Tag: mercedes

Bahrain Test: Day 4 Quotes

Lewis Hamilton ended the final day of pre-season testing on top in Bahrain.

All attention will be towards the first race of the season in Melbourne, Australia for the Australian Grand Prix. Below are some quotes from the drivers.

Lewis Hamilton(1:33.278) | Mercedes | 70 laps: “This has definitely been the most challenging winter I’ve experienced and the car is still very much a work in progress, but we’ve learnt a lot over the course of these last few weeks and overall it’s been a good winter of testing for us. There’s been an incredible amount of work put in by the team back at the two factories and on track. I have to say a special thanks to the crew here today who had a tough task in front of them but never lost their cool. It was a tough start to the day but they managed to get the car turned around for me to complete some good laps in the afternoon, which was a fantastic effort. There’s so much to learn with these new cars; it’s just mind-blowing and I don’t think anybody can be fully ready for the challenge of this season. But I feel as ready as I can be and I’m looking forward to seeing where we are in Melbourne.”

Valtteri Bottas(1:33.987) | Williams-Mercedes | 108 laps: “I think our final day of testing was very good, right up to a very unlucky failure just one run before the end. Overall, it was a still a good day as we had no other issues throughout and made a lot of progress with the car set-up. I think with this amount of testing we are as prepared for Melbourne as we can be. The team has done a great job and thank you also to Mercedes-Benz. We still need to work very hard in these next two weeks but I overall I’m happy with how testing has gone for us. As I didn’t have the chance to do a quick time on the supersoft tyre today, I am looking forward to picking up where we left off when we get to Melbourne.”

Fernando Alonso(1:34.280) | Ferrari | 74 laps: “The team did its utmost to carry out changes on the car as quickly as possible, but again today, we had planned to do more laps than we managed. There are a lot of things to learn with the use of the power unit to improve the performance of the car and we are not yet where we want to be. Everyone in the team is very competitive and we are working day and night in order to get all the potential out of the F14 T as soon as possible. We have gone through twelve days of testing that were very demanding for everyone and I would like to thank the whole team for all its efforts.”

Nico Hulkenberg(1:35.577) | Force India-Mercedes | 74 laps: “The final day of testing went pretty well. In the end we didn’t do the race simulation, but we did some long runs and signed off a lot of other things on the job list. We didn’t do as many laps as yesterday, but we still made progress and learned some new things. So it’s been two good days for me and I’m feeling pretty satisfied. You always want more time to prepare, but I think we’re in good shape. The car has come a long way since the first Jerez test and we have made progress every day.”

Adrian Sutil(1:36.467) | Sauber-Ferrari | 91 laps: “It was a good morning. We covered everything that we had planned, just in a shorter time frame. Yesterday was unlucky, but it’s better to have a problem here than in Melbourne. I feel much more comfortable after this morning’s session. Now we have a lot more data to analyse. Overall we had a tough testing programme to go through and we had unexpected problems here and there. However, we don’t get any more tests, so we will take what we have and get the most out of it in Melbourne, and I’m looking forward to that.”

Sebastian Vettel(1:37.468) | Red Bull-Renault | 77 laps: We did a lot of laps today so that was useful. We tried to do a race simulation today; for one reason or another that didn’t work out, but in two week’s time things should look a little bit different. Obviously it’s difficult to know where the car is. It’s not just the number of laps that you do, but also the type. There are so many different running options as well – full power, low power etc, so its’ impossible to say where we are. We know we have to catch up in a lot of areas, but with that said, I’m happy today, we did a lot of laps, we learned a lot and it was a positive end to a tough week here.”

Kamui Kobayashi(1:38.391) | Caterham-Renault | 106 laps: “106 laps is a good way for us to finish the tests, even though the clutch problem we had in the last hour meant we didn’t have a chance to do any of the performance runs we’d planned for today. However, I’m very happy we were able to have two such good final days in Bahrain as it’s showed that our reliability is good and that could be very important in Australia and for the whole season, especially when you look at how quite a few of the other teams have struggled both here and in Jerez.”

