Jerez: Grosjean leads test day 2 for Lotus

Lotus driver tops day two timesheet as Mercedes’ testing troubles continue.

Mercedes’ pre-season testing woes continued this morning as Lewis Hamilton crashed out on his debut with the team. Lotus, meanwhile, continued its good form, with Romain Grosjean heading the day two timesheet with a time of 1:18.218.

Mercedes’ day one running had been cut short when Nico Rosberg suffered an electrical problem after 14 laps and Hamilton’s time in the repaired W04 lasted just a lap longer this morning. The former McLaren driver suffered a rear brake failure that sent him spinning into the barriers. The team later traced the problem to the hydraulic brake line connecting to the right-rear caliper. The repairs meant Hamilton was unable to take to the circuit again for the remainder of the day.

“These things happen and it’s all part of testing,” said Hamilton. “Of course, it’s better that we get these small issues out of the way sooner rather than later, and the guys are working really hard to overcome them.

“From the few short laps that I completed this morning, my general feeling was very positive,” he added. “I got a good understanding of where the base of the car is and, whilst we need to do work in certain areas, it was good to have some laps to get a feel for what those areas are. I’ve told the guys that we just need to keep pushing and I know that we all will be doing that.”

Grosjean, meanwhile, was thriving. On yesterday’s opening day of testing the Frenchman completed 54 laps of the Jerez circuit and after scoring the day’s third-best time said that he would “go even better tomorrow”.

He was as good as his word and over the course of 95 laps set a field-leading lap time of 1:18.218, eight tenths of a second clear of second-fastest man Paul Di Resta.

“For me, the whole test has gone well which bodes well for the year ahead,” he said. “My feeling in the car is good and it was great to be at the top of the times. Even if it doesn’t mean anything during testing, it’s still good to be at the front. We used the soft, medium and hard compounds and whilst we’re not 100 per cent yet on the differences between each we have a good idea.”

Force India’s Di Resta enjoyed a similarly trouble-free run, also racking up 95 laps on his way to a time of 1:19.003. Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo also had a comfortable day ay the wheel of the STR8, lapping 83 times on his way to fourth spot, just over tenth adrift of Di Resta.

Mark Webber was fourth-fastest, though the Red Bull racing driver insisted the team had not been chasing lap time.

“People always ask about the times being done up and down the pitlane but to be honest I haven’t looked,” said Webber who completed 101 laps to add to the 73 done on day one. “We can only look at we’re doing, and so far we’re very satisfied with where we are.

“I’m very happy with the car and myself,” he added. “I might have bombed a few laps here and there but I’ve done 170 or more, which is a good total for the first two days with a new car. Overall, it’s been very good. The car gives me the confidence to push pretty hard and that’s always an indication that you have something you can build on.”

Fifth place was taken by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, while Hamilton’s best morning time was still good enough to keep sixth place at the end of the day’s running.

That left seventh place to the 2008’s replacement at McLaren, Sergio Pérez. The Mexican has been through an intensive simulator programme at the team’s Woking base and at the wheel of a real MP4-28, the former driver looked assured and comfortable, if sensibly conservative.

Elsewhere, Marussia announced the identity of its second driver, Luiz Razia, by immediately installing 2012’s GP2 runner-up in the cockpit of the MR02. While The Brazilian’s first outing wasn’t as troubled as new team-mate Max Chilton’s yesterday, he was only able to complete 31 laps before an engine problem saw the car garage-bound for the afternoon.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton’s first day of testing for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS was brought to an early conclusion today by a technical problem on the F1 W04.

— Lewis completed 15 laps this morning before suffering a loss of rear brake pressure
— The front brakes enabled him to slow the car however he could not avoid hitting the barrier
— The problem was traced to the hydraulic brake line connecting to the right-rear calliper
— The team did not go out for the remainder of the day as work continued to complete the required repairs

Nico Rosberg will be back at the wheel of the F1 W04 tomorrow for the third day of the test.

