Catalunya, day 3: Hamilton comfortably fastest on third day

Lewis Hamilton gave Mercedes rivals a taste of the true pace of the team’s new W04 car as he topped the Barcelona timesheet with a lap almost seventh tenths of a second clear of second-fastest man Felipe Massa.

With the weather in Barcelona much improved overnight, Hamilton was quick to take advantage and spent the morning lighting up the timing screens with a sequence of short runs that by the lunch break left him with a time of 1:20.558 set on soft tyres.

As the afternoon progressed Hamilton’s rivals edged closer to his time, but by the end of running the time still stood, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa the only driver to get within a second of the Mercedes driver’s benchmark.

“It was great to have a dry track today for my final day of testing, and we were able to get through all the test items that we wanted to achieve by the end of my programme,” said Hamilton afterwards. “The reliability, the mileage and the step-by-step improvements that we have achieved during the three tests are all very encouraging. Whilst we’ve been focusing on our own performance, we definitely haven’t seen the full potential of our competitors yet, so it’s difficult to predict where we might be.”

Massa’s time of 1:21.457, scored midway through the afternoon, was set on super soft tyres. However, 20 minutes from the end of the session the Brazilian was forced to stop on track after his front-left wheel detached. Ferrari later said a broken front upright was at fault for the stoppage.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil claimed the day’s third-quickest time. The German spent most of the morning on pit stop practice and installation laps, but in the afternoon strapped on Pirelli’s super soft tyre for some performance runs, which netted him a lap of 1:21.627. After a sequence of short runs, Sutil then switched to long runs for a race simulation.

The Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas claimed fourth and fifth places respectively, with the Venezuelan running in the morning and the Finn taking over after lunch.

With Esteban Gutierrez sixth for Sauber, seventh place went to Mark Webber. The Australian’s final day of testing was a frustrating one, however, as overnight changes to the RB9 meant a late start to his morning runs. A long spell in the garage over lunch for more changes then meant Webber didn’t appear on track until 3pm. As such his tally of 59 laps was the lowest team total of the day.

“I would obviously have liked to get a few laps in today, but that’s the way it goes sometimes in testing,” Webber said. ”We had a few small issues with the car today which delayed us a couple of times and while it wasn’t ideal I think we still learned plenty.

“In terms of the overall feeling at the end of my spell of testing, I think we’ve done well and we have made a step forward. As I’ve said before it’s very difficult to see a real pecking order. We’ve just always been focused on what we have to do and not really looked too hard at anyone else. The important thing now is just to get out to Melbourne and get on with the racing. We have some work to do, for sure, and we have a few things we need to iron out, but that’s the same for everybody.”

Behind Webber, Sergio Perez was eighth for McLaren, while Jean-Eric Vergne set the day’s ninth-fastest time for Toro Rosso. They were followed by the Lotus pairing of Romain Grosjean and reserve driver David Valsecchi.

Valsecchi had been promoted to the cockpit first thing in the morning when Kimi Raikkonen was forced to abandon driving duties due to illness. Grosjean, meanwhile, was forced to fly to Barcelona from Paris to take over at the wheel in the afternoon.

“This morning was quite a rush to get everything ready as the call only came late, but the team were fantastic getting the car prepared for me,” said 2012 GP champion Valsecchi. “I only completed short runs today so I have a limited impression of the E21, however it’s clear that it’s a very good racing car. For me to be able to get immediately on the pace means that the car is certainly fast and competitive. It was a fantastic opportunity; I sat in the seat of a former world champion so I knew that I’d be fast for sure.”

Lotus later said that if well enough Raikkonen will return to the Circuit de Catalunya tomorrow for a final pre-season day at the wheel of the E21.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton completed his final day of pre-season testing for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS in Barcelona today.

— In the morning session, Lewis worked through a series of short runs, using the soft compound Pirelli tyre
— The programme included aerodynamic evaluations alongside different set-up options
— After the break, the focus switched to longer runs for the afternoon session, looking at aerodynamics and tyre wear
— Lewis completed 117 laps today, equivalent to 545 kms, to take his total pre-season mileage in the F1 W04 to 2585 kms

Nico Rosberg will drive for the final day of the test tomorrow to complete the team’s pre-season testing programme.