The next we get to see the teams and drivers again will be in Australia. The way things stand now is that Red Bull are struggling, Mercedes and Mercedes powered teams are looking very good and Ferrari, and Ferrari powered teams are not far behind. We must not, however, write off Red Bull, they have the potential to come back and dominate throughout the season.

It’s very hard to tell the pecking order for this season. A few races into the season and we will have a very good idea of where things stand. Reliability will be the big thing this season. It’s wide open for this seasons title race.

Photo Credit:

Title Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

Article Photo: Sahara Force India Formula One Team

March 2, 2014
Second Bahrain Test: Day 1: Driver Quotes

Force India’s Sergio Perez set the pace on Day 1 of the final Bahrain test with a time of 1:35.290, almost a full second clear of second fastest man, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Here are some quotes from the drivers after the first day of the second Bahrain test

Sergio Perrez(1:35.290) | Force India-Mercedes | 105 laps: “We really needed a good day to start this week and today we had it. We managed to do a lot of laps, try several different compounds and mappings, and it’s been a fantastic day in terms of learning about the car. Tomorrow is my last day in the car before the season starts so hopefully we can have another solid day to be in good shape for Melbourne.”

Valtteri Bottas(1:36.184) | Williams-Mercedes | 128 laps: “It’s been another good day for us and it was nice to get the whole run plan done. We didn’t have any issues all day so well done to all the team for getting the car running so well. We have a lot of data to analyse tonight after doing some aero work this morning and a race distance and set-up work this afternoon. We did some very interesting tests and there are still plenty of things to improve so we’ll keep pushing.”

Kimi Raikkonen(1:36.432) | Ferrari | 54 laps: “Before I leave Sakhir, it’s planned that I should do a race distance and that’s the only thing I’m missing. Today we chose to concentrate on some of the many things we still have to work on and we won’t assess the winter testing until the final day, when we will put together all the data we have gathered. What I can say is that I have been through worse winters than this.

We have been on different programmes and I don’t think you can judge a car’s potential from how many laps it does in testing. We have a lot of things to test and we want to make the most of these days to check everythting, because the race weekend doesn’t last long and the hours on Friday fly by, while on the other days you are only looking for performance.”

Nico Rosberg(1:36.624) | Mercedes | 89 laps: “That was not a fantastic day for us. We tried some new parts on the car and you find out a lot doing that. But unfortunately we did not only discover good things today. I managed to do a couple of good laps before lunch but in the afternoon we had a few small problems which ended my running a bit earlier than planned. This shows that we are pushing everything to the limit and we still have a massive challenge in front of us during the last three days of testing. We need to maximise our time here to be prepared for Melbourne. But after a difficult day overall we are on the right path.”

Daniel Ricciardo(1:37.908) | Red Bull-Renault | 39 laps: ” This morning was much better for us with a few longer runs. Behind the wheel, that’s the best I’ve felt so far. The package seems to be coming together better. We still had a few issues today, but at least when the car was on track it was much more useful running and we made progress in the morning. It’s getting there. I’d love to keep going, but at leas Seb has two days after me in the car, so I think we’ll be looking pretty good for the next three days.”

Daniil Kvyat(1:39.242) | Toro Rosso-Renault | 55 laps: “It was nice to be in the car, even if we didn’t get through the entire programme we had planned for today. However, I feel we have made some progress. We ran the Hard Pirelli most of the time, as we were definitely not chasing performance today. I hope Jev manages to get a full day’s running tomorrow, before I drive again on Saturday.”

Included is the unofficial timesheet for the day’s session:

Photo Credits

Title Photo: Sahara Force India Formula One Team

Article Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

February 27, 2014
Bahrain Test: Day 1

Day one of the Bahrain test concluded with Red Bull in a spot of bother and with Mercedes looking very strong.

