Barcelona II, day 4: Team and driver quotes

Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India brought its pre-season testing programme to an end in Barcelona. Sergio Perez set the fourth fastest time of the session, completing 60 laps before an early stoppage.

Sergio Perez

“It was not the easiest day as the conditions were very windy right from the start. The morning programme went to plan but during our long run in the afternoon we lost drive and the car stopped on track. We still managed 60 laps today and overall we’ve learned a huge amount from the last two weeks. It feels as though we are quite well prepared for Melbourne and I can’t wait to get back into racing mode.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer

“Today’s programme was fairly similar to the one we completed yesterday and it was a way to go through the all-important final tests with Sergio ahead of the season. Our race simulation ended early with a technical issue, but we still managed to gather the final bits of data we will need to analyse in the days leading up to the first race in Melbourne. Up until the stoppage, it had been a successful eight days of testing; nevertheless, we feel well prepared going into round one with the VJM09 having covered nearly 4,000km. This was possible thanks to the work done by everyone in the team, both trackside and back at our headquarters in the UK. The winter months require a huge effort but now we are ready for the season.”

Renault F1

Jolyon Palmer completed the final day of pre-season testing for Renault Sport Formula One Team with 90 laps behind the wheel of the R.S.16 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Jolyon posted a best lap time during the day of 1min 24.859secs. Over the course of the two pre-season tests the team has completed 776 laps, a total distance of 3,647km.

What’s Next?

The team will pack up and head back to Enstone, England, for final preparations ahead of the start of the 2016 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit for the Australian Grand Prix on March 18-20.

Jolyon Palmer:

“I was happy to complete 90 laps with a variety of different simulations where I sampled the car on different tyres, fuel and set-up combinations. The team is certainly well prepared and I’m confident of being able to show well for the first race and beyond. We didn’t quite manage all we had planned for today, but that’s the nature of testing. We’re definitely in a good place looking to the start of the season.”

Fred Vasseur, Racing Director:

“It’s been a strong and productive test for the team and it’s been great to see the combination of Enstone and Viry reunited and doing what they do best on track. For sure, there have been some minor glitches over the course of the eight days in Barcelona, but that is the nature of testing. The important factors are that we have a good base to work from and a great collection of people working towards the same objective. Both Jolyon and Kevin have been impressive and we all can’t wait to see how the last two weeks’ work translates once we get on track in Albert Park.”

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Franz Tost (Team Principal)

“When we arrived here in Barcelona for the first test, I was quite concerned about whether we prepared the complete package in the best possible way. Today I can say that the new car, which was designed and built in only a few months, worked much better than expected, especially from a reliability point of view. I was convinced that the performance would match our expectations as the STR11 is following on from the successful STR10. I’m now optimistic about the season ahead. I would like to thank the whole team, as they’ve done a fantastic job. During these two weeks we’ve completed a total of 1049 laps and 4882 kms, which is the highest mileage Scuderia Toro Rosso has ever done in eight days of testing – we’ve never been at such a high level. Both Carlos and Max did a great job. They didn’t spin once and what I especially liked was their really good technical feedback regarding both the car and the tyres. I’m sure that after all this mileage we achieved, we managed to cover most of the topics that were unknown to us before arriving here, especially regarding the new tyres. The team, the drivers and the car is now well prepared for Melbourne and we are looking forward to an exciting season!”

James Key (Technical Director)

“It’s been a positive final day after two intense and long weeks of testing. Carlos carried out a similar programme to the one covered by Max yesterday, running through the various tyre compounds this morning and long runs this afternoon, although we needed to stop half way through to undertake some systems checks. Carlos has covered all that was required of him today and we have made further progress on tyre understanding and car set-up. I think both drivers have done incredibly well with just four days each to run in the new car and prepare for the new season, they have covered a lot of work and laps in the process. They are both approaching their second season now and the difference that has made at this time of year is significant – we have been able to concentrate solely on understanding the car and both of them have given concise and accurate feedback.

