Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel tops the timesheets on a busy first day of testing in Barcelona...
The second of F1’s three winter tests began yesterday in Barcelona. The Circuit de Catalunya is home to what most pundits would agree is the most boring grand prix of the year and the main reason for the lack of drama is the fact that the teams know it so well from all the testing.
Even in these restrained times everyone will be spending the next two weeks pounding around Montmelo. But the factors that make this place a bad home for the Spanish Grand Prix are also what makes it a very good place to test. The Circuit de Catalunya is a Goldilocks track: it’s not too grippy and not too smooth; the corners are not too fast and not too slow; the kerbs are not too high and not too low. Barcelona is just right.
Red Bull Racing
Tuesday was another fairytale for Sebastian Vettel as he again was the fastest of them all. While the lead changed hands several times in the morning, it was Vettel who went into the lunch break on top. Few drivers managed to improve their times in the afternoon, but the reigning World Champion managed to stretch his lead.
Only HRT were absent from the test. Marussia were, however, still running their 2011 car in an effort to give rookie Charles Pic some experience as he makes the step-up from GP2.
Revealing the new Mercedes W03
The big event of the day was the unveiling of Mercedes W03, though given that the car has already run a private test at Silverstone and a shakedown here in Barcelona, both with spy photography, there were few surprises to see when the new car rolled, ugly nose first, out of the garage.
More interesting were the colour co-ordinated boots Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg were wearing: red for Schumacher to match his helmet and T-bar camera identifier, yellow for Rosberg. F1 obsessives will note that the red-flashed car (ie the one with the lower number) usually goes to the driver who scored the most points in the previous season, which was Nico Rosberg, which would make him the de facto team leader.
But Michael always gets the lower-numbered Mercedes because he’s superstitious and doesn’t like even numbers. That might sound unlikely to any conspiracy theorists out there, but, as he’s won seven world championships in cars numbered one and three, who are we to judge?
Caterham
As has been the case suspiciously often, the green Caterham led off testing at 0900 sharp, though Kovalainen’s morning was cut short after a couple of hours when a broken track rod pitched him into a spin. The Caterham spent much of the rest of the day in the garages. “That obviously wasn’t how we wanted day one here to go, but that’s what testing is for – pushing everything to the limit to make sure we get rid of the problems before we get to the first race,” said a philosophical Finn who still managed 31 laps.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean gets a quick run out for Lotus © LAT/LotusThe only driver to do fewer was Romain Grosjean. The Lotus spent all day in the garage after the Swench (that’s Swiss-French to you) driver complained of a strange sensation after just seven laps. Lotus decided to cut their losses and send this car back to the factory in England. “We completed a few aero runs, but I was very quickly aware that the car wasn’t responding as it should,” said Grosjean. “It’s not ideal to lose track time, but fortunately we have the chassis that ran perfectly in Jerez so I should get some good track time tomorrow. It’s far better that we have an issue like this now rather than in Melbourne.”
Marussia
Grosjean was at least spared the ignominy of finishing the day bottom of the timesheet with the wooden spoon going to the fully French Charles Pic, but he managed 121 laps in the old Virgin/Marussia – more than any other driver. “It has been a very good first day for me and a positive way to begin the new season,” said the rookie. “We made a lot of pit stops and practised all the procedures, which was very helpful for me. I learned a lot from the day and I’m looking forward to running again tomorrow.”
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton out on the track during Tuesday's test © McLaren PressThe only other driver to break the 100-lap barrier was Lewis Hamilton (114 for McLaren). He finished the day third, three-tenths off Vettel, but once again showing the McLaren to be reliable and strong. “With more than 500km under our belt, this was an extremely productive day,” said team manager David Redding. “The car ran reliably all day and Lewis was happy with the car… we’re optimistic that we’re headed in the right direction.”
