Mugello F1 test: team reaction after Day 2

Caterham Renault

Vitaly Petrov: "I have very good memories of Mugello as this is where I won in F3000, so coming back is good. I’m not sure the track is right for today’s F1 cars - you get very close to the walls and it’s maybe a bit small for the cars now, but it’s still a good challenge putting together a quick lap. I think we can be pleased with what we have achieved here today. The car has run faultlessly all day and we have completed everything we targeted in today’s runplan. This afternoon we started running some new parts and even though it’s too early to make any judgements on what sort of step forward they give us, I can say the new rear wing we tried immediately felt like it was giving us more downforce. The car’s balance felt better and there was more grip, so that’s definitely a step in the right direction. Hopefully we can have a similar day tomorrow and give ourselves a good chance of making more progress when we’re back racing in Spain next week."

Jody Egginton, Caterham F1 Team Chief Engineer: "Day two in Mugello has been a good one for the team. The weather is obviously a vast improvement over yesterday and with Vitaly in the car we managed to complete 112 laps, helping us catch up with the time we lost on track yesterday with the rain. This morning we ran through a program on a variety of tyre compounds that gave us the chance to evaluate the new parts we put on the car in the afternoon. From that we have generated a very good amount of data the team on track and back at the factory can use to accurately assess what we have gained with the updates which include new bodywork, a new rear wing and a look at a revised exhaust layout. Tomorrow we will be looking to replicate the same sort of program with Heikki in the car and with the forecast looking good for the last day of the test we want to be able to leave Mugello having completed everything we planned."

McLaren Mercedes

Today was Gary Paffett’s first proper run in MP4-27A and the team were able to conduct some positive tests, mainly focusing on improvements to aero correlation and broadening our understanding of tyre temperature and behaviour.

Progress was brought to a premature end at 15:00 when a gearbox issue ended the day’s running.

Oliver returns to the cockpit for the third and final day tomorrow and will conclude our programme.

Ferrari

Second day of testing for eleven teams today at the Mugello Circuit: Felipe Massa was on track for Scuderia Ferrari.

Today’s programme featured development of some aerodynamic components and a study of the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres. The Brazilian completed a total of 106 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.22.257.

Testing ends at this circuit tomorrow, when Fernando Alonso will be back behind the wheel of the F2012.

Sauber Ferrari

The Sauber F1 Team had quite an interesting day’s work at the Mugello circuit in Italy with Kamui Kobayashi ending up topping the time sheet.

After running had been limited yesterday because of the weather conditions, the team had a huge programme for today. The Japanese driver began the morning session with installation laps, followed by various runs to take measurements. When the track was drying Kamui started to work on the set-up and the engineers were pretty happy with how this went, as the car with the new aero package reacted as it should. Further checks of the new body work and cooling were next on the list to be ticked off, and some brake testing was also done before the lunch break.

In the afternoon Kamui was busy with further aero checks when it became very windy and led to the car having a tricky shifting balance. However, at 4pm Kamui had an off in turn 12 which cost about an hour of track time. After this he joined the session again for some runs on the harder tyre compound and, finally, on a set of new soft tyres with which he set the best lap time of the day.

A lot more was learnt about the new aero package today. Tomorrow Kamui’s team mate, Sergio Pérez, will be taking over driving duties for the third and final day of testing in Mugello.

Force India Mercedes

It was a day of limited running for Sahara Force India as the team worked hard to get on top of reliability issues. Despite only completing 14 laps, Paul Di Resta was able to gather some aero data to begin evaluation of the latest developments on the car.

Paul Di Resta: “We had a few issues today which kept us in the garage and meant that we couldn’t get through much of our programme. The guys spent a lot of time changing things on the car just before lunch and I only managed to get back out for a final run at the end of the day. You always want more laps, but these things can happen and hopefully we can have a full day of running tomorrow to get through our programme and learn what we need to learn.”

