F1 Madness

Tag: f1 testing

  • Raikkonen Ends Day Three Fastest

    Raikkonen Ends Day Three Fastest

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended the penultimate day of the second test in Barcelona on top of the time sheets.

    Raikkonen set his fastest time of 1:22.765 in the morning session using Pirelli’s Ultra Soft Compound tyre. But before that, Ferrari trailed the “Halo” head protection that the FIA hope to get on the cars by 2017.

    Raikkonen’s reaction to the new device was classic Kimi. “A little bit limited in the front, but I don’t think it’s the final version. Surprisingly little difference.”

    There were mixed reactions from the drivers and from fans across social media. Some are all for it and were very complimentary while others mocked the looks and questioned the practicality of it.

     

     

    The Williams of Felipe Massa was second fastest on the day about 0.5s slower than Raikkonen. Hulkenberg was 3rd fastest for Force India with Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was 4th fastest. Verstappen completed the day with the highest lap count of 159 laps.

    Nico Rosberg was at the wheel of the Mercedes W07 in the morning working on car setup while team mate Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon. Between the Mercedes pair, they clocked up a total of 144 laps on the day with Rosberg ending the day 5th fastest and Hamilton 11th fastest.

    Felipe Nasr finished his day 6th fastest ahead of Mclaren’s Fernando Alonso in 7th with 118 laps. Pascal Wehrlein and Daniil Kvyat were 8th and 9th respectively with Jolyon Palmer 10th for Renault.

    After turbo troubles  on Wednesday the Haas F1 team aimed for a complete race simulation on Thursday. Things did not go according to plan for the Kannapolis based team. Romain Grosjean Brought out the red flag three times on Thursday. The first time he went off at Turn 4 in the morning session and again at Turn 1 in the afternoon. He managed to avoid the barriers and the team was able to get him back out on track. With 5mins left in the session, Grosjean once again brought out the red flags stopping out on track. Despite the troubles Grosjean racked up 78 laps.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:22.765 – 136
    2 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:23.192 +0.428 119
    3 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:23.251 +0.486 137
    4 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:23.382 +0.617 159
    5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:24.126 +1.361 81
    6 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C35 1:24.760 +1.995 116
    7 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:24.870 +2.105 118
    8 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05 1:24.913 +2.148 48
    9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:25.141 +2.376 121
    10 Jolyon Palmer Renault R.S.16 1:26.224 +3.459 98
    11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.488 +3.723 63
    12 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:27.196 +4.431 78
  • Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

    Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

    Nico Rosberg stamped Mercedes’ authority on day one of the second test in Barcelona by going quickest on the day.

    Rosberg’s fastest time of 1:23.022 just told half the story. Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon session and went on to complete a very impressive race simulation. Between the Mercedes drivers they managed to rack up 169 laps.

    “It was a great afternoon of running with great mileage,” said Hamilton.

    “We did a race simulation and after that I feel I’m ready for race one.

    “The car is feeling great and was consistent all day.”

    Valtteri Bottas ended his day second fastest with a time of 1:23.229 with 123 laps under his belt.

    Finishing third fastest was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso with a time of 1:24.735 ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in 4th with a best time of 1:24.836. Both Raikkonen and Alonso brought out the red flags today with Alonso stopping at the end of the pit lane at the end of the morning session and Raikkonen in the mid afternoon with a gearbox problem.

    Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull finished 5th fastest with Hamilton in the Mercedes 6ht.

    In the new liveried Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen ened his day 7th fastest with the highest lap count of the day at 144. Another solid day of running for Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India seen him finish 8th fastest. Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer at Force India called it “another routine day.”

    The Sauber C35 made its debut today at the hand of Felipe Nasr who completed 103 laps to place 9th fastest ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Renault R.S.16 in 10th. Magnussen clocked up 119 laps until he came to a stop at Turn 3 just 10mins before the end of the day.

    Haas F1 had one of their worst testing days so far with Esteban Gutierrez confined to the garage for most of the day after a problem with the fuel system.