Lewis Hamilton: We had a good start but then unfortunately we had a failure which brought our day to an early end. These things happen and it’s all part of testing. Of course, it’s better that we get these small issues out of the way sooner rather than later, and the guys are working really hard to overcome them. From the few short laps that I completed this morning, my general feeling was very positive. I got a good understanding of where the base of the car is and, whilst we need to do work in certain areas, it was good to have some laps to get a feel for what those areas are. I’ve told the guys that we just need to keep pushing and I know that we all will be doing that.

Toro Rosso Ferrari

The second day of testing in southern Spain went smoothly for Scuderia Toro Rosso as Daniel Ricciardo added a further 83 laps to the 70 he completed yesterday. With the usual proviso that lap times do not mean too much at testing, the Australian’s fastest lap puts him third out of twelve on the time sheet. The engineers carried out the first scan of the car in terms of set-up and the programme also included some long runs to have a first look at the car in race trim and generally, it was another positive day’s work. Tomorrow, Jean-Eric Vergne will have his first encounter with the new car, as he takes over from his team-mate for the final two days of this test.

Daniel Ricciardo: “A few more laps today and a bit of a clearer picture of what the STR8 is like. We completed our programme, with short runs in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon. We also tried the Medium Pirelli, having only used the Hard yesterday, so at least for this circuit, we have established a good compare of the two compounds. We ran through several other test items and I think we can be satisfied with the day’s work that has produced some useful information.”

Caterham Renault

Giedo van der Garde: "Another solid day on track and with 88 laps completed we can be pleased with what we’ve achieved today. For the second day running we didn’t have any real issues and we’re working through the program so the team on track and back in Leafield have a lot of data to work on.

"In the morning session we ran through a number of aero programs and then switched to comparing set-up options on a variety of the tyre compounds. I think we found a good direction in the last run in the afternoon, so now the team can keep making progress in the next two days.

"The other important thing for me is that I’m getting more and more comfortable in the car. The time I spent on track last year with the team was obviously a big help and it’s meant I’ve come into this test knowing my way around the team, and to have completed over 150 laps in my first two days of testing is very positive."

Williams Renault

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: We had a clutch installation problem this morning which was a bit disappointing considering it was the same as we had been running last season. We quickly remedied this but it lost us time during our aero evaluations this morning. We will look to recover this time over the next two days. This afternoon the focus was back on tyre work and we also made some subtle set-up changes which has given us a good direction for the new car. The new technical team is working well and we will now prepare to change drivers with Valtteri taking over for the final two days, something he is very much looking forward to.

Pastor Maldonado: We did some good running this afternoon going through our planned tests but there is still a lot to do to understand the tyres even better. We have a lot of data to look through from today and there is a good atmosphere in the team. I know Andrew, my new Race Engineer, well as he’s been my Performance Engineer for the last two years, so it feels very natural to continue working together.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Thursday 7 February, with Valtteri Bottas getting behind the wheel of the FW34 for the third day of the test.

Ferrari

Work goes on relentlessly in the Scuderia Ferrari garage, with the F138 back in action for the second day of testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, as all the teams entered in this year’s Formula 1 World Championship tackle their first four day test session. The afternoon was given over to aerodynamic testing and long runs, with Felipe Massa completing a total of 78 laps. A large amount of data has been acquired relating to the various exhaust configurations tried during the morning and this will now be analysed by the engineers, to add to what they learned yesterday relating to the car’s behaviour. Quickest today was Romain Grosjean in the Lotus with a time of 1:18.218, ahead of the Force India of Paul di Resta (1:19.003) and Daniel Ricciardo in the Toro Rosso (1:19.134)

Felipe Massa was eighth quickest in the F138 with a time of 1:19.914, on a short time sheet that featured eleven other drivers. The Scuderia engineers are not bothered about lap times, preferring to concentrate on getting on with items on the job sheet, so as to plan the work for the remaining two days, with the Brazilian again at the wheel tomorrow.

Felipe Massa: “Today, we concentrated 100% on the aerodynamic side and on the exhausts. In the morning, I didn’t even do a flying lap because we used the time available to do constant speed runs and to analyse various aerodynamic solutions. All the changes to the car took longer than planned, but in the afternoon, I managed to do three long runs which were very important in order to understand which direction we need to follow in the coming days.”

Force India Mercedes

Sahara Force India enjoyed another productive day in Jerez as Paul Di Resta and James Rossiter split driving duties in the VJM06.