The first day of testing got off to a bad start for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull racing in Bahrain. Their car was not seen until they were 5 hours into the session due to issues during the building of the car this morning. Once Vettel was on the track he only managed 14 laps after stopping on track with an hour left in the session. According to the BBC, when the car arrived back in the pits there was a burning smell emanating from the cockpit.

“Obviously we’re not happy with where we are now and we have a long way ahead of us. The first gut feeling from the car is OK, but we need more running,” he said.

“It’s not easy to find a quick fix, but i think we understand the problems. We sorted out the issues from Jerez adn we were able to do some laps today. However, very often you fix one problem and another pops up, which is what happened. That’s testing. We all knew this year was a massive challenge and we knew it would be difficult. We obviously didn’t want this, but it is what it is and we are working flat out to solve the problems

Mercedes on the other had had more laps around the track. A brake issue ended the session slightly earlier for them today. Lewis Hamilton clocked 74 laps around the Bahrain International Circuit in the W05 with a best time of 1:37.908.

“It’s been impressive to see us start the Bahrain test with good mileage, reliability, especially when you see how difficult it is for everyone with the new regulations,” said Hamilton. “The team can be very proud of this after so much of hard work.”

“We’re not aiming to be top of the timesheets at the moment, it’s more about ticking the reliability boxes, but we can be happy with where we are before the halfway point of the pre-season tests,” he added.

Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India set the fastest time for the day with a 1:36.880. Force India who use Mercedes engines also enjoyed some long runs out on track and clocked up a total of 79 laps on track. These are very encouraging signs early on in the test for the Silverstone based team.

Hulkenberg: “A very positive and satisfying day. We had a busy programme and we learned a lot. Time in the car is very valuable at the moment and so it feels good to cover so many laps and even complete two long runs at the end of the day. That gave me a chance to see how the car behaves and to start getting a feel for it, which was not something I was able to do in Jerez. It’s great that we’ve already done some set-up work and started to improve the drivability of the car. But it’s still very early stages; we are learning with every lap and we face a very steep learning curve in the coming days.”

The Lotus E22 made its public debut in Bahrain today with Frenchman Romain Grosjean at the wheel. With little issues in their filming day at Jerez last week, it was a very different story today. The E22 only managed to do 8 laps.

“To be honest, there are so many things going on at the rear of the car that I can’t understand everything, but it was related to the engine or batteries or things like that. Nothing too crazy,” said Grosjean.

“Hopefully we can understand it and get better solutions for tomorrow and the day after.”

Grosjean went on to say that he is not even going to attempt set ups with the car because the main focus on the testing at the moment is the reliability.

Ferrari had a rather straight forward test day without any unexpected difficulties. Fernando Alonso was at the wheel of the F14T today with the second fastest time of the day of 1:37.879. Alonso will be pilot the F14T tomorrow before Kimi Raikkonen takes over for the final two days.

“It’s nice to be driving again, especially when you have more reference points compared to the previous time, which means you get a better feeling for the car,” said Alonso. “We are also at a track that is more representative, with normal temperatures, where it’s been easier to understand tyre behaviour. We are in a phase where we are discovering things and with every lap, we learn something new. For everyone, there is still a lot to do to be well prepared for Melbourne, so it will be important to make the most of every day we have available to us.”

Toro Rosso also suffered engine issues and together with Red Bull and Lotus, they managed 27 laps between them. Robin Frijns in the Caterham CT05, which is also powered by the Renault engine, managed to clock up 68 laps.

Williams had a bad day today. The Mercedes powered FW36-02 never got to see much of the track today. According to their Chief Test engineer, Rob Nelson, they had a fuel system problem. However, they were able to change some of the components and do some running towards the end of the day.

