Catalunya, day 2: Grosjean quickest for Lotus

Romain Grosjean continued to underline Lotus’ good pre-season form with the fastest time of the second day of Formula One’s final test in Barcelona.

After a wet morning, the Frenchman took advantage of drier afternoon conditions to bolt on a set of soft tyres and duly claimed top spot with a lap of 1:22.716. Jenson Button was second with a time of 1:23.181, though the McLaren man’s best lap was set on medium compound tyres.

“Even though the weather was far from ideal it was a pretty good day for us and it’s certainly a better feeling to end the session with the fastest time on the board rather than the slowest,” said Grosjean. “We had strong reliability again today and the E21 feels good in all conditions, which is very promising for the season ahead.”

With Button second, third place went to William’s Pastor Maldonado, the Venezuelan finishing just under five tenths of a second behind the McLaren driver. It wasn’t all plain sailing for last year’s Spanish Grand Prix winner, however, and Maldonado was forced to park his FW35 at the first corner in the final minutes of the afternoon session, a fuel-scavenging run the likely cause of the stoppage.

Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel was fourth quickest with a lap of 1:23.743 and after completing 65 laps the champion admitted the conditions had been tough.

“I didn’t do that many laps today, but to be honest the weather wasn’t great and it was a pretty rough day in terms of the wind,” said Vettel. “It’s very cold as well. The tyres aren’t really working properly and I think everybody is suffering the same problem, struggling to make the tyres last for more than a lap. It’s difficult to compare things you are testing and also to compare yourself to others.”

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth for Sauber and the German’s replacement at Force India, Adrian Sutil, was a creditable sixth on his first full day back as Formula One race driver.

“It was a very interesting day with such a variation in track conditions, but it was ideal for me to practice in the sort of conditions we might experience in Australia or Malaysia,” said Sutil. “I ran the full wets, the intermediates and it was good to discover the crossover point with the slick tyres. Overall I felt positive today and whenever I went out on track the lap times were competitive.”

At the foot of the timesheet were tenth-placed Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who backed up the field with the day’s 11th-fatest time. Both were focused on race simulations, however, and Rosberg said he had enjoyed his first outings in the wet in the W04.

“It was great to run in the wet today which I have not done so far during our pre-season testing programme,” said Rosberg who completed 120 laps. “The car felt good in those conditions and it’s important to have had this experience as there is always the chance of rain in Melbourne. This afternoon, we did some race simulation work which was very productive.”

Caterham Renault

Giedo van der Garde: "We knew day two of this test would be another stop / start day with the weather forecast being bad for at least half the day and the forecast wasn’t wrong! Despite that we went out early for an installation lap and ran through more setup work on the wet and intermediate tyres in the morning session.

"The weather cleared up a bit in the afternoon but we had a technical issue that cut into our runplan so we switched from the full race simulation we were going to run to more setup work and tyre evaluation. Unfortunately the rain came back again with half an hour to go, which again meant we had to change the plan but the forecast for the last couple of days is better so hopefully we can get back to the original runplan and finish the tests as we’d planned."

Mercedes

For the second consecutive day, MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS topped the mileage charts at pre-season testing with Nico Rosberg completing a total of 120 laps at the Circuit de Catalunya.

— Whilst the track was wet this morning, Nico focused on evaluating new parts and set-up on the wet and intermediate tyres
— Nico completed a single run on medium compound tyres before lunch
— This afternoon, Nico completed a race simulation on dry tyres, although the latter stages were disrupted by red flags
— Nico did not complete any shorter runs when the track was dry in the afternoon
— Nico completed 559 km today, taking his pre-season mileage to 2030 km (compared to 2040 km for Lewis)

Lewis will be in the car tomorrow for his final day of pre-season testing.

Nico Rosberg: It was great to run in the wet today which I have not done so far during our pre-season testing programme. The car felt good in those conditions and it’s important to have had this experience as there is always the chance of rain in Melbourne. This afternoon, we did some race simulation work which was very productive. I am happy with my mileage today as every single lap is important for the learning process, and so overall it was a positive day for me here in Montmelo.

Marussia Cosworth

Day two of the final pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya saw a continuation of the wet conditions experienced yesterday, albeit the rain had stopped by midday and the track had started to dry considerably.

Max Chilton was back in the car for a second day and he got the morning session underway with more of the wet weather set-up work started yesterday.

In the afternoon the Team was able to switch focus to a dry tyre programme and an evaluation of further components from the new aero upgrade for Melbourne.

