F1 Madness

Tag: oliver turvey

  • Rosberg Takes Charge of Day 1 of Barcelona In-Season Test

    Rosberg Takes Charge of Day 1 of Barcelona In-Season Test

    Nico Rosberg picked up right where he left off for Mercedes on Tuesday in testing after victory at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. 

    Rosberg’s fastest lap of 1:24.374 came in the morning session with an unmarked Pirelli compound was 0.307s quicker than his pole setting time for the Spanish Grand Prix. He also clocked up 146 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, the most of any driver for the day.

    Marcus Ericsson at the wheel of the Sauber was second quickest on the day. His time of 1:26.624 pushed Ferrari Academy driver Raffaele Marciello down to 3rd fastest after he held second spot for most of the day for Ferrari. Both drivers completed 98 and 125 laps for their respective teams. Ericsson will make way for Marciello on Wednesday at Sauber while Esteban Gutierrez will get his first drive in the Ferrari SF15-T.

    Despite reliability problems throughout the season so far, the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat made it around the track 101 times with the 4th fastest time of the day. Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus had a trouble free day to finish his day 5th fastest for Lotus.

    Nick Yelloly made his debut for Force India, albeit a day early. He was called up when Pascal Wehrlein fell ill and was forced to pull out of the test. Yelloly enjoyed his day out in the car finishing 6th fastest with a time of 1:27.396 and clocking up 109 laps for the day.

    “It felt really good to finally get my chance in a Formula One car. I’ve been working towards this day for a long time and I need to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone at Sahara Force India for giving me this opportunity,” said Yelloly.

    Motor Racing - Formula One Testing - Barcelona Test - Day One - Barcelona, Spain“The first few laps felt a bit unusual, but I soon got comfortable in the car.

    “I’m feeling really positive about the day and I hope it’s been useful for the team.”

    Wehrlien is scheduled to drive for Mercedes on Wednesday. They are hopeful that he’ll be fit to drive for the team.

    Another F1 debutant was GP2 driver Pierre Gasly. He was at the wheel of the Toro Rosso and racked up a marathon 131 laps. He ended the day 7th fastest with a 1:27.639. Felipe Massa in the Williams was 8th fastest for the day and completed just 54 laps.

    McLaren’s Oliver Turney was 9th fastest on the day with a 1:28.542 and clocked up 68 laps. McLaren were trailing a whole host of new parts at the track today and were trying to make the most of their time by testing as much as they could.

    As the test goes on, Formula 1 Tyre supplier Pirelli are, with the help of Mercedes, Ferrari, Toro Rosso and Red Bull, testing out new compounds.

    Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:24.374 – 146
    2 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1:26.624 2.250s 98
    3 Raffaele Marciello Ferrari 1:26.648 2.274s 125
    4 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1:26.904 2.530s 101
    5 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1:27.338 2.964s 60
    6 Nick Yelloly Force India/Mercedes 1:27.396 3.022s 109
    7 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Renault 1:27.639 3.265s 131
    8 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1:27.911 3.537s 54
    9 Oliver Turvey McLaren/Honda 1:28.542 4.168s 68

     

    Testing line up for Wednesday 13 may 2015 available here

     

    Photo credits: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Sahara Force India Formula One Team

  • McLaren-Honda unveil MP4-29H at Silverstone filming day

    McLaren-Honda unveil MP4-29H at Silverstone filming day

    McLaren-Honda made it’s return to an F1 circuit during a filming day at Silverstone today.

    McLaren debuted Honda’s new F1 engine in the Mclaren team’s development car the MP4-29H at Silverstone. Oliver Turvey took to the track behind the wheel while the team looked to learn as much as possibly about Honda’s new V6 Turbo Power Unit.

    The picture to the right was tweeted by Honda earlier today.

    McLaren is limited to only 100km of running at a filming day according to F1 Regulations. Not much, but more than enough to understand what, if any, initial problems there are with the new engine.

    There has been no confirmation on whether McLaren will run the new Honda power unit during post-race testing after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    Photo Credit: Honda

  • No race drivers in McLaren Young Driver Test line up

    No race drivers in McLaren Young Driver Test line up

    McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez will not be taking part in the Young Driver Test at Silverstone this week despite the FIA now allowing regular race drivers to take part in order to help Pirelli test tyre development.

    This leaves the running up to Kevin Magnussen, Oliver Turvey and Gary Paffett.

    New Pirelli tyres which will be used at the Hungarian Grand Prix will be tested by Pirelli at Silverstone during the Young Driver Test but McLaren have opted not to run either Button or Perez.

    Magnussen, Turvey and Paffett will each spend one day at the wheel of the McLaren, as they did last year’s three day Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi.

    Since teams who make use of regular drivers will have to stick to a test plan decided by Pirelli, the move allows McLaren to dictate their own test plan each day instead.