Lewis Hamilton: It was great to have a dry track today for my final day of testing, and we were able to get through all the test items that we wanted to achieve by the end of my programme. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us to get to where we want to be but the team is doing a great job. The guys are working so hard at the factory and here at the track; it’s been really nice to get to know everyone in the garage and how they work together over the past few weeks. The reliability, the mileage and the step-by-step improvements that we have achieved during the three tests are all very encouraging. Whilst we’ve been focusing on our own performance, we definitely haven’t seen the full potential of our competitors yet, so it’s difficult to predict where we might be. I’ll be back at the factory next week doing some final preparation work on the simulator and with my engineers, and then it’s off to Melbourne for the first race of the new season with my new team.

Caterham Renault

Giedo van der Garde: "For my final day of testing it’s really good to put 126 laps on the board. We took full advantage of the weather today, running through the final tyre and setup evaluations this morning and then running a full race simulation after lunch. We only had one minor issue with the car this morning, but apart from that it ran well all day and it was good to get a full race distance done, both for me and the whole team.

"Even with the amount of laps we got through I feel really good. I’ve worked hard all winter to prepare for the season and today was a good test for how I feel physically and mentally, so it’s good to finish off the tests feeling prepared for the race season to start."

Williams Renault

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: We brought our updated core bodywork for the first race here this weekend. Pastor spent the morning doing system checks with it before Valtteri went through new sets of each compound tyre this afternoon. Tomorrow we aim to do more performance runs with some further upgrades ahead of Australia.

Pastor Maldonado: We were running quite a few new parts this morning so our focus was on learning more about them and how they make the car behave. It felt very different, but it’s too early to say how much performance gain they will bring. We have some good data for the engineers to analyse now, so we will see. I was able to do a good time despite the limited running which shows that we are still improving.

Valtteri Bottas: I could really feel the difference today running the updated bodywork. We saw some improvements immediately but we still need to work on the car balance to maximise the potential. Overall, we learnt a lot and it’s nice to see the work everyone has been doing at the factory having a positive influence on the car. It’s now up to us to get the lap time out of it.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Sunday 3 March, with Pastor Maldonado driving in the morning session and Valtteri Bottas driving the afternoon session again for the final day of the test.

Toro Rosso Ferrari

For the penultimate day of pre-season testing, the eleven Formula 1 teams were finally able to do a day’s running without having to fit wet weather tyres. In fact with an ambient temperature of 16 degrees and the track hitting 30, it was the first time over the two weeks in Barcelona that conditions began to approach those one can expect to encounter at some of the races. In the morning, with Jean-Eric back behind the wheel, the team continued to work through a list of test items, focussing on suspension settings. Then, in the afternoon, the Frenchman completed a full race simulation, with the STR8 running trouble-free throughout. During the “race” Jev used no less than three different Pirelli compounds to pull in as much useful data as possible. Daniel Ricciardo will drive tomorrow, on a similar programme, with test items in the morning and a race sim to round off the 12 days of winter testing.

Jean-Eric Vergne: “We got through a lot of work and it was a positive day, after the difficulties of working in the cold and wet conditions on the previous days. We can ignore the lap times, because, unlike some other teams we did not do a qualifying simulation. However, our race simulation this afternoon went well. On the tyre front, we saw a lot of degradation here in Barcelona, but I think it will be a different story when we get to Melbourne. In general, the testing has gone well and even though we still have work to do before the first race, we tested a lot of items this week. Our performance? We are definitely looking better than last year, but where we are compared to the others is still difficult to say.”

McLaren Mercedes

The penultimate day of pre-season testing – and Checo’s final day in MP4-28 before
Melbourne. For the first time this week, weather conditions were stable and favourable: it was bright and sunny all day, which allowed the team to focus on a full day of running.

The morning was devoted to evaluating a number of different mechanical set-ups. The team then committed to a series of system changes over the lunchbreak before kicking off with a long run in the afternoon. Some live pitstop practice was also included – allowing Checo to get a feel for racing with the team in Australia later this month.

The final day: Jenson resumes running duties, and will wrap up our pre-season evaluation of MP4-28 with more aero and mechanical set-up work.

Force India Mercedes

The weather improved today in Barcelona as Adrian Sutil completed his final day in the VJM06 before the season-opening race in Melbourne. Paul Di Resta will run for the final day tomorrow.

