Team reaction after day one in Barcelona test

Team Lotus Renault

Heikki Kovalainen: "It was good to start the day with some runs on the intermediates in proper damp conditions. There wasn’t a lot of standing water on the track but it was pretty damp all round - we needed to try out the inters in these conditions so we’ve now amassed some very useful data on those. After that we wanted to do a race distance but the gearbox problem meant we couldn’t complete that part of the plan. Despite this I’m still finding that the car has good balance and is basically a decent package - we’ll sort out the problems and tomorrow we’ll try the race distance again and see where we are after that."

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer: "It was a reasonablyproductive day although we had to stop slightly earlier than planned due to a gearbox lubrication issue. This morning we were able to run on the inters on a damp track for the first time and we have obtained some useful data from those runs. We worked through the rest of the compound choices throughout the day on high fuel loads which is helping us learn more about how to maximise the performance of the Pirellis with the car."

Sauber Ferrari

Today was the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel of the Sauber C30-Ferrari. The Team lost some track time due to a powertrain problem, but was still able to gather valuable data.

James Key, Technical Director: “It was a wet start this morning, so we decided to do a wet tyre programme. Pirelli brought the wet race spec tyre here and, as we had already tried the intermediate race spec, we decided to use the opportunity to get to know the wet tyres. This was useful because the track started to dry up by mid-morning, and we were able to learn how both, the wet and the intermediate tyres behave on a drying track, which is always useful. We then suffered a problem with the powertrain, which delayed us a little bit this morning, but after this we recovered in the afternoon. We did another fuel system check test by running out on the track, and then worked on the tyre compounds we have here - the hard, the medium and the soft. We finished the day with a long run. Kamui did a good job on this and was fairly consistent, which is good for the medium tyre on a track which is hard on tyres. It wasn’t really until this afternoon that we were able to start to set up the car for Barcelona. We found some useful directions and we will carry on with that work tomorrow.”

Kamui Kobayashi: “We couldn’t complete the whole programme due to a technical problem. We had wet conditions in the morning so this was fine to collect some information on wet tyres. In the afternoon we couldn’t do everything we planned, so we have some work left for tomorrow.”

Kamui Kobayashi will continue to drive tomorrow, before Sergio Pérez takes over for the final two days.

Williams Cosworth

Sam Michael, Technical Director: “We didn’t have enough set-up time today. The track was moist to start and didn’t start ramping up until late morning, at which point we encountered an issue with the engine. Over the break, we changed the engine and did just one proper run at the end of the session. All of our running was carried out on the medium compound tyre. Despite the downtime, we actually tested and measured quite a few aero and systems items in the background. Tonight, we will re-activate KERS in preparation for tomorrow’s running.”

Rubens Barrichello: “We did some laps in the wet this morning which was good as it allowed us to get a feel for the car on intermediate tyres. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much running in the dry. I had a short run after lunch, but we had to make a precautionary engine change so my day was cut short.”

AT&T Williams will be back on track tomorrow, Saturday 19 February, with Rubens Barrichello continuing in the FW33 for the second day of the test.

Red Bull Renault

Red Bull Racing was back in action at the Circuit de Catalunya today, with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of the RB7 for the first day of the Barcelona test.

A damp start to the day gave the team a chance to test the intermediate Pirelli tyres, before
conditions began to dry. Sebastian had a couple of minor offs in the morning session,
prompting the team to complete some precautionary checks over lunch.

Sebastian Vettel said: “Unfortunately, we didn’t complete many laps today, as we had a long break – longer than expected. It wasn’t anything big, nothing broke, but at the test if you think there might be a problem then you’d rather take the car apart and check. The boys did their best and we still got some runs towards the end of the day – not as much as we’d like, but the car feels good and hopefully we’ll do more tomorrow.”

Ian Morgan, Head of Race Engineering, commented: “It was frustrating today, as we lost some time making checks to the car during lunch. It’s what testing is for, but we would have liked to complete more laps today.”

Sebastian will be back at the wheel tomorrow, for day two of the four-day test.

