Barcelona Test, Day 2: Team reaction

Ferrari

The curtain has come down on two particularly busy days of testing for the Formula 1 teams at the Catalunya circuit, which also hosted the two pre-season sessions back in February. Young Antonio Fuoco notched up 118 laps on his first time out in the SF16-H. His programme centred on aerodynamic mapping, set-up work and qualifying simulation. Fuoco’s best time was a 1.24.720, set on the Soft compound tyres.

The next and final in-season test session takes place at Silverstone on 12 and 13 July, while Formula 1 is back in action in two weekends time on the Monaco street circuit.

Antonio Fuoco

“We did a good job today, a lot of laps, a lot of kilometres and it was a very positive day. The most complicated thing about an F1 car compared to the GP3 car I’m racing in the championship is managing the various procedures. And the extra downforce makes it more demanding, so some training is useful. Today, we worked on set-up, covering a bit of what Sebastian had done as a comparison. We tried some new components, but nothing special. Compared to last year’s test I did in the 2015 car, it’s hard to draw comparisons. When I was driving in Austria the conditions were completely different. However, I’d say this year’s car is an improvement, it works very well. We ran a lot today and in general I did a good job with the team and I’d like to really thank the Scuderia and the Ferrari Driver Academy for this opportunity.”

Williams Mercedes

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer

It was another productive day to end the test. We spent most of the time with Felipe looking at the aero performance of the current car and looking into development work for next year as well. It was a fairly positive day with a clear direction, and we’ll be using that data to feed back into the development work we are doing at the moment for this year’s and next year’s car.

Felipe Massa

It was an interesting test. We worked on so many things for developing and improving the car on the aero side, which was our biggest aim for these two days. We tried a lot of different things for the future so it has been an important two days and key to get a lot of mileage.

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Scuderia Toro Rosso completed its second and final day of testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Daniil Kvyat at the wheel of the car, taking over from Pierre Gasly. This was a good chance for the Russian to continue to get to grips with the car before racing at the Monaco Grand Prix next week (26-29 May).

Phil Charles (Chief Race Engineer)

“We put Daniil in the car today with the main targets to get him further familiarisation in the STR11 and to start to work the set-up around him. We have made some progress on both fronts: firstly, we have completed a number of different types of runs today (short, long, medium and high fuel) and Daniil has certainly started to look at home in the STR11 in lots of different scenarios and with varying wind and track conditions. The only small disappointment was that our running was cut slightly short with around 50 minutes of the day remaining with a car problem. However, the real positive of the day is that there were a couple of good directions unearthed during the set-up work which we can hopefully make good use of at the upcoming races.”

Daniil Kvyat

“I think today was a very productive and good day. We completed a big amount of laps, all of which are useful for both myself and the team. Tonight we will analyse all the data we’ve gathered and we will already be able to use this valuable information in the next events, starting with Monaco. Barcelona is a very good track to test at and a lot of the work we got done today will hopefully work on the car as we expect. All in all, it was quite an important day for myself today, as being able to get time in the STR11 was essential, and I now feel much more confident and ready for Monaco.”

Force India Mercedes

Force India completed the in-season Barcelona test with Alfonso Celis driving the VJM09 for a second day.

Alfonso Celis

“I am very pleased with the work I was able to do during these two days. It was quite a varied programme and I enjoyed it – especially feeling the car over the long runs. I am feeling much more comfortable in the car and I was able to help the team by bringing home a lot of data. I am getting much closer to the pace I want to show and I feel I can push the car harder with every run. ”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer

“We followed a similar programme to yesterday with the morning dedicated to aero work with various measuring instruments fitted to the car. The afternoon involved some high fuel running before a handful of performance runs at the end of the day. All in all it has been a successful test with the car covering 202 laps, running reliably, and Alfonso getting further valuable experience in the car.”

McLaren Honda

Day two of the Barcelona in-season test saw McLaren-Honda Reserve Driver Stoffel Vandoorne return to the cockpit of the MP4-31 for the first time since his point-scoring debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The day’s run plan was a continuation of yesterday’s test, evaluating components, fine-tuning set-up and adding to the data gathered.

The morning’s running focused on tyre testing and strategy, specifically on the softer tyre compounds, with several runs on the Supersoft tyre.

Stoffel Vandoorne, Reserve Driver

“The car felt good straight away today. Of course, I had a few laps of adjusting to the car, but it definitely has progressed since I raced it in Bahrain. It’s been a positive and productive day.

“Although it’s easier to get into the car having experienced a full race weekend, there is always a need to readjust for F1, especially after racing in Super Formula, but I quickly got used to it.