Adrian Sutil: “A busy day of race preparation, which all went to plan. There was a lot of pit stop practice throughout the day and it’s good that we managed to do a race distance without any disruptions. It was less windy today, which made things easier, and the higher temperatures helped give us ideal testing conditions for understanding the tyres and the degradation.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer:“Blue sky and sunshine was a welcome sight this morning after two days of unsettled weather in Barcelona. This gave us a chance to run through our race procedures as part of a dress rehearsal before Melbourne in a couple of weeks’ time. We pretty much worked through a race weekend programme with performance runs and pit-stop drill. After lunch we managed to cover a race distance, which gave us information on tyre performance and proved very valuable for Adrian’s racecraft as he gets ready for his return to racing.”

Marussia Cosworth

Day Three of the final pre-season test saw newly-signed Jules Bianchi embarking on his debut run in the Marussia F1 Team MR02 at the Circuit de Catalunya. Less than 24 hours after joining the Team, the 23 year old Frenchman had completed 74 laps in the car he will race for the first time in Melbourne in just over two weeks. He ended the day P12 out of 13 drivers with a best time of 1:24.028.

Much of the morning was given over to acclimatisation work, but it wasn’t long before Jules was up to speed and performing some evaluation runs with which to familiarise himself with the MR02 in Melbourne spec aero configuration. The track was completely dry throughout and the improved air and temperature conspired to provide Jules with ideal testing conditions for his opening day’s work.

Jules will be back in the car tomorrow morning before handing back to Max Chilton to complete the afternoon session. The conditions are expected to be similar to today so Max can look forward to his first full evaluation of the new aero upgrade package on a dry track.

Jules Bianchi: “The past 24 hours have passed by so quickly, having signed for my new Team and tested our new car in such a short space of time. Today has been pretty busy but we have been very fortunate to have dry weather, warm conditions, a reliable day and plenty of mileage, so in many ways I couldn’t have asked for more on my first day in the MR02. Perhaps the only disappointment is not getting a clean shot at my run on the Supersoft tyre at the end as the Red Flag frustrated things for us. That would have put the whole day’s work into context I think and I could have brought everything I have learned together into a single lap. However, I have learned such a lot about the car and the Team, so I am happy and looking forward to another half day in the car tomorrow morning. My thanks to the Team for a big welcome and for working so hard into the night to create the seat and have everything ready for me today. I feel very positive for Australia and the rest of the season. ”

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team: “It was certainly a very good start to Jules’ career with the Marussia F1 Team today, albeit one that came at rather short notice. The whole Team was incredibly well-organised last night and got Jules comfortable in the car quite quickly, which resulted in a seamless day of testing. Jules hit the ground running this morning and was quickly giving us good feedback to help with the development process with the new car and we have achieved a good day’s running. We are rapidly coming to the end of our winter testing programme with the MR02 and we have made good progress over the last few weeks with both car and Team. However, there is still much to do to ensure we are as prepared as we need to be before the first race. Tomorrow morning Jules will get an opportunity to work with the whole Race Team on honing pitstops and Max will get his final opportunity for more mileage in the MR02 with a similar programme in the afternoon.”

Lotus Renault

With scheduled driver Kimi Räikkönen sidelined through illness, Davide Valsecchi and Romain Grosjean both took turns in the E21 for today’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Vastly improved weather on day three in Barcelona meant that Davide made his E21 debut on a dry track, completing 16 laps of familiarisation and exhaust / aero assessments to set the eleventh quickest time of the day.

After a brief stop-over in Paris, Romain returned to take over for the afternoon; completing 46 laps and ending the day with the tenth fastest time.

Provided he is fit to return to the cockpit, Kimi will take the wheel tomorrow for the final day of pre-season testing.

Davide Valsecchi: “This morning was quite a rush to get everything ready as the call only came late, but the team were fantastic getting the car prepared for me. I only completed short runs today so I have a limited impression of the E21, however it’s clear that it’s a very good racing car. For me to be able to get immediately on the pace means that the car is certainly fast and competitive. It was a fantastic opportunity; I sat in the seat of a former World Champion so I knew that I’d be fast for sure.”