Paul Di Resta: “I managed to do 95 laps today, which was a good effort, and we got through the programme without any issues. We did some more good aero work this morning and then tried some set-up changes on the car. Testing is a good chance to make bigger changes than you would make during a race weekend and that’s allowed us to really see how they affect the car and has given us valuable data on tyre performance. The handling of the car so far is good and I’m feeling comfortable after two days in the car.”

James Rossiter: “It felt great to be back in a Formula One car and I was impressed with the performance straight away. It’s only the second day of running, yet the car already feels quite nicely balanced with a lot of potential. Having already done work on the team’s simulator, it’s good to get a feel for the real car and get acclimatised today so that I can really make the most of my running tomorrow morning.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer: “Another very productive day of work as we completed a similar technical programme to yesterday with aero passes, balance work and longer runs after lunch. Paul’s feedback and consistency have given us lots of direction for improving the set-up and with 114 laps completed we are gathering lots of data to continue understanding the tyres. We put James in the car late this afternoon to give him time to acclimatise ahead of tomorrow. He’s doing a lot of simulator work for us back at the factory so it’s important that he has a good understanding of the real car to be able to make a valid comparison.”

Sauber Ferrari

The Sauber F1 Team had a productive second day of testing. In the morning, when the track’s temperature was still cold, the team concentrated mainly on aerodynamic tests. Later in the morning and in the afternoon – in better track conditions – the engineers and Nico started with some basic set-up work, and then made some runs on heaviear fuel loads. The car ran without any technical problems all day. At the end the team did a fuel system check, and Nico ran out of fuel.

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering: "It was a very good day with Nico achieving all our goals. Nico is building up a good working relationship with the engineers, which is important. We continued our work on understanding the Pirelli tyres. Without doubt the temperatures will be different once we go racing, but we still got to understand them well. The car was, again, very reliable, which gives us a solid basis.

Nico Hülkenberg: "For the second day in a row it was pretty successful. We went through a lot of test items and did a comparison of the compounds - soft, medium and hard - which was quite interesting. Otherwise I was able to continue my familiarisation with the car and I did some long runs. Like yesterday, it was a positive day.“

What comes next: This was the final day of testing for Nico in Jerez. Tomorrow and on Friday, Esteban Gutiérrez will take over.

Red Bull Renault

Mark Webber completed his first two days at the wheel of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing RB9 with a further 101 laps of the Jerez circuit today. After scoring the day’s fourth-best time of 1:19.338, he emerged from the car saying he’s confident that both the car and the team are heading in the right direction as the 2013 F1 season approaches.

Mark Webber: "I think in terms of consistency it’s great. I’m very happy with the car and myself. I might have bombed a few laps here and there, but I’ve done 170 or more, which is a good total for the first two days with a new car. Overall, it’s been very good. The car gives me the confidence to push pretty hard and that’s always an indication that you have something you can build on.

“The run plan this morning was pretty ambitious, but we have a lot of departments in the team looking for feedback, so it was important to get through the list. We accomplished most of it and that’s all you can ask for. People always ask about the times being done up and down the pit lane but, to be honest, I haven’t looked. We can only look at what we’re doing, and so far we’re satisfied with where we are.

“We’ve learned a lot more since yesterday and I’m sure that will continue tomorrow with Sebastian. I think we’ve put the car in a good position for him and hopefully he’ll be able to push on from there. If you ask me where I think we are compared to this time last year, I’d say we’re in a better position, but of course a lot of that is down to a lack of regulation changes.”

Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum added: “After a good start yesterday, I’d say we had an even more productive day today. We were able to get through most of the items on our agenda and focused on general car set-up work and aero-tests. We also managed to get through some background tests as well – making sure that everything is working as it should. The weather was ideal and, although the wind picked up in the afternoon, it didn’t upset anything. I think Mark can be pleased with his first days with the RB9. We now have a lot of data to get through and some preparation work to get the car ready for Sebastian’s first day in the car tomorrow.”