    It was not much different for Rio Haryanto in the Manor. The car suffered from an oil leak which kept in the pits for most of the morning session.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:23.022 – 82
    2 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:23.229 +0.207 123
    3 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:24.735 +1.713 93
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:24.836 +1.814 72
    5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:25.049 +2.027 69
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:25.051 +2.029 90
    7 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:25.176 +2.154 144
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:25.336 +2.314 121
    9 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C35 1:25.493 +2.471 103
    10 Kevin Magnussen Renault R.S.16 1:25.760 +2.738 119
    11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:26.661 +3.639 23
    12 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05 1:27.625 +4.603 45
  • 2015 In-Season Barcelona Test Line Up

    2015 In-Season Barcelona Test Line Up

    The first in season test for 2015 will be held at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona from the 12th – 13th May 2015.

    Most of the teams have already confirmed their driver line up for the test apart from Manor, who will not be participating in the test.

    Below is the line up for both days for the Barcelona test

    Mercedes
    Tuesday: Nico Rosberg
    Wednesday: Pascal Wehrlein

    Ferrari
    Tuesday: Raffaele Marciello
    Wednesday: Esteban Gutierrez

    Red Bull
    Tuesday: Daniil Kvyat
    Wednesday: Pierre Gasly

    Williams
    Tuesday: Felipe Massa
    Wednesday: Alex Lynn

    McLaren
    Tuesday: Oliver Turvey
    Wednesday: Jenson Button

    Lotus
    Tuesday: Pastor Maldonado
    Wednesday: Jolyon Palmer

    Force India
    Tuesday: Pascal Wehrlein Nick Yelloly
    Wednesday: Esteban Ocon

    Toro Rosso
    Tuesday: Pierre Gasly
    Wednesday: Carlos Sainz Jr

    Sauber
    Tuesday: Marcus Ericsson
    Wednesday: Raffaele Marciello

     

     

  • Alonso Thanks Fans for Their Support

    Alonso Thanks Fans for Their Support

    Fernando Alonso, today thanked his fans for their continued support following his crash at the first Barcelona test.

  • Alonso “Concussed” During Accident, Stays Overnight in Hospital

    Alonso “Concussed” During Accident, Stays Overnight in Hospital

    Following his crash during the final day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, McLaren have confirmed that their driver Fernando Alonso will remain in hospital overnight for observation as a precautionary measure.

    The crash happened just before lunch time. Alonso was rounding the bend at T3 when he lost control of his car which resulted him hitting the inside barrier of T3. He was taken to the circuits medical centre after which he was airlifted to hospital.

    According to the McLaren F1 Team’s twitter page, Alonso was “conscious and speaking”. A few hours later a McLaren spokesperson confirmed that after CT scans Alonso was uninjured and fine.

    “Fernando’s accident was just one of those things that happens in testing,” said McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier. “Fortunately, he’s fine, but was concussed during the accident, which therefore required an overnight stay in hospital as a precaution. That’s normal practice after a concussion.”

    “Inevitably, some media reports have sought to exaggerate the severity of the incident – it was just a normal testing accident,” he added.

  • Grosjean Quickest on Final Day of Testing and Alonso Crashes

    Grosjean Quickest on Final Day of Testing and Alonso Crashes

    Romain Grosjean put his Lotus on the top of the time sheets at the end of the final day of the second pre-season test while McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was air lifted to hospital after a crash at T3.

    Grosjean’s time of 1:24.067 on the soft compound tyres from Pirelli put him on top of the time sheets in the afternoon session which is also the fastest time of the entire 2nd test. Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes finished the day second fastest firing somewhat of a warning shot to rivals. Rosberg’s time of 1:24.321 on the medium compound tyres, was just 0.254s slower than Grosjean’s time. Pirelli say that the gap between the two tyres is about 2 seconds a lap. That should get teams shifting rather uncomfortably in their seats.