Romain Grosjean: “I certainly didn’t expect to be in the E21 again today so it was an interruption to a day off, but as interruptions go it was a pretty good one! The weather was definitely an improvement from what I’ve experienced so far and I was able to assess the new rear front wings; both of which feel improved over the initial versions. We ran with high fuel today so it wasn’t about lap times in the afternoon, but it’s all valuable data we’re getting for the car. I hope that Kimi is feeling better for tomorrow, but I don’t mind driving again if I have to.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Obviously, our day was rather compromised because of Kimi being ill. We changed the car for Davide to gain valuable experience in the morning, then changed it over lunchtime to Romain’s settings. Despite the disrupted running, we still completed a Grand Prix distance worth of laps and were able to put valuable miles on our latest rear wing concept as well as evaluating a new front wing. Both look to be a step in the right direction so it’s likely we’ll use them in Australia. Davide did a great job at short notice and we know we can rely on him if he’s called upon again. If Kimi is well enough tomorrow, we will run him in the car, otherwise it will be Romain in action once more.”

Sauber Ferrari

Finally the conditions were good for testing on day three. Esteban did some aerodynamic tests and then made several runs in qualifying conditions. In the afternoon he did a race simulation which was interrupted by a suspected water leak. Esteban completed 99 laps.

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: "Today was Esteban’s final day of winter testing. Our plan was to simulate qualifying and the race. Unfortunately we had a few reliability issues which we are still investigating. Nevertheless, we completed 99 laps and Esteban’s performance today was good."

Esteban Gutiérrez: "It was an interesting experience to do a qualifying and race simulation. It gave me the opportunity to see how the car feels in qualifying and race conditions. The understanding of the tyres was a very important point, especially here in Barcelona where we know graining of the front tyres is a big issue. However, we were able to manage the degradation of the tyres quite well. Unfortunately we were not able to complete the race simulation due to a supected water leak."

Tomorrow, Nico Hülkenberg will be at the wheel of the Sauber C32. It will be the final testing day before the season starts on March 17th in Melbourne.

Ferrari

Sunshine and good weather provided the backdrop to Scuderia Ferrari’s penultimate day of testing at the Catalunya Circuit. This was also the final appearance at testing for Felipe Massa, who will be back behind the wheel of the F138 at the Australian Grand Prix in about two weeks time.

In the morning, the team got through all its planned programme, centred mainly on evaluating some aerodynamic components over short distances, featuring constant speed runs. Felipe also began a Pirelli tyre comparison, which continued through into the afternoon.

After the lunch break, the job list included assessing various set-up changes on the car and some full speed pit stop simulations, including out laps and, for the first time, the team also tried the super soft compound. With less than half an hour remaining, a problem with the left front upright meant that Felipe had to stop the car on track, thus bringing a positive day to a slightly early end.

Testing continues at this circuit tomorrow, the final day, with Fernando Alonso at the wheel.

Red Bull Renault

Mark Webber’s final day of pre-season testing got off to a slow start this morning as the team was delayed in the garage with overnight changes to the car. Once on track, Mark concentrated on evaluating the changed items and ended the day with seventh-fastest time.

Mark Webber: “I would obviously have liked to get a few laps in today, but that’s the way it goes sometimes in testing. We had a few small issues with the car today which delayed us a couple of times and while it wasn’t ideal I think we still learned plenty.

“In terms of the overall feeling at the end of my spell of testing, I think we’ve done well and we have made a step forward. As I’ve said before it’s very difficult to see a real pecking order. We’ve just always been focused on what we have to do and not really looked too hard at anyone else. The important thing now is just to get out to Melbourne and get on with the racing. We have some work to do, for sure, and we have a few things we need to iron out, but that’s the same for everybody.

“Looking at the first race, I think it’s going to be a tight grand prix. There are a lot of quick cars out there and hopefully we have one of them. However, Melbourne is a very particular race, with very specific demands, so we’ll treat it as one race, then go to Malaysia and see how things shake up there. The season moves fast and you have to prepare for every race.”

Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum: “It wasn’t the easiest day for us today. We had quite a bit of work to do overnight with some changes we wanted to make and that delayed us a little bit in getting out in the morning. We had quite a few things we wanted to evaluate today. However, we had much better weather today so when Mark was out we were able to get through quite a lot of work. The guys in the garage did a phenomenal job in getting everything right. Seb’s back in the car tomorrow for the final day of testing here in Barcelona.”