Barcelona II, day 1: Team and driver quotes

Mercedes

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport completed 135 laps – just over 628km - of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Tuesday, as 2017 pre-season testing continued in Spain with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas taking turns at the wheel of the F1 W08 EQ Power+

Lewis emerged for his first run at 09:05, completing 49 laps before the hour-long lunch break at 13:00

Valtteri took over in the cockpit for the afternoon session, completing 86 laps before the pit lane closed at 18:00

Lewis kicked off today’s test with aero data collection with some development parts but his programme was cut short by an hour after the team discovered damage to the car

In the afternoon session, Valtteri carried out long runs, as well as set-up work and tyre analysis in preparation for Melbourne

Mercedes-Benz Power Units today completed a total of 2,071 km

Valtteri will take the wheel of the W08 tomorrow morning, with Lewis driving in the afternoon

Lewis Hamilton:

I didn’t get a massive amount of laps in this morning but the car was feeling similar to last week. The track wasn’t feeling great. We’re still just trying to get as much running in as possible, it’s still a work in progress.

We’re on target in terms of the laps that we’ve done and the mileage, but we’re always searching for more performance. I think the car will start to come together this week. There’s still bits coming in and we’re improving all the time, but I’m confident by Melbourne we’ll have the best car we can. We’ll have all the upgrade parts, an understanding of the set-up and where we need to put the car to make it fastest.

We had some damage to the floor this morning, which is why we stopped early. I sacrificed a little bit of my time to make sure Valtteri’s car was fixed for the afternoon.

When we left here last week it looked like Ferrari was our closest rivals, today Red Bull look quick. It’s going to be interesting over the next few days and when we arrive in Australia. The field will be close, that’s for sure.

Valtteri Bottas:

We managed to complete more mileage – more than 80 laps in four hours – which is good. We’re still focusing on the long runs and doing setup changes and learning about the car, so it was a valuable day.

We haven’t quite got to the point where we want to be yet. There’ s always work to do with the car and we’re evaluating all the upgrades – what’s good and what’s not good - and seeing in what areas we still need to improve.

We’re not looking at lap times right now, but we can beat the 1:19:705 we set last week if we want to, it’s definitely possible.

I think Ferrari are looking very good – they seem to be consistent and fast. We shouldn’t underestimate them or Red Bull. We’ll need to keep working hard to be in the best shape possible for Melbourne.

Sauber

It was a challenging first day in the second week of testing for the Sauber F1 Team on the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona. Pascal Wehrlein was able to get a first impression of the new car while completing 47 laps in the morning. As planned, Marcus Ericsson took over the Sauber C36-Ferrari from Pascal Wehrlein for the afternoon session – running 53 laps in total.

Pascal Wehrlein:

“First of all I am very happy, to be back in the Sauber F1 Team as a race driver after my back problems. It was a real good feeling to be on track in the new car and getting back on the pace – and to get the first impression of the Sauber C36-Ferrari. During the session this morning it was just to get familiar with the procedures of the new car. Now I am looking forward to being back on track tomorrow.”

Marcus Ericsson:

“I took over the car in the afternoon with some new aero parts, which made the car feel quite different compared to last week. We also worked on the set-up preparation for the season opener in Melbourne. Overall it was an interesting day, but not the smoothest one. We have to do some work overnight to analyse all the data to make the car more driveable for us drivers tomorrow.”

What comes next:

Tomorrow, for the second test day on the Circuit de Catalunya, Pascal Wehrlein will be behind the wheel of the Sauber C36-Ferrari in the morning session. Marcus Ericsson will take over the car in the afternoon.

Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat (Car 26)

“It was good to finally complete such a big number of laps today. After losing a bit of track time in last week’s test, we’ve now managed to gather a lot of useful information after testing many things in one same day – which was also quite a smooth one, with no big issues. Now we can analyse all of this data overnight and keep working hard throughout the week in order to get ready for Australia.”

Jody Egginton (Head of Vehicle Performance):

“Compared to the final day of T01, today has been a lot more productive but, in reality, we still have much to do in order to be happy and reach all of our targets before getting to Australia. The day started well, with Daniil conducting some aero and mechanical set-up work early on, before moving onto some tyre tests before lunch. We had a busy lunch break fitting some parts and getting ready for the afternoon session. These parts were important from a development and mileage accumulation perspective, yielding some useful data and set-up directions to explore further tomorrow. The last thirty minutes of the day were spent conducting live pit-stop practice and working on a few background test items. We will now spend the night going through the data in preparation for tomorrow, when Carlos will get the opportunity to continue where Daniil left off, including the evaluation of some further development parts which we anticipate will provide an opportunity for further steps forwards with the STR12.”

Red Bull

Formula One’s second and final test of pre-season got underway today in Barcelona, with Daniel Ricciardo returning to the cockpit of the RB13. And it was a productive day for the team, with the Australian putting 89 laps on the board and recording the day’s second quickest time. Daniel’s lap of 1:19.900 was set just before the lunch break on ultrasoft tyres as the team spent the morning focusing on shorter runs before longer stints in the afternoon.

