Selected quotes from day 1 at Barcelona
Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
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 - Red Bull
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.
Ferrari press statement:
First day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and the eleven other Formula 1 teams, working from today until Monday at the Montmelo circuit, outside Barcelona.
Fernando Alonso was at the wheel of the F150th Italia, still in the same configuration seen at the first test. As has been the case right from the start of the new car’s on track development, the main subjects on the agenda were increasing understanding of the Pirelli tyres and on working on the overall reliability of the car. The day went smoothly with no technical problems on the car and by the end, a total of 101 laps had been completed, the quickest in a time of 1.25.485.
Testing at this track continues tomorrow, again with Fernando Alonso at the wheel.
Toro Rosso press statement:
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.
Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber
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.
James Key - Sauber 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.
Indy Lall, Test team manager - McLaren
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’d planned to begin the test by conducting a number of aero-mapping runs, but these were slightly disrupted because the track was still damp from last night’s rain. As a result, we’ll repeat that test tomorrow morning – weather permitting.
Still, we didn’t lose too much track-time, and quickly switched our focus to a series of shorter runs towards the end of the morning. These were used to evaluate set-up and establish a general direction for the afternoon’s long-run programme, which gave us a very solid understanding of the behaviour of the Pirelli tyres over the course of a stint.
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 progres.
Paul di Resta - Force India
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 - Force India
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.
Rubens Barrichello - Williams
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.
Sam Michael - Technical Director - Williams
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.
Michael Schumacher - Mercedes
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.
Narain Karthikeyan - HRT
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.
Colin Kolles, Team Principal - HRT
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.
Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus
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 - Team Lotus
It was a reasonably productive 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.
Jerome d'Ambrosio - Marussia Virgin
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 - Marussia Virgin
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.
Nick Heidfeld - Lotus Renault
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 - Lotus Renault
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.