Reactions from the Spanish test track

After the long winter break, pre-season testing got underway today at the Valencia circuit with seven teams and eight drivers in action. Felipe Massa set the pace in his new Ferrari F10 while new machinery and driver-team combinations hit the circuit for the first time.

Ferrari

First day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari, working today, along with six other teams, at the Cheste circuit, near Valencia.

It fell to Felipe Massa to give the F10, the car that will carry the Scuderia colours in this year’s World Championship, its track debut. The Brazilian driver worked mainly on defining a baseline set-up for the new car and on analysing the behaviour of the new Bridgestone tyres. Felipe covered a total of 102 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.12.574.

The Scuderia continues testing at this circuit tomorrow, again with Felipe Massa on track.

Sauber

The BMW Sauber F1 Team was happy with the roll-out of its 2010 car today on the Valencia circuit in Cheste. Pedro de la Rosa was at the wheel of the BMW Sauber C29 Ferrari.

Pedro de la Rosa : “For me it was a very positive day. The car was reliable right from the beginning, which meant we could follow our programme perfectly without wasting any time. Also the car reacted to our changes very well. For me it was a day to get used to not only the new car but also to the team with all the people. And, of course, driving-wise there’s more to come from me as this was only my first day after a long break.”

Willy Rampf : “Overall, we are quite happy with what we achieved today. We started with an installation lap in the morning, checking the mechanical systems, followed by a baseline run in order to stabilise temperatures and pressures. We checked the hydraulic system, the fuel system and the gearshift, and everything worked well. In the afternoon we started with some basic set-up work, also to collect various data. It was a positive day without any noteworthy problems.”

Tuesday, 23-year-old Kamui Kobayashi will notch up his first laps with the new car. On Wednesday Pedro de la Rosa will be taking over driving duties again.

Mercedes GP

Nico was the first to drive the new Silver Arrow on track with the main focus of his programme to work through the initial set-up of the car and ensure that he was comfortable with his seat and position. Nico drove out of the garage for his first installation run at 10:34 and completed five runs over 39 laps before he finished for the day at 13:40, setting the fourth fastest time - a 1:13.543.

Michael took over the MGP W01 for the remainder of the day for his first run in a current Formula One car since April 2008. Getting out on track just after 15:30, Michael was comfortably on the pace after his first run and spent the remaining track time familiarising himself with the new car. Michael completed 40 laps over three runs, with a fastest lap of 1:12.947 putting him in third place on the timesheets.

Nico will continue the team’s programme tomorrow with Michael taking over for the final day.

Nico Rosberg: “It was a good first day of testing for us and my initial impressions of the new car are very positive. It felt great to be in the car for the first time and to get our pre-season testing programme underway. Generally everything felt good although I was sitting too low in the car and couldn’t see the track very well which we will improve for tomorrow. It’s too early to get an initial impression of the competitiveness but it was very special to drive the new Silver Arrow out of the garage. I’m looking forward to tomorrow when we have a full day of testing to make further progress.”

Michael Schumacher: “It was a perfect rollout for the new car today. I felt totally comfortable and really had a feeling that everything was very natural. It felt just like at the very beginning of my career in 1991 when on the first lap, I thought ‘wow that was really fast’ and then on the second lap, I was just extremely excited. I feel like a young boy again and really enjoyed myself out there. We did a good job today, just making a few control checks, and the most important thing was that the car ran reliably. With Nico and I covering 79 laps between us, it was a superb job by the team.”

Ross Brawn: “We have had a very useful first day of testing here in Valencia. Our priority was to ensure that the new car was functioning properly and allow both drivers to use their short window of track time to get acclimatised to the car and its operations. Today’s work has provided a good basis for the next couple of days and it was rewarding to see that the car ran reliably. I would like to say thank you to everyone at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth for all their hard work in preparing the car to test here this week. And finally, it’s been a very special day to work with Nico for the first time, to work with Michael once again and to complete our first active day as the Mercedes-Benz works team.”