“The car feels better in every area, with downforce feeling much improved compared to Bahrain.

“As a racing driver, you want to spend as much time as possible in the car, but I try and optimise every moment I have, and I feel like I’ve had the chance to do that today.

“All in all, the progress with the car is good, so I’m happy.”

Dave Redding, Team Manager

"As we have come to expect, Stoffel has driven both quickly and consistently, providing good feedback on each and every test item on the programme.

"The morning started with a continuation of the aero correlation work from yesterday. Once completed, the rest of the morning was spent evaluating both aero and mechanical changes on new tyres, with the afternoon spent carrying out a similar programme on used tyres over longer runs. The programme featured both Monaco-specific upgrades, as well as medium-term development components.

"Both the chassis and power unit have run without any issues on both days, which, combined with the team’s hard work, has meant we have been able to get through our extensive test programme."

Satoshi Nakamura, Honda R&D Co Ltd Principal Engineer

"We have finished another good day of testing with Stoffel behind the wheel, with 108 laps and the run programme completed.

"During the morning, we continued the power unit mapping that we started yesterday, targeted for the Monaco circuit. We spent the afternoon on longer stints and race simulation, in which we focused heavily on energy management.

"The data gathered will be further analysed in Japan, and fine-tuned for next weekend’s race."

Renault F1

Renault Sport Formula One Team completed a fruitful in-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Kevin Magnussen pounding in 122 laps in the R.S.16. Kevin ended the day as the eighth fastest driver with a 1min 25.133secs lap. The team assessed a variety of aerodynamic and mechanical improvements to the car including the latest specification power unit. Over the course of the past two days the R.S.16 has completed a total of 227 laps.

Kevin Magnussen

“That was a full day for me and a productive one. I think the only issue I experienced all day was wanting to take my helmet off for a little break. The car feels good and it was great to conduct such a wide variety of assessments as it shows we’re clearly making progress. It wasn’t just me busy in the car, all the crew were flat out changing bits or adding or removing rakes so a big thanks to everyone for their hard work after the race here. It’s definitely been a positive test. The power unit feels stronger and has better driveability and there are some other good improvements too.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director

“Today has been a highly positive day of testing following on from Esteban’s good work yesterday. Kevin gave us everything we needed over a wide range of simulations and assessments. We’ve now run for two long days with the latest specification power unit with no major issues or concerns. We’ve tested all the aero and mechanical parts we wanted which allows us to plan our next race upgrades effectively. It’s just a few days before we head to Monaco but we have plenty to keep us busy to bring extra performance to the car for Kevin and Jolyon to enjoy on track.”

Mercedes

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS concluded the first in-season test of the 2016 season today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Pascal Wehrlein at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid.

— Pascal emerged for his first run at 09:00, completing 65 laps before the hour-long lunch break at 13:00 and a further 68 laps in the afternoon – finishing for the day at 18:00
— Today’s programme focused on aero data collection exercises
— Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total of 1,960km (421 laps)
— The team will now return to Brackley to prepare the F1 W07 Hybrid for the Monaco Grand Prix

Pascal Wehrlein

That was a good day. A bit unexpected! The team called me yesterday evening as they couldn’t finish their test programme and needed an experienced driver to finish it off, so I came back to the track to do a seat fitting that night! We did 133 laps today – two race distances – and finished the test programme, which was important for the team. We tried a few different setups during the morning – mainly looking at aerodynamic with the aero rig. Then we did some long runs in the afternoon, so a good programme. I must say I really enjoyed the car – it felt amazing! I’m now really looking forward to my first Monaco Grand Prix next week.

Red Bull Tag Heuer

ax Verstappen took over in the RB12 for the second and final day of 2016’s first in-season test. Max had a busy day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, completing 118 laps, running with tyres and a setup similar to those used for the Spanish Grand Prix at the weekend. He finished the day P1 on the timesheet, 0.739s ahead of his nearest rival. Of much greater significance, he completed his program with no reliability issues.

Max carried on the aero development work started yesterday by Daniel Ricciardo. His program, however, had the additional target of getting the driver comfortable in the car and comfortable with his crew. Despite having already won a grand prix in the RB12, Max is still getting to know the car, and thus the great benefit of the test day was allowing him to fine-tune his setup preferences and develop relationships with his engineers and crew.

“It was good to get back in the car today,” said Max afterwards. “The car is good to drive, very enjoyable and we achieved very good mileage. We didn’t have any problems and could run the whole day. For me personally it was good to have the opportunity to get even more comfortable with the car. I was able to try some new things and find ways to improve my performance. I learned a lot about the RB12 today, which is very, very positive.”

