Team reaction from another rainy day at Jerez

It was another frustrating day for the 11 teams testing today at Jerez as wet and windy conditions limited most to a shortened test programme with lap times some eight seconds off the best recorded last week.

Rubens Barrichello made best improving grip in the afternoon to vault to the top of the timesheets in his Williams Cosworth ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov. Here’s what the teams had to say...

Williams

Rubens Barrichello set the pace for Williams today at Jerez, putting in 98 laps with a best time of 1:27.145s. Rookie Nico Hulkenberg takes over the FW32 on Friday.

Sam Michael, technical director: "Rubens finished off another wet day in Jerez having covered a lot of mileage for reliability. He also completed some systems checks and carried out a programme of pit stop practice. All the pit stops were done under wet conditions and we’re working on some refinements for tomorrow."

Renault

Another day of unsettled weather restricted the team’s technical programme. There were heavy rain showers in the morning and windy conditions with further showers in the afternoon.

Vitaly Petrov: “It was cold and wet once again today, but we still did some useful work in the wet conditions and practiced pit stops, which is good experience for me. I’m now hoping that the final test in Barcelona will give us better weather so I can do some dry running before we arrive in Bahrain.”

Alan Permane, chief engineer: “It was another frustrating day with the changeable weather, but we made the most of it to run both the wet and intermediate tyres. In the afternoon, when the track was damp, we chose to carry out some procedural work, including practice pit stops. Overall Vitaly was quite happy with the car and showed good pace today.”

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel was driving the RB6 again today on day two of the current four-day test in Southern Spain. The team’s agenda had included more aero-testing and set-up work, but ‘Mother Nature’ had other ideas and intermittent heavy rain and strong winds compromised the planned programme. Vettel used full-wet tyres in the morning and wet and intermediate tyres in the afternoon. He completed 71 laps and the car ran reliably all day.

Sebastian Vettel: “Generally, the feeling with the car is good. The weather has been pretty bad over the last couple of days, which meant we couldn’t do a lot of our planned testing, although it’s been the same for everyone.

"It’s a shame, as this is one of our three pre-season tests and last week the weather was quite bad also – it seems that Spain is not so happy to have us here! Nevertheless, we have still got some important work done and the car has been reliable; we didn’t have any problems. Hopefully we will have better weather in Barcelona next week and conditions will improve here for Mark over the next couple of days.”

Mark Webber is back in the car tomorrow and will drive for the remaining two days of this test.

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg was back in the MGP W01 car today as the team continued this week’s test programme in Jerez, Spain. Poor weather continued to affect the testing action with frequent heavy rain showers and strong winds causing a frustrating day for the teams and drivers.

The team worked hard to make the best of the ever-changing conditions with Rosberg completing a wet set-up programme in the morning and focusing on race procedures including practice pit stops in the afternoon when the track conditions became too poor for any meaningful running.

Rosberg completed 71 laps today. Michael Schumacher will drive the MGP W01 tomorrow with Rosberg completing the programme on Saturday.

Nico Rosberg: "On the positive side, we achieved some good mileage today despite the conditions and completed a lot of our systems work. It was useful for me to practice pit stops and get into the routine for the races. However it has been difficult and frustrating with the weather as we’re obviously not able to learn as much as we could with a dry track. But that’s the same for everyone and we will hope for an improvement over the next two days."

Ferrari

Once again, the day at Jerez was affected by bad weather, with rain and gusts of wind making it difficult to get through Felipe Massa’s planned programme, as he continued at the wheel of the F10. Furthermore, a mechanical fault meant the Brazilian had to spend a couple of hours in the pits.

In the afternoon, the team also worked on various procedural aspects of a race weekend, including pit stops. In total, Massa completed 92 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.28.879, fifth fastest. Testing continues tomorrow with Fernando Alonso driving.

Sauber

With constantly changing conditions and a wet track all day, the Sauber decided to limit today’s testing to eight laps in the morning. Kamui Kobayashi takes over for the remaining two days of testing in Jerez.

Pedro de la Rosa: “With the same mixed conditions as yesterday, it simply wasn’t worth doing much driving today. We have a good understanding of the car, and I’m looking forward to the next test in Barcelona, hopefully on a dry track.”

Thomas Hunsicker, test engineer: “We gathered a lot of data yesterday in mixed conditions, which is why it didn’t make sense today to complete a lot of laps just for the sake of running the car. The weather forecast is better for tomorrow. That will give us the opportunity to continue working on our scheduled programme.”

Force India

Inclement weather conditions again played a starring role in testing at Jerez today. With the heavy rain showers and high winds that have so far characterised the testing showing no signs of abating, Force India was obliged to modify its testing schedule slightly to allow the race drivers the best chance of the forecasted better weather later this week, with Paul di Resta getting another half day testing in the VJM03 before Tonio Liuzzi took over in the afternoon.