Jakob Andreasen, Chief Engineer: “It’s never nice to spend so much time sitting in the garage, but we had a few reliability concerns that we needed to resolve before we continued running. We suspected the issue was related to the hydraulic system of the car so changed that as a precaution. At the same time we chose to make the most of the downtime by bringing forward the engine change, which had been planned for the end of the session. It has been a tough day for the guys in the garage, but they did a great job to get the car out for the final half hour and give Paul the chance to complete a handful of laps in preparation for tomorrow. Due to the lack of running for Paul, he will now stay on for half a day tomorrow, before Nico takes over in the afternoon.”

Toro Rosso Ferrari

After yesterday’s washout, the sun appeared in Tuscany today, and for Scuderia Toro Rosso it was a productive day, spent catching up the track time lost on Tuesday. In the morning, Jean-Eric Vergne was at the wheel, doing comparison tests with different diffusers and in the afternoon, the focus switched to an evaluation of different exhaust systems.

Daniel Ricciardo was due to take over driving duties after the lunch-break, but his turn at the wheel was delayed to allow his team-mate to finish off a particular part of the test programme. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Daniel has actually driven at Mugello before and despite just having two short runs at the end of the day, he was immediately on the pace. He will continue driving for the final day tomorrow. The team also practiced pit stops in the final part of the session.

Jean-Eric Vergne: “In the short time I have been in Formula 1, I would say this was the best day’s testing I have done: We had no problems, we got through a lot of items on the job sheet and, as a first impression, the new elements we tested seem to work well. Daniel still has more things to try tomorrow and if we can put all the best elements of this test together, then I am hopeful it could represent a step forward in Barcelona. The team also worked well, with the mechanics having to change a lot of parts in a short space of time to get the job done, so overall, a positive day.”

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher was at the wheel of the F1 W03 again today as MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS continued the test in Mugello.

— With dry conditions today following a disrupted first day, the team and Michael had an extremely productive day

— The team focused on set-up and tyre work, alongside the evaluation of a number of development parts

— Michael completed 144 laps of the Mugello circuit, equal to over 750 km

Nico Rosberg will drive tomorrow for the third and final day of this week’s test.

Michael Schumacher: “I am very pleased with our testing day here. In the past, I have done so many kilometres on this beautiful track, and today I think I can say I was adding quite some more. Unlike yesterday, we were able to gather really a lot of data, and like this we are learning more and more about our car which is absolutely positive. Of course we also tested some new things, which I would not want to go into detail about, so it is definitely worth coming here at this stage of the season. I am really happy with how things are proceeding with our car and our team, and I am convinced we have a good basis for the final day of the test tomorrow.”

Lotus Renault

Lotus F1 Team set the pace at the second day of testing at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello in Italy, with a time of 1min 21.603s set by Romain Grosjean early in the morning session being the lap to beat. It was equalled late in the day, but never bettered.

Romain Grosjean will take to the wheel of the E20 tomorrow for the final day at Mugello.

Romain Grosjean: "It’s always good to end the day on top, but we have to remember that in testing lap times mean very little. Having said that, the car felt great and I was very comfortable from the start. This test gives us an opportunity to try things that we wouldn’t have time to do during a race weekend, so hopefully it’ll help us to keep pushing forward. We’ve done a lot of setup work today, and for sure we’ll need to take some time to look through all the data and analyse what we need to focus on tomorrow, but it’s a good baseline for the final day."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "Romain was very happy with the car straight away. We made a couple of minor balance adjustments to fine tune it for him after Jérôme’s running yesterday and then went into our test programme. Today we were concentrating on different suspension setups, so we had a fairly major change over lunch which took a couple of hours. We’ve got some good data from this which we’ll need to sit down and assess tonight to decide what our strategy will be for tomorrow; i.e. whether we re-test or stick with what we’ve got. The car is working very well here; we’ve run a variety of medium and high fuel loads as we would at a race weekend to assess the effects of the suspension change, and we’re pleased with what we’ve seen. Overall, a positive day."

Red Bull Renault

Day two of the test saw conditions markedly improved from yesterday and with both Mark and Sebastian in the car, the team was able to work through its full run plan.

