after the lunch break
— Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total of 2,104 km
— Nico Rosberg is scheduled to take the wheel of the F1 W06 Hybrid tomorrow for the fourth and final day of the test

Lewis Hamilton

It wasn’t a particularly spectacular day. The track seems to have lost a bit of grip in the last few days so the feeling wasn’t as good. But I’m still glad we got some running done and I feel good in the car. We were trying to understand a few things today with the set up and it gave us a clearer indication of that in the afternoon. The guys in the team have been exceptional during these tests and ?I just can’t wait to get racing now – the fun stuff!