Catalunya F1 test: team reaction after Day 3

Caterham Renault

Heikki Kovalainen: "A pretty good day. We were able to complete this morning’s plan and we have found a good direction on setup that is giving me real confidence in the balance which is what we wanted before we head to Melbourne. The afternoon session was cut short by the rain but not before we had finished the tests we wanted to do on start procedures, pre-race programs and all the background checks you have to get done over the winter tests. I think we’ve now caught up with the time we lost last week so now we need to make sure Vitaly has a good day tomorrow and put us in the best possible shape for the first race in just over two weeks."

Mark Smith, Technical Director: "Day three here has been another successful day for the team. We had a couple of new parts on the car this morning and we have been able to satisfactorily test their performance, as well as running through the broader program we had planned for today. We have also made progress on each of the tyre compounds we tested today and the times we set show that we have definitely made positive progress today. Tomorrow will be more of the same for Vitaly, making sure we find a baseline setup he is comfortable with and running through a very similar program to today."

Riad Asmat, Caterham Group Chief Executive Officer: "Another good day and more signs of the sort of progress we wanted to make at this test, even with the interruption the rain caused this afternoon. Heikki’s lap this morning shows that we have taken a small step forward in pace compared to where we finished the 2011 season, but we still have a lot of work to do and we know we can find more pace from this year’s package. For me, one of the most encouraging signs of how far we have come is the fact that we keep edging ever closer to the midfield and yet there is absolutely no complacency in the team. Everybody is working even harder than ever to help us bridge that gap and with a team spirit like that we are putting ourselves in a very good position."

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Precisely one hundred laps more than we did yesterday: proof enough that this was a more than satisfactory day’s testing for the team and for Daniel Ricciardo, back in the cockpit of the STR7, having taken over from Jean-Eric Vergne who ran the first two days.

The Australian had a varied day at the wheel, evaluating some aero developments in the morning, before tackling a full race simulation in the afternoon. With other teams on a similar programme there was a bit of a race buzz going on at the Catalunya circuit. Adding to the interest, the rain arrived unexpectedly in the afternoon, which gave our Australian driver the chance to experience the condition changes from dry to wet and back again, which will be a useful experience for the coming season. In addition, the team practiced pit stops for the final time before Melbourne, as they are not part of the programme tomorrow, the final day of testing, when Daniel will be driving once again.

Daniel Ricciardo: “A good day with my highest number of kilometres of the season, which is perfect preparation for Melbourne. I enjoyed the race simulation and we treated it like a real race when the rain came, with my engineer asking me on the radio to make the call about when to come in for tyres and which ones to fit. So it was good to have to make decisions and also to experience Pirelli’s intermediates and rain tyres.”

Mercedes AMG

Nico Rosberg was back in the F1 W03 today for his second day, and the team’s third day, of testing this week in Barcelona.

— Nico completed a series of medium length runs in the morning session to evaluate different set-up and aerodynamic options
— He continued to achieve good mileage over longer runs this afternoon before a rain shower briefly interrupted proceedings
— This gave Nico the chance to drive the F1 W03 on intermediate tyres for the first time during the final hour of the day
— Nico completed 129 laps today, equivalent to 600 km, taking his pre-season mileage in the F1 W03 to over 2500 km

Michael Schumacher will drive for the fourth and final day of the test tomorrow to conclude our pre-season testing programme.

Nico Rosberg: “I’m happy with my pre-season testing programme, and I believe that we have made a step forward from last year. I have been able to achieve a lot of mileage which shows that the car is very reliable, and as a driver, I feel ready now for the first race in Melbourne. Unbelievably in the last hours of my test today, it was raining! So I have also been able to experience the car in the wet. Now it’s exciting to go to the first race and see where we are compared to the others. Finally all the talking stops and the racing starts when we get to Australia.”

Sauber Ferrari

Another good day for the Sauber F1 Team at the Circuit de Catalunya. On his final day of pre-season testing Sergio Pérez did 47 laps in the morning, including a qualifying simulation. He has recorded the fastest lap overall of the Barcelona test so far on a set of soft compound tyres. After lunch he continued for another 53 laps with further race preparation until rain set in. With a few more runs after the break, including the use of intermediate tyres for the first time this year, the total mileage for today is 114 laps. Tomorrow, Sunday, Kamui Kobayashi will be on duty for his final day of testing before the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship kicks off in Melbourne.

Giampaolo Dall’Ara (Head of Track Engineering): “We completed a good programme today. To simulate qualifying was a good exercise for the team and the driver and all went fine. In the afternoon we also simulated procedures you have for a race start and pit stops during the race. After losing some track time in the early days of pre-season testing, we are now pretty happy with the mileage we have achieved. The team back in the factory obviously contributed a lot to the progress. Tomorrow Kamui will have a similar programme in the morning, but a different one in the afternoon.”

Sergio Pérez: “I am very happy with how my final test day went. We did an intensive programme with qualifying and race preparation, which was important to do. I think we have demonstrated that the car has developed well over the testing period. The team has made the most out of all the information we have collected and certainly is in good shape. Also personally I feel ready for Melbourne.”

Tomorrow, Sunday, will be the final day of 2012 pre-season testing. Kamui Kobayashi will be at the wheel of the Sauber C31-Ferrari.

Williams Renault

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: We had a productive day’s testing today, with Bruno completing 111 laps without issue. We concentrated on aerodynamic testing this morning prior to moving onto a race simulation. At the end of the race simulation, it started to rain and we reverted from dry tyres on to intermediates.