“It was a difficult day. It was frustrating for me but also for the whole team as we all wanted to get lots of laps on the board today. We had a few issues with the car which we are investigating and aim to solve for tomorrow and the following days,” said Felipe Massa

Kevin Magnussen in his McLaren finished the day 4th fastest with the second highest lap count. The most mileage done today was by Adrian Sutil in the Sauber. Both teams had relatively normal testing days and were quite happy with the progress that was made so far.

Renault powered teams look to be on the back foot at the moment and with Red Bull and Lotus having all these issues it’s going to be very tough to catch up to the other teams.

The unofficial timing sheet is included below

Photo Credits

Title Photo: Scuderia Ferrari F1

Article Photo: Sahara Force India Formula One Team

Article Photo: Scuderia Ferrari F1

February 19, 2014
Bahrain Pre Season Test Preview

The second of three pre-season tests and the first one in Bahrain. The teams are swapping the cold conditions of the Spanish winter for some warm desert air at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Some say the serious testing starts now with just two more tests left. The first test in Jerez was like a shakedown for the teams and drivers to come to grips with the new engines and the new rules. The real work starts this week. Teams will be testing all sorts of components on the cars, engine settings, and aerodynamic and balance setups. They will try to learn as much as they can about their cars in the next three days.

The Mercedes and Ferrari powered teams enjoyed the bulk of the laps at the Jerez test with a combined 875 laps for the Mercedes powered teams and 444 laps for the Ferrari powered teams. Compare this to the Renault powered teams who could only manage 151 laps over the four days.

There’s no doubt that the Renault powered teams are playing catch up at Bahrain. With Red Bull admitting packaging issues with the car and with Renault behind with the fixes to the issues on their power units, Red Bull do have their work cut out for them. But that’s not to say that the other teams will have it easy.

We will finally get to see the Lotus E22 in Bahrain. After running it for a filming day at Jerez with reportedly no problems, the team will no doubt be itching to get the car on track to see what it has to offer.

Pirelli will bring their 2014 specification tyres to Bahrain with three new slick compounds, the hard, medium and soft compounds and also a special “winter” hard compound. Pirelli say that the “winter” hard compound was created to ensure rapid warm up of the tyre even during low temperatures. This compound was initially designed for Jerez, but Pirelli had asked the teams to test it in Bahrain for them to asses how the tyre performs in higher temperatures. In anticipation for the 2015 rules, Pirelli have also brought along am extra set of medium compound tyres, which are 2014 specification but are considered prototypes. These tyres will be tested without using tyre warmers which will be banned from 2015.

The weather in Bahrain will be sunny and mild for the week with temperatures hovering in the mid-to-low 20s. Not as warm as it usually is when the Bahrain Grand Prix takes place, but considerably warmer than Jerez which should give the teams a good indication of the performance of the tyres.

February 18, 2014
Ross Brawn has no Intention of Returning to F1

Ross Brawn has made it clear that he has no intentions of returning to Formula 1 anytime soon.

Brawn who was linked to many other teams after he announced his departure from Mercedes, has now made it clear that he has no intention to return to F1. He made the announcement at a fishing even on Saturday in Aberdeenshire.

“What they didn’t realise when I was invited here was they had a scoop because the world’s press was trying to find out if I was retiring or not,” said Brawn talking to the Daily Telegraph

“I’m retiring – it’s not tongue in cheek. I’m going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 at the Motor Sport magazine ‘Hall Of Fame’ awards in London, Brawn hinted that he may be persuaded to change his mind to return to the sport. “Come the summer I may take stock and things may change – never say never – but it’s not my plan,” said Brawn.

The F1 world will definitely miss Brawn in the paddock. He is seen as one of the most successful team principals in the paddock. He’s been instrumental in 16 world titles between three teams.

February 2, 2014
Schumacher being brought out of coma

Michael Schumacher’s manager and spokesperson, Sabine Kehm, has confirmed that doctors treating the German 7 time world champ have begun the waking up process to slowly bring Schumacher out of his month-long induced coma.