McLaren

First run for the MP4-25, the team’s 2010 challenger. The principal focus for the day was putting mileage on the new car. With Gary behind the wheel for the whole day, the team completed 86 laps without any mechanical issues.

The day’s programme started with a number of shorter five-lap runs to establish a benchmark for the day. Into the afternoon, the team were increasingly confident with the car’s reliability and conducted some longer runs, looking at a greater variety of set-up configurations.

Gary declared himself happy with the car’s balance and handling. Tomorrow, Lewis picks up the programme, continuing the initial work and focusing on reliability and set-up.

Williams

Sam Michael, Technical Director, Williams F1: "It was a productive first day testing, with the car completing 75 laps in total. Considering everything is new, in particular the Cosworth engine installation, it was good to get through the day without any major problems. We did have a minor software issue with the throttle control towards the end of the session, but that is easily sorted out for tomorrow. We are well underway with set-up work now and tuning the FW32 around the new Bridgestone tyres."

Rubens Barrichello: "I enjoyed today, it was like a first day at school! You can’t predict anything from the times today; and probably won’t be able to for the remainder of the tests because of the fuel loads people will run with such big tanks. It probably won’t be until Bahrain qualifying that we will see where everyone is. We are working on improving the balance of the car, but it’s running reliably, despite the small issue with the throttle. As everything is new, it was a good day."

Toro Rosso

Today was an important one in the history of Scuderia Toro Rosso as its first car designed entirely in-house, the STR5, made its track debut on the first day of pre-season testing. With Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, the car (chassis number STR5-02) completed 10 laps before being sidelined with a gearbox control problem, which took some time to fix, before going back out on track for the final half hour. In total, he completed 18 laps, with a best time of 1.14.762.

Giorgio Ascanelli: “This morning we had a problem with one of the gearbox actuators, which we managed to improve, but not fix completely. It is too early to make any comment on the actual performance characteristics of the new car. In the short term, we will be trying to fix the actuator problem overnight, in the hope of having a better day tomorrow.”

Sebastien Buemi: “It’s good to start testing at last. This morning, we had a problem, which took a long time to analyse. We managed to get out again towards the end of the day, even though the fault was not completely fixed. At least we managed some running, which allowed us to work through the usual new car procedures, such as checking seat position, visibility from the cockpit, the systems and so on. But it is a bit too early to get an impression of what the car is like, especially those elements affected by the rule changes.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “It felt good to be back at a race track and hear the sound of F1 cars again, and I can’t wait until Wednesday, when I get my first turn behind the wheel.”

Buemi continues to drive tomorrow, while Alguersuari takes over on Wednesday.

Renault F1

Robert Kubica was the man behind the wheel as the team’s 2010 challenger took to the circuit for the very first time shortly after 10:00am local time. The car was running with the distinctive black and yellow livery that was shown for the first time yesterday.

The team’s programme focussed on getting the car settled and getting Robert familiar with the new systems. This was also the team’s first opportunity to experience the narrower 2010-spec Bridgestone tyres. For the afternoon the team experimented with weight distribution.

Robert will remain in the car for a second day of running tomorrow. Vitaly Petrov will get his first laps in the car on Wednesday.

Robert Kubica: “My first day of testing the R30 went well. We had a lot of things to check on the car to make sure they were reliable and all that went smoothly with no big problems to report. Tomorrow we will start working on the balance and trying to understand the car a bit more. The narrower front tyres certainly had an impact on the car, but it’s difficult for me to judge as this is the first time I’ve driven the R30. Generally I think they will make the car understeer more in the quick corners.”

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer: “A fairly positive first day of running with the R30 with Robert in the car. We concentrated on putting mileage on the car and spent time getting Robert comfortable in the car. We also started learning about the behaviour of the R30 – what it likes, and how it responds to the narrower front Bridgestone tyres. Then we looked at the brake wear, which will be a key performance factor this year with the cars running heavy fuel at the start of the race. Overall it has been a productive day.”