The first day winter testing for the 2014 season has kicked off at Jerez.
The highly anticipated pre-season test at the Jerez circuit in Southern Spain didn’t quite reach the heights many would’ve expected. After four hours of testing only Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne had set flying laps.
Kimi Raikkonen’s first trip out of the pitlane ended in the Ferrari hitching a ride back to the pitlane in a safety car as the F14T grounded to halt. The team later said that they stop was “pre-cautionary.” Only Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez and the Force India of Sergio Perez additionally completed installation laps.
A five lap run for Hamilton looked encouraging for Mercedes as the Brit was able to continually improve his laptime. The 2008 champion set a time of 1:27.820 before a front-wing failure sent him head-on in the barriers of turn 1.
Raikkonen resumed the action after the track was cleared of the Hamilton crash and set a 1:31:131 on a three lap stint. At this point neither Red Bull had taken to the track – not even for an installation lap. It was the same story at McLaren as neither Jenson Button nor Kevin Magnussen had left the garages at any stage for obvious reasons if Ted Kravitz tweeting is anything to go on.
The Caterham and Marussia teams had missed the majority of the first day as their cars experienced some last-minute issues. However, Marrusia later tweeted that they were on their way to Jerez. Max Chilton joined the party by tweeting a picture of himself on the way to the airport to catch a flight to Jerez.
The lack of running could be put down to the various problems encountered by the teams according to Autosport’s technical analyst Gary Anderson. “I was expecting people to have problems but I am a bit surprised there are quite so many!
“We still haven’t seen Red Bull, McLaren, Williams, Caterham or Marussia – which we already knew was delayed – and Ferrari has only done one lap.
“It’s the complications under the engine cover that is the issue and every time they open the garage doors they find a problem. But at approaching lunchtime on the first day you would expect at least to be doing installation laps. The pressure is building.”
Both the Caterham and Williams teams left it quite late but eventually got their respective cars fired up and ready for a few installations laps. New signing Marcus Ericcson was tasked with taking the Caterham out on circuit. The radical nose design of the Caterham garnered much attention perhaps more for its appearance than innovation. However, the full potential of the cars have not yet been seen and we reserve judgment on the peculiar design for now.
The Williams FW36 broke cover a while after the unveiling of the Caterham with car that is far from hideous. The nose of the Williams looks the more subdued than many others up and down the pitlane as it was put through its paces by Valterri Bottas. The ever-present Senna ‘S’ maintained its poignant presence on the car. However, the team did reveal that they are running a test livery and would reveal its final colours ahead of the first race of the season.
Less than twenty minutes before the conclusion of the first day of testing was the first time that Sebastian Vettel was able to take the Red Bull RB10 out on track. The team did not reveal was kept them from running throughout the day. This meant that McLaren was the only team at the circuit who was unable to fire up their car.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended the day quickest overall and also recorded the most laps, 31 in total.
Today’s Timing Sheet:
1. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:27:104 31 Laps
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:27:820 18 Laps
3. Valterri Bottas (Williams) 1:30:082 7 Laps
4. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:33:161 11 Laps
5. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1:36:530 15 Laps
6. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) 1:41:257 7 Laps
7. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) no time 3 Laps
8. Marcus Ericcson (Caterham) no time 1 Lap