In the morning Mark caught up on the items carried over from yesterday’s programme and focused more on aerodynamic tests with new components, along with set-up work to maximise the benefit of those elements.

Mark Webber: “The track finally dried out today and the Tuscan weather kicked in at last, so we managed a few laps in the end. We had absolutely truck loads of stuff to go through, but so far so good. Mileage is so limited these days it was good to be in the car again; this test has been very useful.

“I think for Barcelona we will largely keep pushing with what we have done already, although I’m sure there will be small details that will change.”

The team worked hard through the lunch break to change the car over for Sebastian, who completed 64 laps as the team continued its aerodynamic tests.

Sebastian Vettel: “I’m happy to be here. Unfortunately we don’t have this track on the calendar. It’s an incredible circuit with a lot of high-speed corners. It’s what you hope for in a Formula One car, because you can really feel the downforce. Once you get into the rhythm it’s really enjoyable.

“We’ve got a lot of laps to get through here. We’ll be trying to sort out a lot of the items we’ve been testing at previous events and things we possibly want to use in the future. The really important thing from here will be the analysis after this test to see what happens to the car.”

Marussia Cosworth

The second day of testing at Mugello began as positively as the first for the Marussia F1 Team today. Charles Pic achieved a further 46 productive laps in chassis MR01-01 during this morning’s session, but a sweet start to the day turned slightly more sour in the afternoon when it was time for Timo Glock to take over the car.

Just as the weather intervened during yesterday’s pm session, the team’s afternoon on Wednesday suffered a downturn in fortune when the start of Timo’s programme was abbreviated by a power steering issue. This confined him to the garage until the final hour of running.

This morning the team were conducting set-up evaluations with Charles, comprising race-oriented work and some detailed exploration of the front suspension, which is not possible during race weekend Fridays. He also began an evaluation of some brand new rear suspension components, with a continuation of this work having been scheduled for this afternoon with Timo, along with the track debut of a new front wing as part of the wider aerodynamic upgrade for the European season.

Some planned changes were made to the car in the lunch break and the opening hour of the afternoon session to accommodate the change of driver and programme. Timo completed an installation run but it was clear on that lap that a power steering problem had surfaced. The team opted to change the steering rack which took two hours and Timo was finally able to start work on his programme at 17.00hrs (local).

Timo will be back in the car for the final day of testing tomorrow.

Charles Pic: “The dry conditions this morning meant we were able to really make some good progress with the set-up programme. The track was a little bit damp at first, but it got better and better all the time as the temperature started to increase. I was very happy with the direction we were taking and we got some good data from the car. The developments we have here are a definite step forward and I think because of our programme there was quite a lot more to come from the package. Although my running is complete I will stay here for the final day tomorrow as there is a lot we can continue to understand from the car to prepare us fully for Barcelona next weekend.”

Timo Glock: “Not a great second part of the day as our problems cost us half of the afternoon session. I had to get used to the track quickly, which was not easy as there are a lot of blind corners. We did some basic set-up work for the last hour and a half which I was happy with, but we have a big programme for tomorrow now and I hope it will be a trouble-free day for me.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “On a positive note we have seen very clear signs that we have made a good step with our upgrade package, so it is a shame that our progress has been hampered again this afternoon. Yesterday was similarly frustrating - for all of the teams actually - but Charles has at least been able to attack most of his programme elements. We will therefore be hoping for a more consistent day tomorrow so we can even up the balance in terms of mileage and feedback to ensure we are as prepared as possible for when we field the full upgrade package in Barcelona.”

Williams Renault

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: We had an extremely busy second day with Bruno completing almost our entire scheduled test programme. We evaluated a detailed aero and mechanical test matrix and have learnt a great deal. The forecast for tomorrow looks fine and we are looking forward to another productive day.

Bruno Senna: It was a good day for us which we completed without incident. We gained a lot of information from our runs and have some good knowledge to carry forward into tomorrow. We aim to continue improving and to be competitive on the final day. Mugello is an awesome track. It’s really fast and physically challenging.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Thursday 3 May, with Pastor Maldonado driving the FW34 for the final day of the test.