Max Chilton: “It’s been a very productive day today in which we’ve been able to maximise running in both wet and dry conditions. The track dried up quite a lot over the lunchtime period and early afternoon, so it’s a shame it started to rain again towards the end. By that time we had achieved quite a lot of our programme with the new aero package and the results from that look promising. The forecast for the next two days looks much better so by the time we leave here on Sunday night we should be well-prepared for Melbourne.”

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team: “We have made very good progress today despite the changeable conditions, completing 75 laps and ending the day P8. Further wet running has been useful experience for Max and it is all good information for the Team at the same time. The dry spell was a little longer than we envisaged so we have achieved more of our aero evaluation programme than we expected and it is very pleasing to see that yielding positive results. We look forward to continuing in this vein over the next couple of days and on Sunday we’ll really have Melbourne in our sights when we have the full race team present for an intensive final day of preparation and pitstop practice.”

Toro Rosso Ferrari

Once again, the rain affected everyone’s programmes at this the final test of the year. The track was wet for most of the day, although it did dry for a while in the afternoon, but even then, temperatures were so low that it was hard to get the tyres operating properly. For Daniel, this was his first time running the 2013 Pirelli rain tyres so that was a valuable experience for him and when the track was dry, the team tried to tick off as many points as possible from the job list. The day ended with some full-kit pit stop practice, which was useful for the crew. Jean-Eric is back in the car tomorrow, when the emphasis will shift from testing elements of the new car to work on race weekend simulation.

Daniel Ricciardo: “Looking on the positive side, the changing weather meant I was able to try the Pirelli rain, intermediate and soft tyres, so that was interesting. However, the rain did make life tricky for all of us and although we got plenty done today, I’m looking forward to achieving more on my last day on Sunday, when the weather is meant to be much better.”

McLaren Mercedes

The anticipated heavy showers largely held off and the majority of the day’s running was conducted on a dry track. A still-damp morning meant Jenson Button’s early running was limited to aero mapping and a couple of mechanical evaluations.

As the circuit dried out, Jenson switched to Pirelli’s Medium compound and ran through a number of different mechanical set-up iterations to find a good balance for MP4-28. The programme was efficient and productive, with Jenson going quicker on each subsequent run.

By mid-afternoon, the team was able to evaluate a number of upgrades over a series of longer runs. While these were interrupted by a late-afternoon red-flag stoppage, Jenson was still able to log some considerable mileage and even incorporate a series of live pitstop simulations into the mix.

Saturday is Checo’s final day in the car before Melbourne. With clearer weather forecast, the aim will be to quickly run through further mechanical and aerodynamic evaluations before continuing more set-up work.

Sauber Ferrari

In the morning the track was wet again, and Nico used the opportunity to mainly work on the full wet and intermediate tyres. In the course of the afternoon, the track dried out for some time, which enabled him to get more experience on how to manage the dry tyres. Nico was able to complete 79 laps.

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: "It was good for Nico to try the intermediate and full wet tyres in the morning. Once the track had dried out we got straight into our dry weather test plan, making the most of the reduced track time that the poor weather costs us. We have plenty of data to analyse tonight in preparation for Esteban’s final day tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us for the rest of the test."

Nico Hülkenberg: "It was a difficult day with changing track conditions, and it was very windy as well. This made it very challenging to do precise testing and get perfect results, but I think we made the best out of it and gathered a lot of data which the engineers can now analyse. I’m satisfied with the pace we had in dry conditions, however, we need to do more work on the intermediate tyres, where we have definitely more potential to exploit."

Tomorrow, Esteban Gutiérrez will be at the wheel of the Sauber C32 for his final day of testing before the Australian Grand Prix.

Force India Mercedes

It was another damp day in Barcelona as Sahara Force India continued working with Adrian Sutil in the VJM06.

Adrian Sutil: “It was a very interesting day with such a variation in track conditions, but it was ideal for me to practice in the sort of conditions we might experience in Australia or Malaysia. I ran the full wets, the intermediates and it was good to discover the crossover point with the slick tyres. I only ran the medium compound dry tyres today, but it was difficult to do too much set-up work because the wind was affecting the aero balance quite a lot. Overall I felt positive today and whenever I went out on track the lap times were competitive.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer: “Again the wet weather forced us to concentrate on running the full wet and intermediate tyres, which proved valuable for Adrian’s knowledge of the tyres. The weather did improve slightly after lunch, but it remained windy and we ran a limited programme once again. The forecast looks much better for tomorrow and it will be Adrian’s final day in the car before we go to Melbourne. The focus will be on long runs, simulating race conditions and pit stops as a dress rehearsal before the season begins.”