Force India
Hulkenberg on track in Montmelo for Force India © Sahara Force IndiaAhead of Hamilton was Nico Hulkenberg. “It was only my second day in the car, but after each run I felt a bit more comfortable,” said the Force India driver. “We started with some aero runs and more data gathering this morning, and then moved to longer runs in the afternoon. The car feels consistent and the driveability is good so I feel positive.”
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed a good day with Toro Rosso © Getty Images for Scuderia Toro RossoIn fourth place, Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo managed 76 laps before a technical problem (of the undisclosed variety) ended his day an hour early, but he seemed happy enough. “It was a good day with 76 laps under my belt. In the morning, we were getting ready for Melbourne, running through various procedures, working to a set time scale, as if it was a race weekend. That went well and in the afternoon we did some race-type runs, which were successful until the car stopped.”
Ferrari
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso gets some track time at Barcelona © FerrariThe top four were all lapping in the 1m23s with a half-second gap back to Fernando Alonso in fifth. Ferrari didn’t have an entirely trouble-free day, losing an hour to a technical niggle – the latest in a series of similar niggles for La Scuderia.
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but isn’t that what we are here for?” said Alonso. “I don’t think we will see anything different over the coming days, because before we can see what this car is really capable of, we must piece together all the pieces in the jigsaw.
“I know there is much expectation from the outside, but we are totally focussed on ourselves, without giving a thought to what is going on around us. We will only start to properly understand the situation in Melbourne.”
Mercedes
Michael Schumacher tests the new Mercedes W03 © Hoch Zwei/Mercedes Behind Alonso came Schumacher, his day shortened by a hydraulic problem. “My initial feelings with our new car are certainly good. I’m happy with the different evaluations that we have done over the last week, but obviously with the rule changes, we won’t know more until later,” said Schumacher. “It’s certainly an improvement and we have worked hard on the areas we had defined last year. The aerodynamics figures look good so I’m not worried about the shape of the nose! Even though we had the hydraulic problem today, I’m pleased with all the mileage we have achieved so far with the new car.”
Sauber
Sergio Perez gets to grips with the Sauber © SauberThe Swiss team also had problems. In the morning a structural problem had the phone lines between Barcelona and Hinwil buzzing, while in the afternoon a more mundane anti-rollbar issue put Pérez back in the garage. “It wasn’t an easy day for us,” admitted the Mexican. “Nevertheless during the 66 laps we collected some very useful data. I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and I hope we can get a lot more work done then.”
Williams
Bruno Senna on track for Williams © LAT/WilliamsA full second and a half behind Pérez came Bruno Senna as Williams continued their policy of doing lots of laps fairly slowly. “It has been a very interesting day working with different set-ups to assess the reliability of the FW34. We need to keep working hard to understand the car even better,” said a no-nonsense Senna.
Ominously for the competition, the Red Bull ran without any problems and set its best times on two different tyre compounds. “It’s difficult to judge where we are compared with the others right now,” said Vettel, frantically managing expectations. “It’s all based on feeling and the feeling I have inside the car at the moment is fine. I think we had a good day today, with no trouble. All in all, it was a good day.”
Red Bull Racing will be very happy, for some of the others, things look a little Grimm...
Fastest Laps
2. Hulkenberg - Force India | 1m23.440s +0.175 | 97laps
3. Hamilton - McLaren | 1m23.590s +0.325 | 114laps
4. Ricciardo - Toro Rosso | 1m23.618s +0.353 | 76laps
5. Alonso - Ferrari | 1m24.100s +0.835 | 75laps
6. Schumacher - Mercedes | 1m24.150s +0.885 | 51laps
7. Perez - Sauber | 1m24.219s +0.954 | 66laps
8. Senna - Williams | 1m25.711s +2.446 | 97laps
9. Kovalainen - Caterham | 1m26.035s +2.770 | 31laps
10. Grosjean - Lotus | 1m26.809s +3.544 | 7laps
11. Pic - Marussia | 1m28.026s +4.761 | 121laps
Want more?
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- The RB8 Revealed
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- F1 New car launches for 2012
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