“I felt we performed well on the softs this morning and we did quite a few good runs on that. We were also able to start doing some performance runs today. We tried the softer compounds and while my best time was on the ultrasoft it was actually not much quicker than the soft. I think we learned something from that. Generally I’m happy with what we got out of this morning and in terms of where we were last week I feel like the car is starting to come alive more. This afternoon we focused more on longer runs. We only got a few in, but it was enough to know how the tyres work after a few laps. We definitely feel we can still get more out of the car – I think everyone can – but it’s looking alright. It’s now my third day in the car and from day one to day two and now day three, I’m more and more happy with it.”

Head of Race Engineering Guillaume Rocquelin said: “I’d call that a very productive day’s work. In fact, it was pretty much working through the kind of programme we’d normally run on a Friday of a race weekend – so, shorter runs in the morning to focus on working with tyre compounds and then longer runs in the afternoon. Without the benefit of a shakedown before putting the car on track last week we were slightly at the mercy of whatever niggles presented themselves, and a couple did, but over the weekend we put some permanent fixes in place and that enabled us to have a really solid day today. Daniel went wide a couple of times – I think he was enjoying himself – so we had a few bits and pieces that needed repairing before the afternoon runs but they were purely cosmetic, so not a major issue. In terms of the times, they’re still not of great importance, but I’d say we may have slightly underperformed on the softer compounds, so there’s more to come I think.”

Renault F1

Renault Sport Formula One Team commenced the second week of pre-season testing with both Jolyon Palmer and Nico Hülkenberg taking to the wheel of the R.S.17 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Jolyon drove first, however his planned running was curtained after 15 laps due to a precautionary power unit change. Nico returned to the car for the afternoon and completed a reliable 58 laps, setting the seventh best lap time of the day, a 1min 21.589secs.

Both drivers will be back in action tomorrow, with Nico taking to the wheel first.

Jolyon Palmer:

“Today I had a short morning before we had to stop for a precautionary power unit change. It wasn’t ideal but it’s certainly a long way from being the end of the world. We’re still in a good position and I feel confident for the season ahead. For sure, it would be nice to get some more laps and you never want to lose track time. We have another three days left of this test and I’m looking forward to getting some more laps on the board.”

Nico Hülkenberg:

“I had a decent run and we were able to complete a pretty much full afternoon programme today. Certainly, you could feel that it was quite windy at times out there and that does affect the feel of the car. We gained some further understanding of set-up and tyres and have plenty to consider before we head out again tomorrow.”

Bob Bell, Chief Technical Officer:

“Overall, a useful day where we completed most of the tests we wanted to, despite running for fewer laps than originally planned. We did start with a disappointing morning for Jolyon, whose day was disrupted by a precautionary power unit change. This gave way to a more positive afternoon for Nico, especially with respectable pace shown on the soft compound tyres. Today was another solid step and we’re looking forward to making more progress tomorrow.”

Force India

Sahara Force India completed a very busy day as testing resumed at the Circuit de Catalunya. Esteban Ocon covered more than two race distances, clocking 142 laps before the chequered flag.

Esteban Ocon: “I am very happy with our work today. To complete more than 140 laps without issues is a good effort and allowed us to cover a lot of ground. We did some long stints and also some performance runs, which were very interesting: we kept working on both the chassis and the tyres, but we managed to include aero and engine work too. I can see we are making progress compared to last week: every time we go out we get to try new solutions and I feel we are moving in the right direction.”

Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer: “It’s been a productive day and we managed to complete our entire run plan. We covered 142 laps and Esteban didn’t put a foot wrong all day. We definitely learnt a lot and this is something that will help us for the rest of the week. Our programme was varied: we continued our correlation work for the mapping of the car and did further work on the 2017 tyres. Today was also a good occasion to work with Esteban on some of our race weekend procedures: Melbourne is only one day in the car away for him, effectively, so it was crucial to make the most of his time in the car. Every lap we do helps us progress on what is a very steep learning curve with the new cars. We feel the analysis of the data from last week has set us in the right direction and we are aiming to continue on this path for the remainder of the week.”

McLaren

Today was a challenging but ultimately productive day on track for the first outing of the second and final pre-season test.

Stoffel took to the track shortly after 09:00, and the team worked progressively through its test programme, which featured more aero correlation, tyre testing and balance and handling evaluations.

Shortly after midday, Honda detected an electrical anomaly in the power unit, and, in order to investigate further, elected to undertake a complete PU change.

The team worked extremely efficiently to get the car back up and running – the engine change taking less than four hours – allowing Stoffel to return to the track shortly before 16:00.

In the afternoon session, the team completed more useful mileage, conducting aero tests and simulation of the type of running expected in Melbourne. Stoffel completed 80 laps by the time the chequered flag fell at 18:00.