“As little as a few weeks ago it was not certain we would make testing in any meaningful way after our last minute change of Power Unit supply. We had our first technical meeting with Ferrari at the start of December, just a few months ago. The entire team has worked not only extremely hard but also with great commitment and belief to get us back on track with the minimum of compromises to the STR11 car design and in time for two full weeks of testing. On top of all that we have been able to run reliably from the outset and all the systems surrounding the Power Unit installation and the rest of the car, much of which is substantially different to its predecessor, have worked as (hastily) predicted. Now we move on and look forward to Melbourne and the start of the 2016 season.”

Carlos Sainz

“I’m very happy and excited! Today was another good day, and the first thing I need to do is congratulate the whole team for the great test we’ve all done. I just cannot wait to get to Melbourne, I think we’ve built up a lot of confidence and it’s all looking good. This morning we tried the softer compounds and it all worked as expected. This afternoon the conditions were tricky, as the wind picked-up massively, but we were still able to complete our program doing long-runs which went to plan. It was a good way to end what has been a fantastic four days of testing after a tough winter. To be here and complete so many laps each day is just amazing. Next time I get into the car it will be in Australia and I just can’t wait!”

Red Bull Renault

Daniel Ricciardo today brought the curtain down on Red Bull Racing’s 2016 pre-season programme by working through a packed schedule at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Australian began the day with some shorter runs and used the soft tyre to set his best time of the day. After putting in 61 laps in the morning, Daniel then switched to long runs and reliability tests in the afternoon to bring his final day’s tally to 123 laps.

Commenting on his four test days at the wheel of the RB12, Daniel said: “It’s been pretty good but I’m glad that the next time we’re in the car is race time! I think testing has gone really well. I think on three out of my four days we got over a hundred laps done, so definitely a lot better than the past couple of years. We’ve made some improvements. I think there’s more to come but it’s a positive start to the year. We’ve been very efficient with the time that we’ve had and, for me, I don’t think it took much time to get up to speed. I feel ready to go racing.”

Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin added: “I think we can be satisfied with the work we’ve done during these two weeks and happy with where we’re at. These tests have always been about figuring out everything we can about the car in order to put us in a position where we can race it in Melbourne or Bahrain or anywhere else. It hasn’t been about chasing lap time, which in these conditions is pointless. It’s been about building a platform we can build from and this year I think we have done that. We are in a much better position at this point than we have been over the past couple of seasons. The drivers are happy with the balance of the car, we so far have good reliability and we are happy with all the systems and procedures we need to get right. I think overall the team will go to Melbourne in a good frame of mind. As for what the pecking order is, well, we’ll all find out on Saturday in Melbourne.”

Sauber Ferrari

Marcus Ericsson

“It was finally a positive day in the new C35 car – completing 132 laps was exactly what we needed today, because I was aiming, on my last day of pre season testing, for more than 100 laps. Because of this we were able to accumulate a very good mileage on the car, and also do a mix of short runs and a longer type of race simulation in the late afternoon. We were able to take a step forward with the new car, despite technical issues that we have to analyse.”

Williams Mercedes

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer

It’s been another very successful day. We followed the pattern of the previous few days where we’ve done some longer runs and set-up work in the morning. We conducted a qualifying simulation this afternoon which was a little bit tricky due to the wind conditions. Then we completed more aero and development work, as well as ticking all the boxes in our reliability check list. We did 129 laps with no problems at all. It’s been a very successful, but busy, second week of testing. The team and drivers have done very well. I’m very happy with that, overall very pleased, and we look forward to Melbourne.

Felipe Massa

Today was another good day for us. We managed to do a lot of laps again. I’m really happy with this week, the amount of laps we did, and the work we have done to understand the car. Today was a similarly successful day to yesterday. We will know more about where we are in Australia. I am happy and totally ready to start the season. Not just me but everybody. The mechanics, the engineers, the whole team. We’ve done a good job to prepare the car in the best way, so I hope we start well in the first race.

Mercedes

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS concluded the second pre-season test of the 2016 season today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid in the morning and Nico Rosberg in the cockpit during the afternoon.

