Barcelona II, day 4: Team and driver quotes

Force India

Sahara Force India brought pre-season testing to an end as it completed a strong 128 laps with Sergio Perez in Barcelona.

Sergio Perez

“I think we are well prepared for Melbourne. We’ve been reliable this week and hit our targets in a lot of areas – especially in terms of getting miles on the car. We’ve learned a huge amount and understood where we can improve. Today was my busiest day in the car so far doing a bit of everything – short runs, long runs and set-up work to understand where we can find more performance from this car. Covering 128 laps is a positive way to end our pre-season and I’m really looking forward to Melbourne.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer

“Overall, it has been a successful second week of testing. We showed good reliability and were able to complete the vast majority of a very ambitious test programme. This leaves us with a good understanding of the VJM10 and the 2017 tyres. Testing slightly later in the year resulted in more representative track temperatures and that has been helpful. Today we followed a similar programme to yesterday, with performance running in the morning and long runs in the afternoon, to ensure that Sergio is fully prepared for Melbourne. There’s a lot of data for us to digest and we will be working hard between now and Melbourne to maximise what we have for the first few races of the year. To design a completely new car and run it as successfully as we did in these two weeks with just some minor teething problems is a big achievement for our team and we’re confident we are ready for the season.”

Sauber

The Sauber F1 Team had a challenging last day of pre-season testing on the Circuit de Catalunya – with a last minute change regarding the planned programme for Pascal Wehrlein, who had to concentrate on aero tests for the coming races in the afternoon. Marcus Ericsson worked through the planned programme mainly focusing on short runs with supersoft and ultrasoft tyres. The Swede was able to complete 59 laps overall in the morning, the German was running 42 laps in total in the afternoon.

Marcus Ericsson:

“It was an interesting morning, where I had some fun with short runs on supersoft and ultrasoft tyres. All in all a productive last morning session at the end of the pre-season testing – without having any issues with the car. For sure we made some more improvements today, but we are still not there, where we want to be. We still have to do some work to analyse all the data, to improve the car.”

Pascal Wehrlein:

“It was another important afternoon for me in the new C36 car – completing 42 laps overall. We changed the programme and continued our extensive analysis of the Sauber C36-Ferrari by continuing with aero tests on soft and medium tyres. Nontheless I was able once again to take the next step forward to get more familiar with the new car. I can’t wait for my first race for the Sauber F1 Team.”

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz (Car 55):

“What a great feeling to end pre-season testing with such a good day! I’m very happy with the lap time and with the number of laps completed – managing to cover a full run plan was exactly what we needed before going to Melbourne! We can now be a lot more positive about the season that’s about to start. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the whole team, with problems here and there, but today we finally managed to put a very good day together and we’re definitely ready to race… Let’s do this!”

James Key (Technical Director):

“I have to say that these eight days of pre-season testing have gone incredibly quickly! It’s amazing that today was already the last day and that in a couple of weeks’ time we’re going to be out in Melbourne – something we’re much looking forward to! After last week’s low level of running, we’ve learned an awful lot this week, something which we needed. Although we had a few stops and starts, overall it’s been a much more positive test. Both Carlos and Daniil have been enthusiastic and grown confident with the car. We’ve learned a lot about the tyres and clearly there’s a lot of sensitivity around how best to get the most out of the car, so we’ve gathered plenty of important information to analyse back at the factory. I would like to thank the drivers and the team for their hard work over the last weeks and months to get our 2017 campaign underway. We now look forward to the start of the season; we’re as prepared as we can be in the circumstances we have had.”

Franz Tost (Team Principal):

“First of all I’d like to say that I really like the new Formula 1 cars. They look much more aggressive thanks to the wider tyres and the new aerodynamics. I’m also fascinated by the high corner speeds – it’s really exciting to watch the cars out on track, especially at corners 3 or 9 here in Barcelona, they’re just so fast! From an esthetic point of view, the STR12’s new livery has been very well accepted by everyone and I’d describe it as one of the most beautiful- looking cars on the 2017 grid.