STOFFEL VANDOORNE

“Today was certainly a day of mixed fortunes for us. Having another issue with the power unit has been of course frustrating for everybody, but the team dealt with it extremely well and I’m pleased we managed to get back out on track this afternoon.

“Losing track time is obviously not ideal, but when we were on track we actually managed to get a large chunk of our test programme done, and we learned a lot more about the car today. We tried a lot of different things with the aero, balance and set-up, and also went through a lot of procedures and car behaviours that I will need to prepare in time for Australia.

“It hasn’t been the ideal way to start the second test, but considering the issue we’ve had, we’ve still managed to complete a good number of laps, and we go into tomorrow hoping for more track time and more solid data that we can take forward to Melbourne.”

ERIC BOULLIER

“While losing out on track time definitely makes things challenging, I’m not too concerned yet. The aim for us is to generate as much data as we can. Of course, less mileage means less time to understand and develop the car and validate parts, but since everything in this current era of Formula 1 is based on simulation, the most important thing for us is to correlate the data with the simulation numbers back at the factory. We would always like to do more, but from what we’ve seen so far, we’re pleased that we generally have positive correlation in line with our predictions.

“Reliability is key to allowing us to develop further and get closer to the limit, and we’re working closely with Honda who are investigating the power unit issues and working hard to progress through them in order to improve our reliability. They are our partners, we support them and we have to trust that they can address these issues in time for Australia.

“Overall, while on the face of things, another reliability issue is naturally frustrating, we still managed to get a lot of laps on the board. I salute our guys in the garage who managed to conduct a complete PU change in under four hours, which is highly commendable, and it meant we were able to complete some useful areas of our test programme.

“We’re hopeful that some of the power unit issues we’ve faced will be addressed in the second specification of engine that we plan to run later this week, so there’s definitely more to come from us and we’ll keep going.”

YUSUKE HASEGAWA

“In the morning session, Stoffel started today’s extremely busy testing programme. After completing 34 laps, we detected an electrical issue in our power unit, which is the same specification as last week. In the interest of maximising track time, we opted to replace it and investigate the issue further once the PU is out of the car. We were able to restart our session in the afternoon, and Stoffel finished 80 laps in total today.

“It’s been another tough day, but once again the team has worked incredibly hard to get the car back out on track, and we still have three more days to gather more important data in our preparations for the start of the season.”

Haas

Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen started the second and final week of preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya with a solid return to the cockpit of the Haas VF-17. Magnussen hit the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn track shortly after 9 a.m. local time. Nine hours later, Magnussen had put up 81 laps in another day of consistent running, adding to his 169-lap total from last week’s opening round of testing.

Magnussen began the morning session with stock reconnaissance runs, venturing out first on the Pirelli P Zero Orange hard tire for an installation lap before switching to White medium tires for five timed stints that totaled 27 laps. The final hour of the session saw a change to Yellow softs for two more timed outings. Armed with more grip, Magnussen secured his best time of the day – a 1:21.676 on his 37th lap that placed him eighth among the 13 drivers who took to the track.

Haas F1 Team produced 33 laps in the afternoon session with Magnussen picking up where he left off in the morning, operating once more on Yellow softs. He followed this up with two timed runs on the Red supersoft compound before closing out the day on a used set of softs.

Williams’ Felipe Massa set the quickest time (1:19.726) and tied with Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for the most laps (168).

Kevin Magnussen:

“It was a decent day again. We had some good testing. We had a few small issues we dealt with, but it didn’t stop us from running completely. All testing is valuable and we got some good mileage. I have a good feeling in the car and we’re happy with the balance. I’m looking forward to the coming days.”

Gunther Steiner:

“We had a very productive morning. We learned a lot and we managed to get a lot of laps in. The afternoon was not as good. Still, we learned things but we had a few small problems, which meant we didn’t get the running in we wanted. It’s all part of testing. It’s no big panic. There’s no big issue anywhere. We just had a few small gremlins in the car. We’re learning more about the car, and finding out more things we have to look after.”

Romain Grosjean takes over the Haas VF-17 Wednesday with Magnussen returning on Thursday. Grosjean is back in the car on Friday for the fourth and final day of preseason testing.

Ferrari

No PR today.

Williams

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:

It was an excellent day for the team today. We were a little on the back foot after the first test, so we modified our test programme to make up for some of the lost track time, and cover as much work as we could . We did this successfully and completed our programme on schedule. We planned for 165 laps and we’ve done slightly better than that with 168, so we’re very happy. We got some really significant testing done today.

Felipe Massa:

It was a very long day but it was definitely a great one for the team. We managed to do 168 laps so for the car, the team, and the reliability, it was definitely a great day. We did everything we were supposed to do. It’s always nice when you finish a day of testing and you’ve done everything that you planned to do, including completing a race distance. Our laptimes were also competitive, which is always a good feeling. We’re still at the beginning of the year and there’s so many things to do and to understand, to figure out where we are compared to the others, but it’s definitely a very positive day. I’m happy with all of the laps that I did and the job that the whole team did today was great.