— Lewis emerged for his first run at 09:00, completing 69 laps until a mechanical failure in the transmission cut his morning session short at 12:50. Nico emerged from the garage at 15:00 and completed a further 70 laps in the afternoon – finishing for the day at 18:00
— Today’s programme focused on further set-up work over shorter and longer runs
— Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total of 1797 km
— The team completed a total of 1,294 laps during pre-season testing, equivalent to over 19 Grand Prix distances
— The team will now return to Brackley to prepare the F1 W07 Hybrid for its Grand Prix debut in Melbourne, Australia, in two weeks’ time

Lewis Hamilton

It’s been an amazing two weeks for the team. The guys have done an amazing job to get the car to where it is especially given the fact we’ve done more mileage in pre-season than we’ve ever done before. I’m kind of glad I broke the car at the end of my final run today because it’s better to have found something now than in Melbourne! I’m looking forward to putting the car through its paces at the first race and will be preparing myself mentally over the next few weeks. The car feels good and I’m really excited to go racing in 2016.

Nico Rosberg

This afternoon was probably the best the car has felt for me all the way through winter testing, so that was a really positive way to end the week. We have done so many miles in the past two weeks, so we can feel well prepared for Melbourne, and the team has done an incredible job to build such a reliable car. Of course, we haven’t seen the full picture yet in terms of performance, and everybody will be excited to find that out in Australia. Before then, I will be in the factory working on more details in the simulator next week. But I feel ready to go for 2016!

McLaren Honda

Jenson Button returned to the cockpit for the final time on the last day of pre-season testing for 2016, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Once again, we enjoyed dry, relatively warm and sunny weather, which meant track temperatures were stable, albeit affected by blustery conditions in both sessions.

To complete our testing programme, the team’s run plan today concentrated on the configuration and evaluation of a number of new aerodynamic parts on the MP4-31. In addition, attention turned to race set-up ahead of the first race in Melbourne, which involved launch practices, start procedures, and characterisation of tyres, including the new Ultrasoft compound.

The MP4-31 enjoyed another full day of running with no reliability issues, which enabled the team to conduct a thorough final day of testing and evaluations and complete the day’s scheduled run plan. Today, Jenson did 121 laps, bringing the total tally over the two pre-season tests to 710, covering 3,305km (2,053 miles).

While the package is not currently in its final specification for the Australian Grand Prix, the data gathered over the past two weeks has provided the team with invaluable information to take back to Woking, Sakura, Milton Keynes and Tokyo, in order to continue the development of both the chassis and power unit and complete final preparations.

Jenson Button

“It’s positive to finish our testing programme on a good note, with 121 laps. It’s meant we’ve been able to look at a number of different aerodynamic configurations, and learn a lot about the car and how it behaves, which is really useful given that there’s only 10 days until we fly to Melbourne.

“It’s great that we’ve been able to complete a lot of mileage over the two tests, which has been really useful to get feedback on the power unit, the aerodynamics and a bit of the set-up work done as well. It’s also allowed us to do a lot more system checks and integration – which gives us a definite advantage in terms of preparation compared to last year.

“We still have a lot of work to do, and the windy conditions have made it quite difficult to really work on the set-up of the car, but it’s something we’ve all had to deal with. This afternoon, as we got more laps under our belt, we started to get to grips with the balance and handling, and evaluate different options for the first race. I still don’t feel like we’re ready – there are still a lot of changes that will be made on the car before it’s in full race trim – and you always seem to need more testing than you have, to find the balance you want for the first race, but we have the experience to do that when we get to Melbourne.

“There are still quite a few areas that we need to work on, but overall during the tests we have made improvements in many areas, and we need to keep focussed and bring new parts to every race to keep pushing our development.”

Eric Boullier

“We haven’t run the full 2016 specification yet during the tests, so it means we’ll go to Australia with more new parts on the car. But we’ve been able to do good mileage on most of the days, which is very good news, and in terms of the chassis it was important that we could go through all of the systems checks – something we couldn’t do last year – so it’s a good achievement. We seem to have a pretty reliable car now to start the season, so we are definitely more confident in that sense, too. The base package looks okay, but there should be more performance coming in the next few weeks.

“We’ve had a very ambitious manufacturing and production programme over the winter, and we are constantly working on new developments back at the factory. We have to strike a balance between that and giving the maximum time to the aerodynamicists to develop the package, which compresses the lead time on production, but this is a normal situation in our industry and we are fortunate to have the resources to constantly push our development and manufacturing. In the past, you’d put together a big package of updates for Melbourne, another one for Barcelona, but now it’s every race, and we are well-versed in bringing regular updates every race weekend, so from Melbourne onwards this will be no different.