    McLaren’s test came to an abrupt end when Alonso went off the track and crashed into the T3 barrier. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene. He was then taken to the circuits Alonso Barcelona test crashmedical centre. He spent a few minutes at the medical centre and was then airlifted to a nearby hospital for further tests. After a short while, McLaren released a statement saying that Alonso was “conscious and spoke with the doctors”.

    The second test did not go too well for McLaren who seem to be still ironing out the kinks with the new Honda power unit. Throughout the 4 days of the test, they managed a total of 104 laps.

    Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat finished 3rd fastest with Sauber’s Felipe Nasr just 0.015s slower in 4th. “It was another good day for us,” Kvyat explained. “We learned a lot that will be of benefit in the future and that’s what testing is all about.”

    Williams’ Valtteri Bottas ended his day 5th fastest racking up 129 laps. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr finished 6th fastest. His day came to an early end when he also crashed at the exit of T3.

    Sebastian Vettel finished 7th fastest with Nico Hulkenberg finishing 8th and Alonso 9th.

    At the end of the day Vettel said that they mainly focused on long runs and different tyre configurations. There were some “teething problems” but he feels positive about the car so far.

    Below is the timing sheet for the final day of the second pre-season test:

    2nd pre season test day 4

     

  • F1 2015: Barcelona Test Team and Driver Lineup

    F1 2015: Barcelona Test Team and Driver Lineup

    The second F1 test of the season will get underway in 2 days time in Catalunya, Spain at the Circuit de Catalunya.

    The track is known to all the teams and drivers as it has been the winter testing ground for quite a few years. The 4.655km track has 16 corners which really put an F1 car through its paces. The track has a very good balance between fast and slow corners together with a long straight.

    Much has been said about the pace of Mercedes after the first test in Jerez. Many think that they did not show their true pace. This may be true if speed trap data is to be believed where it showed that Mercedes powered cars still hold an advantage in terms of speed over Ferrari and Renault powered cars. One should not read too much into all of that as it is only the first of three pre-season tests. We should get a slightly clearer picture during the upcoming test.

    Ferrari seem to have made some progress from 2014 after their cars finished on top of the time sheets on three of the four days of the Jerez test. Williams seemed to have a rather anonymous test as they quietly went along their business and managed to get some good mileage out of their cars. The same can be said for Toro Rosso with their two young drivers.

    McLaren had a very shaky start. With a new engine manufacturer there was bound to be plenty of teething problems. They managed to get a handful of laps in the previous test but will be looking to get some decent mileage in Barcelona. Red Bull, with their camouflaged car also got of to a shaky start as they also suffered engine issues.

    Lotus with Mercedes engines had a better Jerez test than 2014 with the only hold up for them was the lack of parts on the first day of the Jerez test which lead to them sitting out day 1. No doubt they will be better prepared for this week.

    Force India, after skipping the Jerez test, will be out on track in Catalunya with their 2014 car as their 2015 is not yet complete. The 2014 car will have developmental parts on the car that will no doubt go on the 2015 car which should make its debut at the second Barcelona test.

    We should see Mercedes pace revealed over the course of the test. If the timing wall from the previous test is to be believed, Ferrari should follow in a close second. But this is testing and no team will revealed their true pace until qualifying in Melbourne.

    Below is the schedule for the Barcelona test:

    Barcelona 2015 Testing Schedule

  • F1 2015: Jerez Testing Day 4 – Round Up

    F1 2015: Jerez Testing Day 4 – Round Up

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended day 4 of the Jerez test on top of the time sheets. Raikkonen set the fastest lap of 1:20.841 which was also the fastest time of the week.

    Raikkonen was quite happy with what Ferrari have achieved so far and feels that the car is performing much better than it was last year. “”It’s the whole package that has progressed, but there is still a lot of work to do,” he said.

    Finishing second on the day was Sauber’s Felipe Nasr. The Sauber driver managed to cross the line 112 times with his fastest time of the day of 1:22.019.