The team made the most of the amended programme to run through further set-up evaluation, plus race preparation and fuel and hydraulic systems checks. With no major issues di Resta and Liuzzi completed over 250km in total.

Adrian Sutil will continue tomorrow before Tonio gets back in the car on Saturday to conclude the test.

Paul di Resta: "I was back in the car this morning to get a bit more running. Unfortunately the weather was again very bad, but at this stage any running gives me more experience of the car and how the team works. I ran with the intermediate and wet tyres over the morning, which at least means I have got some solid experience of wet running and it won’t be such a novelty when I am faced with similar conditions in places such as Malaysia."

Tonio Liuzzi: "The weather was so difficult today with the constantly changing conditions. It seemed to rain every hour and then dry, but it never reached a stable level: it was either too dry for wets or too wet for dry tyres so you couldn’t get a consistent indicator of the performance. We did a few pit stop simulations and runs to get a bit more information and the car still seems to be responding well to changes. In these conditions though it’s very difficult to get a good understanding of what’s going on but everyone has the same weather, we just have to do what we can."

Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: "The poor weather continued today with gusting wind and heavy showers. Accordingly we worked on general race preparation and some fuel system and hydraulic system tests. Paul took the car for the morning, this time handing over to Tonio who finished up this afternoon. With the track as it was we didn’t have a chance to use dry tyres properly, but are hopeful for better conditions for the rest of the week."

Virgin

Virgin Racing experienced an altogether more productive day in Jerez today. The team completed an encouraging 72 laps with Timo Glock posting the 8th fastest time of the 12 cars on track. While the team’s fortunes took a turn for the better, the weather still hasn’t and the rain looks likely to continue for much of the remaining two days of crucial pre-season testing. Tomorrow it’s Lucas di Grassi’s turn in the VR-01.

Nick Wirth, Virgin Racing Technical Director, commented: “After a great overnight effort from the Virgin Racing team, we managed to complete more than a race distance today, which is very satisfying after our frustrations of yesterday. We also managed to prove out some development parts which gave results completely in line with the performance prediction from the development programme at Wirth Research. This is always satisfying as it gives the team and drivers a great and confidence-inspiring introduction to our development program for this car. We continue to work around the clock to fix issues as they arise, and we’re looking forward to Lucas’s comments on the car’s progress tomorrow.”

Virgin have a new vid, click here!

McLaren

Another frustrating day: with torrential wind and rain lashing the circuit for the entire day, further meaningful running was ruled out.

More disruptive than today’s rain, were the blustery conditions that made running inconclusive. Unable to continue with the day’s planned programme, Lewis Hamilton and the team undertook further systems checks, successfully signing off a large number by the end of the day.

While today’s overall times are not representative due to the poor weather, McLaren declared themselves happy with the MP4-25’s competitiveness. Jenson Button takes over driving duties for the next two days.

Toro Rosso

This was undoubtedly the worst, in terms of the weather, of the nine days of pre-season testing held so far this month.

Sebastien Buemi completed just 57 laps, running rain tyres throughout. With performance testing not really an option in these conditions, the team worked through a programme that included practice launches and some race pit stops.

However, Buemi completed a 25 lap race stint simulation, which at least produced some useful data in terms of running in race trim in wet conditions.

Sebastien Buemi: “The bad weather meant we could not get through all of our planned programme for today and we also lost a bit of time with a hydraulic problem. So it’s a bit disappointing, but now I’m looking forward to the Barcelona test and hopefully some dry running.”

Jaime Alguersuari takes over at the wheel of the STR5 Friday.

Lotus

Wet conditions in Jerez greeted Lotus Racing as the team arrived on track with Heikki Kovalainen taking over driving duties for Thursday and Friday. First out on track at exactly 9am, Heikki completed his installation lap and returned to the pits to give positive initial feedback to the team about his first drive in the Lotus Cosworth T127.

30 laps later and a small mistake saw the Finn leave the track, bringing the team’s day to an early close, but not before useful data had been accumulated and more insights into the car’s performance had given Mike Gascoyne reasons to be positive.

Mike Gascoyne: chief technical officer: “Unfortunately a small off and a lack of spare parts curtailed the amount of laps we were able to do today, but fortunately we’ve got spare parts arriving this evening. Up to that point we had got on top of some reliability issues from the previous day and the car was running very smoothly. Although we have lost some track time, the changing conditions made it very difficult, so we haven’t lost too much and we’ll be ready to continue with Heikki in the morning.”

Heikki Kovalainen: “My initial feeling from the car is good - it fundamentally feels right. I’m disappointed the day came to an early end, but feel good about the team and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow.”