“Overall, we’ve ticked a lot of boxes on our test programme checklist, so from that point of view I’m satisfied with the work we’ve completed. Of course, it never feels enough – we could test all day every day and still want to do more – but we’ve definitely made a good start. We will see when we turn up in Melbourne with our full specification where we are; the other teams have clearly made big gains, too. So far we have been correlating well with our factory which gives us reasonable confidence, and we’ve covered a decent amount of mileage, so we feel more comfortable and prepared thanks to the amount of data we have. Time will tell – it’s too early to set expectations, and from here our hard work will continue right the way through to Melbourne and beyond.”

Yusuke Hasegawa

“The two weeks of testing here in Barcelona have been generally good for us, as we were able to confirm the improvements in reliability, deployment and engine performance that we focused on during the off-season. Especially in the second test, the fact that we ran the power unit without any issues for four days straight is a good result for us.

“We still need to perform final checks and preparation for reliability on the dyno, and finalise the power unit data, but we have surely and steadily progressed in our preparation for Melbourne.

“It is difficult to determine the outright performance of the whole package yet with testing alone, but for Honda, it is very important to keep pushing ourselves during the season to improve our competitiveness and achieve points finishes.”

Ferrari

The curtain has fallen on the final day of winter testing, run exclusively at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. For Sebastian Vettel the afternoon programme featured a race simulation, which got underway at 14h40 and finished around 16h35, although it had to be interrupted when a Force India brought out the red flags. Scuderia Ferrari alternated between the Soft and Medium tyres. Sebastian completed 142 laps, the best in 1.22.852. Now, it’s time to prepare for the next event, which is the GP in Melbourne, first round of a championship that features no fewer than 21 races.

Sebastian Vettel

“I am happy and I think that even with Kimi we have been successful so far. We were able to do quite a lot of laps, going through our program well, so I think it was a good test. We have to see if this car can be a winner, but I think that the first impression was good and everything we have built is positive. So, overall, I am happy with the feeling in the car. And we are happy with the step we have made. In terms of reliability, though, Mercedes seems to be very strong, irrespective of the issue they had today. I think “Halo” is ok, even if I believe that this system can be improved in terms of both aesthetic and visibility and I think we will see an evolution of it very soon. In principle, I think it doesn’t look very nice but if it can help saving lives, and if thanks to it at least the two drivers who died recently could still be here with us, then I think it can be the ugliest system, but nothing could justify not having it fitted. We try to close the gap to the cars in front, which has been quite big last year. I think we did a good job during the last season and now I think that the new car can close the gap even more, but we have to be patient a little bit longer, for a couple of weeks at least. In terms of show and sporting rules, I think that Formula1 is doing fine, I also think that it is important that the sport remains a sport so that the fastest driver comes up on top. This has been the DNA of Formula1 since ever.”

Haas Ferrari

In the final day of preseason testing at Circuit de Catalunya – Barcelona, Haas F1 Team recorded 91 laps with Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez sharing driving duties. It was the organization’s highest single-day lap count of the two tests spread over 12 days (Feb. 22-25 and March 1-4) at the 4.655-kilometer (2.89-mile), 16-turn circuit. In total, Haas F1 team banked 474 laps in preseason testing, with 281 laps last week and 193 this week.

Grosjean was originally slated to drive the VF-16 throughout the last day of testing, but due to Gutiérrez’s limited running earlier in the week, Gutiérrez was afforded additional seat time during the afternoon session.

Grosjean totaled 52 laps prior to the lunch break, delivering a fast lap of 1:25.255 on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tire. He added 14 circuits before handing the VF-16 over to his teammate. Gutiérrez then clicked off 25 laps, with his stints including outings on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft and Red supersoft compounds. The latter option allowed Gutiérrez to set a best lap of 1:25.422 in the final 30 minutes of testing.