After completing the two pre-season tests here in Barcelona I can affirm that the STR12 is a fast and competitive car. One weak point is the reliability, as we’ve had too many issues over these two weeks. On the positive side, I can say that this situation has improved compared to last week’s T01, but there has still been a few problems that have taken track time away from us this week. The good news is that we know what the issues are – nothing major – so I’m confident we can solve them all before getting to Australia thanks to all the valuable data we’ve collected here. Regarding our drivers, I have to say that both Carlos and Daniil have done a fantastic job every time they’ve jumped in the car and provided very useful feedback. Our engineers will now analyse all the data gathered to optimise the set-up for Melbourne. I’m really looking forward to the season ahead, I think we’re going to have a very interesting fight with the midfield teams and I just can’t wait to get started!”

Renault F1

Renault Sport Formula One Team completed the final day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with both Nico Hülkenberg and Jolyon Palmer taking to the wheel of the R.S.17.

Nico started the day with short runs, setting a number of then fastest laps, with his best a 1min 19.885secs. He completed 45 laps. Jolyon took over in the afternoon, with a similar programme. He completed 43 laps with a best of 1min 20.205secs.

Nico Hülkenberg:

“It was a productive final morning of the test for me with a lot of work completed. We answered some of the questions we had from the previous days and we made some more progress with the car, which is all you can want. We’ve tried a lot of set-ups over the course of the two tests; some were good and some were not so good, but the result is we know where to go with the car. It was good to get out there and have a few more performance orientated runs, but we know there’s a lot more to come.”

Jolyon Palmer:

“The R.S.17 is awesome to drive and there is a lot of further potential yet to come. The car feels good in all the areas you’d want and it is definitely a strong improvement from the R.S.16 in every area. My final afternoon was promising in terms of pace and we made another step forward with a pretty much full afternoon in the car too. Australia is going to be really special with these cars and I am very positive for the season ahead.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director:

“This has been an exciting two weeks for everyone at Renault Sport Racing as we have seen the first Formula One car designed from the outset by us take to the track. The R.S.17 looks beautiful and we think it is a good platform to build the performance that will allow to achieve our aims for 2017. We know the areas we need to address. We think we already have a good step forward with performance thanks to this car and the new power unit as shown by our lap times today despite adverse circumstances in the previous days that prevented optimising the package. We have to focus on reliability with special attention on the ERS, which is already well underway. Everyone at Enstone, at Viry and at the track has been working exceptionally hard to get this car on track and it is empowering to experience this positive ethos. Nico and Jo have also done a great job, and I can already feel that they have the potential to make the contribution we are expecting to the team’s performance. Melbourne is just around the corner and we can’t wait to get this season underway.”

Haas F1

Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean was at the wheel of the VF-17 for the final day of preseason testing Friday at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. The 30-year-old Frenchman recorded 76 laps around 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn circuit to bring his two-week testing total to 346 laps or 1,610.63 kilometers (1,000.799 miles). With teammate Kevin Magnussen securing 369 total laps or 1,717.695 kilometers (1,067.326 miles) during the same time period, Haas F1 Team racked up an impressive 715 laps or 3,328.325 kilometers (2,068.125 miles) during its 2017 preseason test.

The mileage total was a clear display of Haas F1 Team’s growth since its inaugural season in 2016. In last year’s preseason test at Barcelona, Haas F1 Team logged 474 laps or 2,206.47 kilometers (1,371.037 miles). In 2017, Haas F1 Team shattered that mark by 241 laps or 1,121.855 kilometers (697.088 miles), all while working with a new car built under drastically different regulations compared to 2016.

The VF-17 features an advanced aerodynamic package designed to create a higher level of downforce. A wider front wing, larger barge boards, a lower and wider rear wing and a diffuser that expands 50 millimeters (two inches) in height and width comprise the changes, along with wider tires from Pirelli, by 60 millimeters (2.4 inches) in the front and 80 millimeters (3.1 inches) in the rear for a 25-percent increase that brings the front tires to 305 millimeters (12 inches) and the rear tires to 405 millimeters (15.9 inches).

The new regulations have dropped lap times by as much as five seconds compared to when teams last visited Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

Grosjean’s quickest time on the last day of testing was a 1:21.110, which was also his quickest lap of preseason testing. Grosjean set his fast time on his 61st lap while riding on a new set of Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tires. The mark put Grosjean 10th overall among the 13 drivers participating in Friday’s session.