Red Bull Renault

Sebastian Vettel’s penultimate day of winter testing was something of a mixed bag with the poor weather causing a few delays to the champion’s work in the morning. Once up and running, however, Seb got through a busy programme of set-up work and managed to fit in some evaluation of test items. With drier conditions after lunch, the afternoon was about refining set-up on his way to the day’s fourth-fastest time.

Sebastian Vettel: “I didn’t do that many laps today, but to be honest the weather wasn’t great and it was a pretty rough day in terms of the wind. It’s very cold as well. The tyres aren’t really working properly and I think everybody is suffering the same problem, struggling to make the tyres last for more than a lap. It’s difficult to compare things you are testing and also to compare yourself to others.”

Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum: “Once again the weather was the main inhibitor today. This morning the conditions weren’t great, so it was a bit of a slow start for everyone. The track was pretty greasy and because the wind wasn’t as severe as yesterday, it stayed pretty damp all morning. That meant a lot of the time we were in that crossover between intermediate and wet tyres, which is tricky. However, in a strange way it actually helped us in the morning as we had some parts we wanted to test and the conditions allowed us to spend the time in the garage getting that sorted to no great detriment to our running. In the afternoon we were able to move on to dry tyres, but the wind was quite strong at times and just as with Mark yesterday, that didn’t make life easy for Seb. Having said that I think we got quite a lot of work done today, especially in gathering data on the items we wanted to test. The weather is supposed to be much better tomorrow with a balmy 14 degrees forecast, so hopefully Mark will get a smooth run on his last day of testing.”

Williams Renault

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: This morning was effected by rain, but this afternoon we managed to get some running in to start working through our aero evaluation work which we had planned for this test. This afternoon we also did a standard fuel run-out test to check against our data; the results were as expected. We now hope to complete some further dry running as we make our final preparations before Australia.

Pastor Maldonado: We didn’t manage to complete our entire programme because of the rain today, but we still did 75 laps with the track improving towards the end of the afternoon. I had a good feeling in the car but we still have things we can improve. This afternoon we were able to complete some aero evaluations, with particular focus on trying some different front wings. We now have enough data to make some decisions on that, so I’m looking forward to getting some dry running in over the weekend.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Saturday 2 March, with Pastor Maldonado driving in the morning session and Valtteri Bottas driving the afternoon session for the third day of the test.

Ferrari

With three days of testing remaining, Fernando Alonso took to the track for Scuderia Ferrari at the Catalunya Circuit. Because of bad weather, the track stayed damp and slippery all day, with the exception of a couple of hours in the early afternoon, when the lack of rain meant the teams were able to run on a dry track.

In the morning, Fernando worked through a packed programme, consisting of aerodynamic tests and assessing some mechanical components, running up to the lunch break on intermediate tyres.

After the break, the team completed its aerodynamic testing and then continued with a second race simulation, using both dry and rain tyres. In the end, Fernando had to come back to the garage and halt the simulation because of a red flag.

Testing continues at this circuit tomorrow, when Felipe Massa will be back behind the wheel for the final time before the start of the 2013 Championship.

Lotus Renault

Romain Grosjean finished his pre-season preparations as the fastest man on track at the Circuit de Catalunya today, with weather conditions continuing to frustrate the team’s test programme.

In a day book-ended by rain, an extensive programme was nevertheless completed; including the evaluation of a new rear suspension set-up. As well as being the fastest driver on track, Romain accumulated the third greatest lap tally of the day.

Kimi will drive the E21 for the final two days of pre-season testing, starting tomorrow.

Romain Grosjean: “Even though the weather was far from ideal it was a pretty good day for us and it’s certainly a better feeling to end the session with the fastest time on the board rather than the slowest! We had strong reliability again today and the E21 feels good in all conditions, which is very promising for the season ahead. Of course, I wish I could have more time in the car before the season starts, but if we’re in the same position on the monitors when we get to Australia I’ll be very happy indeed.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Today was far more productive than yesterday. We debuted a new rear suspension variation, working on initial set-up in the wet conditions this morning, then switched to dry tyres in the afternoon to gather further data on the medium and soft 2013 Pirelli compounds. Whilst circuit conditions are not as favourable as last week due to the recent rain, we were still able to show good pace and our initial findings from the new rear suspension are promising. Over the next two days we will be working on the updates we have for the E21; there’s plenty of work left to do and we’re hoping that the forecasts for better weather over the weekend are correct.”