Toro Rosso Ferrari

The third of four pre-season test sessions got underway in the same conditions that brought the previous one to an end: last week, rain arrived for the final minutes at Jerez de la Frontera and a wet track from overnight rain, was the main feature up until around eleven this morning at the Catalunya circuit.

The opportunity was not wasted and our local boy, Jaime Alguersuari, immediately put in a good 20 lap run on Pirelli’s intermediate tyre, gathering useful data for ourselves and the sport’s new tyre supplier.

Once the track dried, the slicks came out and two runs were completed before the lunch-break which is compulsory at this track. The afternoon’s work included a brake system evaluation. The Catalan driver continues at the wheel for tomorrow’s test.

Ferrari

Once again a lot of kilometres for the F150th Italia. Today, chassis 287 made its track debut, having previously been used for the crash tests and for bench testing and it too showed a good level of reliability, covering around 470 kilometres without any problems. Once again today, Scuderia Ferrari’s main aim, along with that of Fernando Alonso who was driving, was to gather data on the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres, getting their first taste of the very demanding Catalunya circuit.

“Overall, it was a positive day,” said Fernando. “We did a lot of laps and brought home much valuable information. It seems that, on this track too, there is a certain level of tyre degradation, but it is only the first day and we have to see how the track evolves between now and Monday.”

Fernando will be at the wheel of car number 5 again tomorrow, before Felipe takes over for Sunday and Monday.

Mercedes GP

Formula One’s third pre-season test began at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today with Michael Schumacher kicking off the programme for the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team. Nico Rosberg will take over the car on Saturday and Sunday, before Michael completes the four-day test on Monday.

With the track damp from overnight rain and taking time to come up to speed, Michael first headed out midway through the morning to complete aerodynamic evaluations and balance checks. Following the lunch break, he completed a successful race simulation including pit stops. Michael completed 90 laps in total today.

Michael Schumacher: “We had a good day and it is certainly satisfying to finish a race distance with all of the systems operational and to have everything working fine. Now we have to turn our focus to performance and it was important to complete today’s simulation to understand how the car and tyres behave going from a heavy to lighter fuel load.”

McLaren Mercedes

The third test of the winter kicked off at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya this morning. Jenson Button continued development work on our new MP4-26 – he concludes his work on Saturday, with Lewis conducting running on Sunday and Monday.

Test team manager Indy Lall said: “We learnt a lot from running the MP4-26 for the first time in Jerez last week, and, as a result, we’ve been able to set ourselves a very clearly defined programme for this week’s Barcelona test.

“We also satisfactorily ran our drag reduction system for the first time in anger, and continued work with the F1 hybrid. It’s been a very solid day and we’re pleased with our progress.”

Virgin Racing Cosworth

The third test of the 2011 season got underway today in Barcelona. After yesterday’s rain, this morning the track was still very damp which provided the team with the opportunity to try the new Pirelli intermediate tyres for the first time this year.

Jérôme D’Ambrosio was behind the wheel of the MVR-02 today and was able to get the team’s first impression of the PZero intermediate, as well as trying out different gearbox settings.

This afternoon, Jérôme completed a full race distance, including pit stops, during which the car ran flawlessly. Only red flags elsewhere on the circuit hampered the team’s excellent progress.

Timo Glock will be in the car for the next two days and Jérôme will be driving again on Monday.

Jérôme D’Ambrosio: “Today was another very productive day in the car. It was good to be able to feel what it’s like to drive in the wet and use the intermediate tyres for the first time today. I felt very comfortable driving at a track I like. I’m quickly getting used to the car and the team are doing a fantastic job. Now I can’t wait to jump in the car again on Monday.”

John Booth, Team Principal: “It’s always good to be back in Barcelona as the characteristics are such that it provides us with the perfect opportunity to work on race simulation and hone car set-up. We also have the full range of tyre compounds here again, which will provide us with the chance to thoroughly evaluate the car’s behaviour in highly representative conditions. We continue to be encouraged with the level of reliability we are seeing and this is enabling us to gather a vast amount of data that is being fed back into the development programme all the time. All in all, things are looking promising.”