Getting that quick time meant overcoming some adversity. A mid-morning spin at turn five beached the VF-17 in the gravel trap, resulting in a red-flag stoppage. But with no damage to the car, Grosjean was able to continue on, albeit for only 19 laps before a sensor issue stranded him between turns 9-10. The team bounced back from this misfortune as well, with Grosjean totaling 44 laps before the mandatory lunch break. His best time of the morning was a 1:21.429 earned on his 35th lap with a set of Yellow soft tires.

The afternoon delivered further challenges despite a successful start with two, five-lap stints on Red supersoft tires. A switch to Purple ultrasofts shortly after 4 p.m. local time yielded Grosjean’s best lap. The final 75 minutes of the session were set to mirror Thursday’s program where Magnussen performed a race simulation. Grosjean was 14 laps into a run on a used set of Yellow soft tires when another red-flag stoppage halted proceedings. Upon Grosjean bringing the VF-17 back to the garage, a water leak was discovered, jettisoning the remaining 30 minutes of on-track running.

Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen set the quickest time (1:18.634) while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’ Lance Stroll ran the most laps (132).

Romain Grosjean

“Well, you never feel totally prepared after testing and before you head to Australia. We only have eight days, of which you only get four as a driver and one of those was the wet day I had last week. Yes, the big teams are ready, but for us there are still a few unknowns going to Melbourne. That’s the charm of Formula One. That said, I think we have some good ideas where we can improve the car and, hopefully, the updates we’re going to get in Australia will go our way. I think both myself and Kevin (Magnussen) have identified where we can gain some performance.”

Gunther Steiner

“Definitely not our best day today. We had quite a few issues with the handling of the car. We couldn’t find a good balance. In the afternoon we had a few problems and we stopped early due to a water leak. We couldn’t get it fixed in time. We didn’t finish our race simulation, unfortunately. All in all, the test was, up until today, pretty good. We now go back and see what happened today, analyze data and see what we can do to get ready for Melbourne.”

Red Bull Racing

The final day of pre-season testing ahead of the Australian Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time saw Max Verstappen set the second fastest time of the day with a lap of 1:19.438, the quickest time set so far with the RB13. Max also managed to get through 71 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the team focused on improving the car ahead of the Melbourne season-opener.

Commenting on his final pre-season test day at the wheel of the RB13 Max said: “I’m not too worried about the small issues we’ve had; that’s what testing is for. They aren’t major problems and I’m quite sure they will be solved before Melbourne. In terms of lap times, I think we just have to wait and see until the first race weekend. For us the most important thing today was to check the balance a bit more and work on getting the car where we want it. The performance is not too bad. For sure we want to improve, but for now it’s OK. Testing is just about trying to improve the car, it’s not about qualifying lap times.”

Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin added: “As with Daniel on day one of this test, this morning we focused on short runs with Max and we were also able to do some performance work and put a reasonable lap time on the board. We had a little issue over lunch, but as on Tuesday, we wanted to get some longer runs done this afternoon, so it was worth sacrificing a bit of time to make sure the car would run smoothly. In terms of the tests as a whole, broadly speaking we’ve achieved what we wanted to do. There were a few niggles but that’s always the case with a new car and we knew how to manage those situations. We’ll now have a pretty intense couple of weeks before Melbourne – as every team will – digesting all the information, putting permanent fixes in place for the issues we found, and working on a plan of attack for the first race. Do I think we can be competitive? I think so. We’re happy with the balance and happy with the performance. Some teams put in some impressive lap times but there are so many parameters at play in testing that it’s extremely difficult to form a really clear picture of where everyone is.”

Mercedes

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport completed 107 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on the final day of 2017 pre-season testing in Spain, taking total winter testing mileage for the new F1 W08 EQ Power+ to 1,096 laps – 5,102 km.

Valtteri emerged for his first run at 09:05, completing 53 laps on his final morning of testing before Melbourne. The Finn’s total lap count of 628 across the eight day winter programme is the highest of any driver

Lewis took over in the cockpit after the hour-long lunch break, adding another 54 laps to his tally in the afternoon

Today’s programme focused on further set-up work and tyre analysis ahead of Melbourne

Mercedes-Benz Power Units completed a total of 7,597km this week in Barcelona

Valtteri Bottas:

I got in a reasonable amount of laps on my last morning in the car and leave testing feeling confident and ready to race. I feel that as a team we have been able to improve how we work together, that we have a great spirit and real will to win.