Head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin added

“A big part of the day was for Max Verstappen to keep working with his crew and his team of engineers, just to build up that rapport. We’ve also been looking at the setup options that he prefers. I know he’s won a race but ultimately he’s only been with us a week, so there’s still a lot that we need to work on together as we get to know each other. We had to go through the various options and evaluate them with Max, see what he likes – things like the layout of his steering wheel and what he wants to see on the display. On top of that we had a normal run plan, very similar to yesterday, working on medium-to-long term development of the car. It went well. We did 118 laps despite doing some really short runs for aero-mapping. It was a very solid day and, overall, a very solid test with 200+ laps, no issues with the car and a good program of work completed.”

Pirelli

Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director

“As this was an in-season test rather than a Pirelli test, the teams were selecting individual run plans and choosing their own tyres from the usual 2016 range, rather than testing new prototypes. Because of the wide variety of programmes that were being worked through, the lap times in isolation were of no great significance. However, some teams were also able to carry out specific tyre-related assessments, such as data acquisition on the ultrasoft tyre before it makes its debut in Monaco next week. From a tyre perspective everything performed as expected, and the teams were able to acquire additional information that will undoubtedly be very useful for the rest of the season.”

Manor Mercedes

Jordan King

“Despite having my first taste of an F1 car in Abu Dhabi last year, driving this year’s MRT05 for the first time today was just as exhilarating. Possibly more so, actually, given that it’s such a big step on in terms of power and braking stability in particular. As well as being an opportunity for me to get to grips with the car, today was still very much a working test for the team and I had a big programme of items to work through. We had hoped to make enough progress for me to get some time on the Supersoft but we had an issue at the end which brought our day to a close sooner than we’d hoped. That said, it’s not all about the timesheets and it’s just as valuable for the team to see what I can bring in terms of application and feedback. All in all, I’m pretty pleased.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director

“We’ve had a very good extended stay here in Barcelona with two days of really productive running. Yesterday with Pascal was extremely beneficial because he had just spent a race weekend running the new developments, so it was great to have the luxury of being able to spend a bit of time looking at things in a far more detailed and critical manner. Today was more about providing Jordan with the opportunity to get to grips with this year’s package, but nonetheless we’ve been able to work through a programme of important items with him at the same time as giving him the valuable learning experience he needs in his role as Development Driver. He’s done a good job today, working diligently and consistently, but it was unfortunate that a problem at the end of the day curtailed our running and he wasn’t able to run the Supersofts. Now, it’s on to Monaco where we are all very much looking forward to what is always a fantastic event and Pascal and Rio’s first Monaco Grand Prix, so a huge occasion for the entire team.”

Haas F1 Ferrari

Haas F1 Team driver Esteban Gutiérrez logged a total of 105 laps during the final day of in-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya – Barcelona. Gutiérrez’s fastest lap of 1:24:592 came on his 74th tour around the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn circuit, placing him fourth among the 10 drivers participating.

The morning session began with cool temperatures under a party cloudy sky. Gutiérrez’s VF-16 was shod on the Pirelli P Zero White medium tires, and it was fitted with instrumentation to measure aerodynamic performance. The mediums stayed on the car throughout the morning as the team moved to aero mapping and fundamental setup and development work. By the midday break, Gutiérrez had recorded 41 laps and with a best time of 1:26.402.

As afternoon temperatures climbed, Gutiérrez and the team continued development work on the car’s setup, specifically, by running softer and softer Pirelli tire compounds. They began the afternoon session on the P Zero Yellow softs before the team switched to the P Zero Red supersofts. It was during his stint on the supersofts that Gutiérrez set his fastest lap of the day (1:24.592). Toward the end of the session, the team transitioned to the P Zero Purple ultrasofts, which will make its debut in race conditions next weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Combined with the 96 laps made by teammate Romain Grosjean on Tuesday, the 105 laps Gutiérrez logged on Wednesday gave Haas F1 Team a total of 201 laps.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull set the day’s fastest time (1:23:267) on the very same track where he scored his first career Formula One victory Sunday in the Spanish Grand Prix. Pascal Wehrlein of Mercedes ran the most laps (133).

Esteban Gutiérrez, Driver No. 8, Haas F1 Team

“It was a very interesting day. We completed almost everything we needed to achieve, so we can be happy with that. It was all very positive. We were able to run a lot of programs, so I’m looking forward to Monaco.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

“Another successful day for us. We’ve got a lot of data from the test. Now, we need to go through it and try to use it for the next race in Monaco. We achieved over a hundred laps quite flawlessly. The team has worked very hard and we’re very happy with the results.”