Lotus Renault GP

Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov got behind the wheel of the R31 today in Barcelona. Despite a problem with the KERS, which took most of the day to solve and prevented the team from completing its scheduled programme, both drivers managed some useful pit stops practice.

The team got up to speed with a new traffic light system for use in pit stops. This has been developed over the last year and the plan is to use it at the first race.

Nick Heidfeld: “I was in the car for just an hour this morning to do some pit stop practice. It was a bit damp to begin with, so we started on the wet tyres and I got my first feel for them. I didn’t do a proper run, just one timed lap and then came in and out for pit stops. It was the first time I have used the new traffic light system and it worked okay, but we found some small things to improve for next time.”

Vitaly Petrov: “A difficult day for us because we lost a lot of time finding the problem with the KERS, but at least I got out for the final 40 minutes so that we could do the practice pit stops with our new lighting system. Because we didn’t manage to do much running today, the team will give me some more time in the car tomorrow morning before Nick takes over.”

Alan Permane: "Our day was blighted by a KERS problem, which was quite difficult to understand. However, we eventually solved the issue and, as a result, we have learned quite a lot. We’re confident we won’t face these problems again. On the positive side, we did complete our pit stop practice with Nick, Vitaly and all the mechanics from the race team."

The Force India F1 Team got underway with the second test of the VJM04 at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain, today. Paul di Resta put the car through its paces in the afternoon after a delay on some parts arriving gave only limited running, however the Scot could still complete 26 laps of the Barcelona track, setting the sixth quickest time.
The programme today focussed on putting more miles on the car to gather more information on performance and balance, plus conducting aero and tyre testing in the latter stage of the day.
Paul will remain in the car for a further day tomorrow before Adrian Sutil takes over for days three and four.

Paul di Resta: The guys did pretty well to get the car out on track today and towards the end of the afternoon we did some productive running to get a good baseline set-up for tomorrow when we’ll have a much more extensive test programme to carry out. I definitely feel there is more to come from the car and I’m looking forward to getting back out there to help the team get as much out of this test as possible.

Dominic Harlow, circuit engineering director: We didn’t run this morning as we were waiting for some parts to arrive at the track until early in the day, and the knock on effect of the turnaround from Jerez meant there was a lot to do to complete the car build. The track conditions weren’t good anyway, with wet, cold and slippery conditions so we felt we did not miss too much. The afternoon’s session was much better and we started our testing with some aerodynamic tests and tyre comparison looking at the new soft.

Hispania Racing returned to the tracks this morning at the Montmeló circuit for the first day of testing prior to the start of the World Championship next March. With the sun shining, the fans flocked in to catch a glimpse of their favourite drivers and were not left disappointed.

Narain Karthikeyan is back in Spain and very satisfied with the progress made in Valencia earlier this month. The Indian driver is determined to take in as much information as possible in order to put it into action over the next few days of practice.

The heavy rainfall on Thursday left a damp track this morning which Hispania Racing took advantage of by trying out their intermediate tyres. As the day wore on, the track dried out leaving more grip. Karthikeyan was then able to try out medium, soft and supersoft tyres. The Indian driver finished the day with a best time of 1:28.393, having completed 116 laps.

Colin Kolles, Team Principal: “We did a lot of laps today, 116 in total, more than any other team. The good news is that the car got through the sessions without any problems. Today was a great opportunity for Narain to get to learn more about the new Pirelli tyres. I’m delighted to see that Narain is growing accustomed to the car, the progress is clear for everyone to see with his improving lap times”.

Narain Karthikeyan, Hispania Racing driver: “Today was a very productive day for me because I got a lot of laps in. I was able to use various types of Pirelli tyres; the morning was damp so we started with intermediates and as it dried up we moved on to medium, soft and supersoft tyres. The most important thing was to get the mileage done, a few more days like this and we will be ready for the start of the championship”.