It’s been so nice over these past two weeks to see how we operate as a group, both on and off the race track. Thanks to everyone in Brackley and Brixworth for creating this beautiful package. I hope we can extract the maximum from it straight from the word go in Melbourne.

We’ve been testing lots of things, so it’s going to take a long time to analyse everything that we’ve done. I’ve had a massive learning curve over these eight days and that will continue but I can’t wait for the start lights to go out in Melbourne.

Lewis Hamilton:

It’s been a busy winter for us. I don’t remember how it was last year but this felt like a good couple of weeks. We’re working together better than ever as a team and Valtteri has done great to blend in and do a solid job. We’ve had our up and down days with the car, learnt a lot from that and made plenty of changes. I’m happy with what we’ve gained knowledge-wise and feel confident we got everything we needed from this test to go out and fight in Melbourne.

The others seem quick, so it looks like we have a good battle on our hands. Ferrari have been doing a fantastic job. I think there’s more to come from them but their pace here has really been spectacular. I don’t know if Red Bull had their full package here. Usually they bring that to the first race but they’re definitely still up there and I expect a serious fight with both of those teams. I’ve never wished to dominate. Of course, I want a car that I can go out and fight for a Championship with – but for the fans it’s best when there’s multiple teams fighting for it.

I just heard about John Surtees. To end the day with that kind of news is very sad. He was a legend of the sport – a lovely guy who did so much. It’s a shock to everyone. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Ferrari

“There’s a good feeling with this car and that’s the most important thing. We have been reliable for almost all of these days of testing and that is another good sign of the great work the team has done over the winter. We are starting from a stronger base than last year: but it’s really too early to say how fast the car is compared to the others. Perhaps even Melbourne won’t give a 100 per cent precise picture of the situation, because the first race is always a bit unusual. We might have to wait until China. Either way I’d like to thank everyone in the team, because they have always managed to step in and sort out all the small problems that testing is supposed to resolve.”

These are the words of Kimi Raikkonen, at the end of his second day’s work which wraps up this year’s winter testing at the Montmelò circuit. He put in 111 laps in his SF70H today, during a programme that included a race simulation. The attempt was interrupted at about 4pm by an electrical problem, when he was still about 15 laps from the “chequered flag”. Having been brought back to the pits, the Ferrari went out again with just under 20 minutes left of the day.

Having learned the news of the death of John Surtees, who won the 1964 Formula 1 world championship at the wheel of a Ferrari, Kimi wanted to remember him like this: “I met him a few times, he was very easy-going and it was very easy to get on with him. And you could tell that he had passion for racing in his blood. So this is sad news and my thoughts are with his family.”

Over the four days of testing this week, the SF70H has completed a total of 488 laps in the hands of both Kimi and Seb, equal to 2271.64km.

Pirelli

Pre-season testing has now concluded, with all the teams taking part in the second four-day session this week and completing plenty of running. The fastest time of the latest session (and the whole test) was 1m18.634s, set on the final morning by Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, using the P Zero Red supersoft tyre.

Unlike last week, there was no wet session during the second four-day test, meaning that the teams concentrated exclusively on the slick tyres from start to finish.

Mario Isola, Head of Car Racing: “During the eight days of pre-season testing, we’ve fulfilled most of the objectives that we had targeted. This week we confirmed the results of last week’s test, particularly with regard to the fast recovery of the tyres if they overheat, which was a particular wish of the drivers for the 2017 compounds. Compared to the general work we saw last week these last four days were more geared towards performance and race simulation in preparation for the season ahead. While the cars are yet to perform at their maximum potential, we saw the fastest-ever lap of Barcelona in the circuit’s current configuration this week, beating last year’s pole by more than three seconds and the 2015 pole by more than six seconds. The target of being five seconds faster than the 2015 times in Barcelona was already met last week and now that benchmark has been lowered further. Considering that many of the best times were set on compounds that are not particularly suited to Barcelona, and that the cars are sure to evolve rapidly over the course of the season, this indicates the phenomenal potential performance of the new generation of Formula 1, which we can say produces the fastest cars that the sport has ever seen.”