    Lewis Hamilton finished the day with the 3rd fastest time of 1:22.172. But we all know that in testing its mileage that counts and Hamilton clocked up 117 laps for the day. His day wasnt without incident as he had a spin at the chicane which brought out the red flags for a short while.

    Max Verstappen finished 4th fastest for Toro Rosso with Felipe Massa 5th fastest for Williams. They each did 97 and  73 laps respectively.

    It wasn’t the easiest of days for Romain Grosjean, but he managed to bang in a solid 53 laps of the Jerez Circuit. His day was brought to an end early after issues with the power unit.

    Red Bull had another tough day after an ERS problem saw Kvyat stop on track in the morning. This problem meant that they spent most of the morning fixing the problem, but they were out by the afternoon which meant Kvyat could pound around the track for a while.

    Engine problems in the morning and a fuel pump issue in the afternoon brought Jenson Button’s day to an early end. But it wasn’t all bad news for the Woking based team. Button managed to get a good few laps in and set his fastest time of a 1:27.660. Despite all the engine issues, McLaren feel that they’ve learnt a great deal about the engine architecture and so far the feedback from Button about the new Honda engine is positive.

    Teams will gather and analyse all their data at their respective headquarters and will head to Barcelona for the second test for the 2015 season in 2 weeks time.

    Unofficial times for Day 4 of the Jerez Test

    Jerez Test_Day 4 Times

     

  • F1 2015: Jerez Testing Day 3 – Round Up

    F1 2015: Jerez Testing Day 3 – Round Up

    Sauber’s Felipe Nasr set the fastest time of the third day of the Jerez test on Tuesday.

    Nasr set an unofficial time of 1:21.545 to put his Sauber ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in P2 with a time of 1:21.750. It must also be noted that Nasr clocked up an impressive 108 laps. But that was still not enough to beat Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes W06, who racked up an impressive 151 laps. His day was not without incident as he came to a stop on the track just before lunch time which brought out the red flags.

    There were two other stoppages today. Once was caused by Nasr after spinning off the track and took a trip through the gravel traps. The other stoppage was because Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus came to a stop on the back straight.

    Things are looking much better for Lotus this time around. Maldonado managed to do 96 laps today with his fastest time of 1:22.713.

    McLaren had a better day out on track as Fernando Alonso managed to clock up 32 laps in his MP4-30. His day was cut short after a loss of cooling water pressure. His fastest time for the day was a 1:35.553,

    Daniel Ricciardo was hamstrung by engine problems for most of the day and was limited to a few short runs. Carlos Sainz Jr. had a good day out for Toro Rosso and did an impressive 136 laps.

    The test concludes tomorrow.

    Unofficial times from Circuito de Jerez

    Jerez Test_Day 3 Times

     

    Photo by courtesy Pirelli

  • Red Bull Launch Black and White Camouflaged RB11

    Red Bull Launch Black and White Camouflaged RB11

    The Red Bull F1 team revealed a heavily camouflaged RB11 this morning at the Circuito Jerez just as testing got underway.

    The RB 11 emerged from the pit garage at Jerez sporting the camouflaged look instead of revealing it like other teams have done.

    Red Bull’s new Chief Engineering Officer Rob Marshal who replaces Adrian Newey said that most of the changes will be hard to spot but significant steps have been made.

    “There are some changes that affect the shape of the front of the car but beyond that most of the changes are under the skin,” he said.

    “We’ve identified the areas where we can make improvements and we’ve worked hard on these.

    “There won’t be a lot that’s visible to the naked eye but a lot of hard work has gone into the bits that are hidden.”

    Red Bull cut it rather fine this time with the car passing its crash tests on Saturday afternoon. Speaking to AutoSport, Team Principal Christian Horner said that they opted for the tightest car build to ensure that the latest developments were on the RB11.

     

    Photo Credit: Infinity Red Bull Racing Formula 1