Bruno Senna: Today was a very good day. We completed some runs on lower fuel, which I hadn’t done before, using all the different tyre compounds. I was then able to do a full race simulation this afternoon, to learn more about the car and tyres in a race situation. We have a lot of valuable information to look at now, which will enable us to improve for next time. Unfortunately we had to cut our race simulation a bit short due to the rain, however we still met all our objectives for the day.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Sunday 4 March, with Bruno Senna driving in the morning session and Pastor Maldonado driving the afternoon session for the final day of pre-season testing.

McLaren Mercedes

Today was Jenson’s last day in the car before Melbourne and, appropriately, he spent it evaluating the new race package we intend to race in Australia later this month.

The morning was spent successfully installing and understanding the suite of new aero components, but this was interrupted by a hydraulics issue which kept the car in the garage until after the lunch break.

The day was further disturbed by a mid-afternoon rainshower – so today’s proposed set-up, tyre-comparison work and a long run were postponed, and will be conducted by Lewis tomorrow.

Jenson Button: “When you get new parts, you want to go out and put lots of laps on it in order to compare it to what you had previously – but we weren’t able to do that today. We had a hydraulics issue in the morning, which meant we didn’t do much running.

“So it wasn’t the easiest morning – and then we didn’t do much running in the afternoon either because of the rain. We put a couple of good laps in but didn’t get any set-up work done – because of the rain.

“It was nice to drive the new package, and I have a good feeling about it, but I need to work with it for a bit longer to find the right balance for it.

“Hopefully, Lewis will put some more laps on the car tomorrow.”

Force India

Sahara Force India completed its penultimate day of winter testing as Paul Di Resta simulated a race distance in Barcelona.

Paul Di Resta: “It was my final day in the car before the first race and it was a full programme with a race distance in the afternoon. It’s good to get an impression of the car during continuous running and also to try and replicate the tyre compounds we expect to use in Melbourne. We’ve identified some more areas where we can improve in terms of balance, so that’s something to work on overnight before Nico gets in the car.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer: “As the end of winter testing approaches, we are focusing more on race preparations to make sure we are fully up-to-speed before we arrive in Melbourne. We therefore simulated a race weekend today with a race distance this afternoon, as well as a pit stop drill for the entire race team. It’s all about making sure everybody shakes off the winter rust and gets their eye in before Melbourne, because the next time we do it will be for real. The race distance today has taught us a lot about the operating window of the car and where we need to focus our efforts between now and Melbourne. The plan for tomorrow will be more of the same as we try to cover another race distance with Nico.”

Ferrari

Third and penultimate day of pre-season testing for Scuderia Ferrari at the Catalunya Circuit, on the outskirts of Barcelona.

Felipe Massa was back at the wheel of the F2012 today. On the Brazilian’s agenda was a series of set-up tests in the morning and a Grand Prix simulation in the afternoon, this part of the day being complicated by changing weather conditions, as rain made its first appearance at these tests. By the end of the day, Felipe had completed 122 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.22.413.

The Scuderia’s testing ends tomorrow, 4 March, still at the Catalunya Circuit, with Fernando Alonso back on track.

Red Bull Renault

Mark Webber returned to the cockpit of Red Bull Racing’s RB8. After set-up work in the morning, the planned longer runs in the afternoon session were interrupted by rain. However, despite the shortened session Mark professed himself happy with his final day’s testing ahead of his home grand prix in Melbourne in two weeks’ time.

Mark Webber: “We had a pretty good run today and once again we learned a lot. However, I suppose the thing that everyone’s obviously asking about is the changes we made to the car but I have to say the car was not massively different to the one I drove on Thursday. We went through our normal programme, nothing drastic happened, and we just keep working away. It would have been nice to have a few more laps today but then again we didn’t have a race simulation planned, so the rain didn’t really hurt us.

“For me the next stop now is Melbourne and I’m looking forward to that,” he added. “It’s always good to drive out of the pitlane there. Racing’s what we’re all here for and while testing is good, it’s nice to be on track all at the same time, all with the same window of opportunity to deliver – that’s what we love doing. I’m looking forward to that weekend unfolding, and the rest of the races. It’ll be good to get the season going.”

Mark’s Race Engineer, Ciaron Pilbeam: “We had a new chassis for Mark today with some developments parts on board. The run plan was pretty much the same as yesterday, concentrating on set-up work and short runs in the morning and with longer runs planned for the afternoon.

“Unfortunately, because of the rain we had we didn’t get to complete all of the programme. Some people opted to run in the wet but we chose not to, as for us the track was neither one thing nor the other; not wet enough to gather the data we would have wanted and not dry enough to make it worthwhile running.

Lotus Renault

Lotus F1 Team had a curtailed day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona today. Power steering issues in the morning and rain in the afternoon limited track time for Kimi Räikkönen to 43 laps.
Kimi Räikkönen will complete the final day of pre-season testing working on set-up work and a race simulation.

Kimi Räikkönen: “It was good to get in the E20 after missing testing last week. We had an issue with the power steering in the morning then we didn’t run in the wet, so it was quite a short time for me in the car today. At least we got some runs. The car was reliable when on track meaning we gained some good data for the team. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and we can complete more laps.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Aside from the time we lost early on it was clear that we were running a different programme from the other teams today. We were hampered by power steering issues in the morning, which took some time to rectify. Once on track, we steadily improved the car balance through the day. We opted not to run in the rain which meant we completed fewer laps today than would otherwise have been the case.”