McLaren Mercedes

After yesterday’s encouraging start, today’s focus switched to preparing Sergio for his first run behind the wheel of a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

The morning kicked off with a continuation of yesterday’s aero calibration work, carried out across a number of shorter runs. Attention then turned towards acclimatising Sergio to his new office, running through a prescribed programme of mechanical and aerodynamic adjustments with MP4-28 to give him a greater understanding of the inherent feel of the car and the way it reacts to set-up changes.

The acclimatisation session continued throughout the afternoon, concluding in a number of longer runs. Sergio racked up 81 laps – a positive start to his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes career.

Jenson returns for his second and final day of Jerez testing, continuing the aero and mechanical work that has been established over the past two days.

Lotus Renault

Romain Grosjean ended the second day of testing at Jerez as comfortably the fastest man on track as the team continued its evaluation programme with the E21.

Under blue skies with occasional cloud coverage, Romain completed 95 laps; many of which dipped into the 1min 18s. He ended the day with the best time set thus far this week – a 1min 18.218secs – with no other car running under 1min 19 secs.

Romain Grosjean: “It was good today; the programme went to plan and we showed we have good reliability. For me, the whole test has gone well which bodes well for the year ahead. My feeling in the car is good and it was great to be at the top of the times. Even if it doesn’t mean anything during testing, it’s still good to be at the front. We used the soft, medium and hard compounds and whilst we’re not 100% yet on the differences between each we have a good idea. Kimi will be working on this area for the next two days so we’ll have a better understanding when we head to Barcelona. It’s not easy to understand everything about the car and tyres yet, but I think we’re working quite well and it’s up to us to find the best solutions.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “I’m very happy with today’s performance. The pace looks good and we haven’t had any issues with reliability meaning we could complete all of our programme without interruption. We focused on learning more about the 2013 Pirelli tyres and ran with the soft, medium and hard compounds with a variety of different set-ups, both mechanical and aerodynamic, to understand how they react. This combined with a good mileage today to give us some very good data to work through ahead of Kimi getting in the car tomorrow.”

Kimi Räikkönen will take to the wheel of the E21 for the first time tomorrow, before wrapping up the opening test on Friday.

Marussia Cosworth

Day Two of the opening pre-season test got underway at the Circuito de Jerez today, with the Team announcing Luiz Razia as its second driver for the 2013 season. It was straight down to business for him as he jumped into the new MR02 for the first day of his testing programme.

The early part of the morning was given over to acclimatisation but it wasn’t long before Luiz was making good progress and the Team were able to start pushing through the list of test items. Just before the lunch break an engine problem arose and though the Team pushed hard through the rest of the afternoon to get the car back on track, a red flag towards the end of the session meant that they were unable to go out and put further mileage on the car.

Luiz Razia: “It has been a very busy but happy day for me with, first, the announcement of my drive for the Team and then getting straight into the car for a first day of testing. It is not the first time I have worked with the Team of course, but there has been a lot to take in and I need to get up to speed very quickly. I’m quite pleased with the way things have gone for me, so it is a shame that we were unable to run this afternoon. We had an engine problem but took that opportunity to do our KERS checks and then we were unable to turn the car round before the red flag came out. Overall though I think we have good reason to be positive as the guys are obviously pushing extremely hard. I’m looking forward to being in the car again on Friday but for now today is a moment I will savour because I have worked hard and waited a long time for it.”

John Booth, Team Principal, Marussia F1 Team: “After the issue we encountered yesterday, we had a lot of hard work to do last night to rebuild the car. We were forced to effect some substantial repairs at the track, but the race team and factory worked hard to get the required new components out here quickly and we were ahead of where we thought we would be once this morning came around. Luiz has settled in well and he got off to a good start, aided by the fact that he is well-versed in all the procedures required to operate F1 machinery following his experiences at the recent rookie tests. We made good progress with the KERS this morning and the team and drivers are now getting to grips with the system. In the coming days, this will allow us to focus on other areas. There are a lot of new systems on the car and some of these are quite challenging for the Team, but we will get to grips with these by the time we complete this test and on the whole we are making good progress. We were forced to stop at lunchtime due to an engine problem, and after fighting to get back out on track before the end of the session, the red flag conspired against us. Tomorrow is a new day and we are determined to get up and running and put some further mileage on the car.”