Romain Grosjean

“Our final day has been very different from the previous days. It’s been a very positive day for all of us. The guys did an amazing job last night to understand the problem with the brake-by-wire. They got it solved for today. It was a big relief to be able to drive the car and drive it well. There are still a few places where we can improve massively, but we’re working on it. I’m looking forward to getting to the first race now. We can fine tune the car there. Let’s go racing, as Gene (Haas) would say.”

Esteban Gutierrez

“It was great to be back out on track for the last day of the test. I felt we were able to find some direction, which we were pursuing, as well as finding some solutions to a few issues we’ve had. Overall, it was a great experience to be part of a new team. Now I feel we’re ready to go racing. I’m very grateful to my team. They’ve worked relentlessly over the last few weeks and the results have clearly paid off. After getting to know the car, the next step is to go back to what I love, which is competing and racing. We all share the same passion. I look forward to Melbourne.”

Gunther Steiner

“It was definitely a better day today than the last three days. We made a lot of progress. We sorted our problems from yesterday with our brake-by-wire and got some laps in. This was our last day testing before Australia. We’re as well prepared as we can be at this moment. We had a driver swap this afternoon to allow for some setup changes. It gave Esteban a few more laps before going to Melbourne. It’s been a challenging month. We put the car together, went to the test – it’s been day-and-night work. Thanks go to the whole team. They’ve done a fantastic job. See you in Australia.”

Next Up

Haas F1 Team makes its competitive debut in two weeks with Round 1 of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Practice begins March 18, qualifying takes place March 19 and the race runs March 20.

Manor Mercedes

It’s a wrap for Manor Racing and Rio Haryanto, who brought eight days of pre-season testing to a close at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today. They recovered well from a challenging morning in the garage to power their way through 58 laps of race weekend preparation. That’s all bases covered for Rio and an encouraging 2257 km of development mileage in the bag for the team.

Rio Haryanto

“It was a pretty intense afternoon on track, which more than made up for a frustrating morning. I’m really happy we got to 58 laps. After the break we quickly established a good rhythm and together we’ve pushed our way through a really busy programme. It was a bit of a whirlwind to be honest but I feel really well prepared after the many test items we covered today. I think we’ve brought the car to a really good place since we launched it 11 days ago so I’m excited to see how we stand versus the competition. I can’t wait to be on track in Melbourne two weeks from today. My thanks to the whole team for giving me the best start to my F1 debut. We’ve had a lot of very long days and nights at the track but I’m sure it will be worth it.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director

“We went into today with a couple of hurdles to overcome but we got on top of those as quickly as possible to ensure another very productive afternoon. Once we’d resolved the mechanical issues we cracked through much of our planned programme and 58 laps was a pretty good tally in the end. We ran through a bit of everything to close out Rio’s preparation, evaluating the car in qualifying and race trim as well as practice starts, a grid simulation and pit stops. Together we’ve brought the car on another step and Rio is now in a pretty good place heading into his debut season. Next week will be pretty busy again, as we evaluate everything we’ve learned from the car, then pack up the chassis and kit for Melbourne. Again I’d like to acknowledge the massive push by every single member of the team to get us to this point and credit also to our two new drivers, who applied themselves well and really rose to the challenge. I should point out that when I say a great effort by the team I automatically include our new colleagues at Mercedes HPP and Williams Advanced Engineering in the group. Already, after just eight days working trackside together, they have completely and totally integrated with us and at the same time demonstrated their professionalism and commitment towards our desire to improve – it’s a big thank you to all of them and just brilliant having them along for the journey.”

Pirelli

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director

“During the final test the teams began to concentrate more on performance and race preparations, with a number of qualifying and race simulations taking place over the four days. The fastest time was again set by the new ultrasoft, which is not ideally suited to the high-energy demands of Barcelona, but nonetheless gave most drivers a taste of the extra performance on offer this year. Of course this is still only testing, held in relatively cool conditions, so the teams will continue to make developments right up to and beyond the first race, which will obviously influence each car’s interaction with the tyres. From our point of view we are satisfied that the performance is within the parameters that we set, both in terms of speed and durability, although the construction as well as four of the compounds – with the exception of the ultrasoft, of course – are the same as last year. With testing over, we now embark on a season that features the biggest shake-up of the tyre regulations in recent F1 history.”