McLaren

McLaren-Honda’s progress on the final day of pre-season testing was hampered by a series of intermittent electrical issues. The problem caused the car to shut down, stopping Fernando out on track twice within a few short laps in the morning session. At this stage, it’s unclear if it’s the same issue that Stoffel encountered yesterday.

Overnight, the team changed a number of electrical components on both the PU and chassis, but the problem persisted. With every run in the morning session, the team changed further parts in an effort to eliminate as many variables as possible and identify the source. Over lunch, the team elected to undertake more significant and time-consuming changes in order to get the car back out on track in the afternoon.

Fernando returned to the track at 15:40 for a more productive stint until the track closed at 18:00. Despite an interrupted day of running, he still completed 43 laps consisting of aero, set-up and tyre tests. The team will now return to base to analyse the information gleaned from the test in order to push forward in preparation for Melbourne.

FERNANDO ALONSO

“Today was a disappointing way to end the test, as we weren’t able to make the most of the final day of running. The morning started positively and we were working well through our programme, until the car lost power in the corner and shut off, so I had to park it.

“We managed to fire up again without any problems, and everything ran smoothly for a few laps until it happened again, so we realised we needed to investigate deeper over the lunch break and make more changes. I’m pleased we were able to get going again in the afternoon – we wanted to use all the track time we could – as every single lap we do is useful for our learning.

“It’s clear we have a lot of preparation ahead of us to be ready in time for Melbourne. I know the team is working hard and we’ll be able to find more answers once we get the car back to the factory. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to make the next step we need to be ready for Australia.”

ERIC BOULLIER

“Today was not the way we’d hoped to conclude the final day of pre-season testing. Yesterday’s electrical issues persisted, prompting us to make regular changes to the car throughout the day in order to identify what has been causing the car to lose power intermittently.

“Although we’ve suffered a number of issues over the course of two weeks of testing, we’ve certainly learned a lot about the car, and we know the problems that need to be addressed. Plainly speaking, they aren’t overnight fixes, but we’re hopeful both McLaren and Honda will be able to make progress on them ahead of Australia in two short weeks.

“The guys and girls in the team have worked tirelessly and relentlessly to keep moving us forward day -by-day, and I’m incredibly proud and appreciative of the hard work and determination shown within the team. It’s not been an easy testing period for us by any stretch, but we’re as motivated as ever to turn it around and find the solutions we need to get us back on track and headed in the direction we need to go.”

YUSUKE HASEGAWA

“The last day of testing became another tricky day for all of us in the team. It was unfortunate that we encountered the electrical issue again despite having replaced the parts under investigation overnight. This meant a significant amount of today’s test was spent trying to identify what was causing the car to lose power. The result was a challenging day that forced us to veer off our run plan, but we managed to recover somewhat in the afternoon and complete some valuable sections of our test programme.

“The winter test as a whole has been tough for us, however, it’s also true that the team has worked incredibly hard to make progress and I’m very thankful to each and every one of them. They have done McLaren-Honda proud.

“We still have some more time before Melbourne and we’ll continue to work tirelessly with McLaren right up until we board the plane for Australia.”

Williams

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: It was a pretty good day. We did some chassis work and a qualifying simulation this morning. Unfortunately, Lance didn’t manage to get his time in on the ultrasofts, and so his fastest time of the day was set on the soft tyres. We tried to do full race simulations in the afternoon but were interrupted by several red flags. Overall, we have got a lot of good data from this week. We’ve completed 600 laps this week, with the team doing a very good job to make up for the time we lost last week. We can take a lot of positives from this as we prepare to head to Melbourne.

Lance Stroll: It was a good day today to end a good week. It was a fun day and I got to put the ultrasofts on and really feel the grip. It was awesome. I was on a mega lap on them but I went long into Turn 13, which cost me everything and I lost my lap. I was eight tenths up and it was looking good, but anyway it’s testing. I did some good running this afternoon with long runs so it’s all positive stuff. It was obviously a frustrating week last week with the couple of things that happened, but we had a good week this week. We got all our running in – long runs, short runs, and all compounds of tyres – so it was good. I think we still have to stay calm ahead of Australia and just do our work and then see where we are. It’s a new track for me as I have never been there, but I’m going to take it step-by-step and run-by-run.