Schumacher has been in the induced coma since his skiing accident on 29 December.

“Michael’s sedation is being reduced in order to allow the start of the waking up process which may take long time,” read a statement released by Kehm. “For the protection of the family, it was originally agreed by the interested parties to communicate this information only once this process was consolidated. Please note that no further updates will be given.”

She once again stressed the request that the family be given the privacy they need and that people not disturb the doctors who are treating him.

The additional note read, “The family of Michael Schumacher is again requesting to respect its privacy and the medical secret, and to not disturb the doctors treating Michael in their work. At the same time, the family wishes to express sincere appreciation for theworld wide sympathy.”

Ferrari and Mercedes are both displaying messages of support for Schumacher during the pre-season testing at Jerez and drivers and fans alike have continued to stream messages of support using the hashtags #ForzaMichael and #KeepFightingMichael on Twitter.

The F1 fraternity waits on further news and our thoughts and well wishes are with Michael and his family. #ForzaMichael !

January 30, 2014
Video: Hamilton’s Crash: Jerez Test 2014

Amateur footage of Lewis Hamiltons crash at the Jerez test

January 28, 2014
Mercedes snatch two top Red Bull engineers

In a bid to boost their technical staff, the Mercedes F1 team have signed two key Red Bull figures Mark Ellis and Giles Wood.

Mercedes have created two new roles for the poached Red Bull engineers. Mark Ellis will join as Mercedes’ Performance Director, while Giles Wood will take up the position of Chief Engineer, Simulation and Development.

A Mercedes statement said the recruitment of Ellis and Wood would “further strengthen the team’s technical organisation, particularly in the fields of simulation and vehicle dynamics”.

The two engineers are the first two key appointments made by Mercedes’ new leadership team of Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolff who were appointed as co-team bosses of Mercedes in 2014 following the resignation of team principal Ross Brawn.

Both men are set to join the Mercedes Formula 1 team in June 2014, once their current contracts with Red Bull Racing have finished.

The announcement will come as a major blow to the Milton Keynes team as it comes just months after it emerged that chief aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou will be moving to McLaren in 2015.

Photo Credit: Mercedes F1

December 19, 2013
Full driver line-up for Bahrain tyre test confirmed

The full driver line-up for this week’s Pirelli tyre test in Bahrain has been confirmed.

The three day tyre test is set to get underway on Tuesday and end on Thursday and will see teams testing using their 2013 cars. All 11 teams were invited to the tyre test but only six agreed to participate. McLaren and Force India however later decided to withdraw. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and Toro Rosso will be on track to put Pirelli’s 2014 tyres through their paces. The running plans however, will be dictated by Pirelli as they gather data for next season.

World champions Red Bull, will be making use of test driver Sebastien Buemi while Toro Rosso will give Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat one and a half days of running each.

Ferrari confirmed that they will be using their development driver Pedro De la Rosa for two days and that Marussia driver Jules Bianchi will take part in one day of the tyre test.

Mercedes were last to confirm their driver line-up and will be using only Nico Rosberg for the tyre test.

December 17, 2013
Pirelli confirm four teams for Bahrain tyre test

Pirelli have confirmed that four teams will take part in the Bahrain tyre test next week.

Following confirmation that both McLaren and Force India have withdrawn from the test because of the short timeframe between the test and the FIA’s confirmation that it may go ahead.

The FIA gave the tyre test the go ahead on Monday night, when they also announced major rule changes for 2014 and 2015.

A McLaren spokesperson said simply, “We are not testing in Bahrain next week.”

A Force India spokesperson added, “Given the short notice of this test taking place and the time frames involved, the team will not be attending the test.”

The teams who will now take place in the Bahrain tyre test for Pirelli are Red Bull Racing, Mercedes, Ferrari and Toro Rosso.

The test will run from 17-19 December.

December 12, 2013