Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest time for the morning session of 1:32.972 at the Young Drivers Test at Silverstone on Thursday.
Ricciardo will take Mark Webber’s place in the RB9 this afternoon to continue his running for the day. Antonio Felix da Costa, in the Red Bull set the second fastest time of 1:33.958.
Here’s the full time sheet for the mornings session:
James Calado put Force India at the top of the timesheets on the opening morning of the Young Driver Test at Silverstone.
His benchmark of 1.33.986 is just over half a second slower than the fastest lap of this year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, set by Red Bull driver Mark Webber.
Here is the full time sheet following the first morning of testing at the Silverstone Young Driver Test.
Mark Webber will no longer take part in the F1 Young Driver Test at Silverstone after Red Bull announced a late change to their planned schedule.
Webber, who will be leaving Formula One to drive for Porsche at the end of the season, was due to test on Thursday afternoon.
Regular team race drivers have been allowed to join this year’s test in order to assist Pirelli with development of their new tyres but this is only on the condition that they run a strictly-defined Pirelli programme that covers two half-days of running. “The teams will have a very clear tyre test programme; they have to run what we tell them to run,” said Pirelli boss Paul Hembery.
Red Bull are keen to evaluate Daniel Ricciardo and with Sebastian Vettel due to test on Friday afternoon, they have decided to alter their testing plan. “Following a clarification of the permitted programmes from Pirelli and the FIA for this week’s Silverstone test, Infiniti Red Bull Racing has revised its driver line up,” the team announced in a press release issued just before the lunch break on Wednesday.
Antonio Felix da Costa, originally scheduled to hand over to Ricciardo for the afternoon, will now test all day today and again on Thursday morning, before Ricciardo takes over.
Carlos Sainz Jr will then test on Friday morning and Sebastian Vettel will take over from him in the afternoon.
Ricciardo will also be testing for Toro Rosso on Thursday morning, right before he switches to the RB9.
Formula 1’s annual Young Driver’s Test starts tomorrow on the Silverstone race track.
However, this year’s three day test session has a bit of a twist to it. As a result of the tyre troubles at Silverstone grand prix the test has been transformed into an emergency tyre test for the Italian manufacturer to regain its footing in the sport.
Teams won’t have free reign to do as the please throughout the three days though. Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, has clearly stipulated what can and cannot be done.
Mercedes will sit out the three day test session as the Brackley based team serves a ban imposed on them for conducting a tyre test after the Spanish grand prix. Lewis Hamilton has voiced his concern on the dangers of Mercedes not being allowed to test the new tyres before their introduction at the Hungarian grand prix.
“I don’t know if people fully appreciate how big a negative it is for us not to do the test.We are going to go to Hungary when other people have gone and tested (the new tyres with) different ride-heights, different pressures, got their car ready for a long run so they arrive ready.We don’t have any of that information so when we get there we’re going to go into it blind.We shouldn’t be in this position in sport, but that’s the way it is,” said Hamilton.
But it seems the Brit’s fears will be assuaged as Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hemberey, announced that Mercedes will recieve data on findings about the new tyres.
The Young Driver’s Test was institued with the aim of showcasing up-and-coming talents that could, potentially, be the future of Formula 1.Several current drivers will be present at the test but in amongst will be some eager drivers keen to make their mark.
|
Team |
Wednesday 17th |
Thursday 18th |
Friday 19th |
|
Red Bull |
Antonio Felix da Costa Daniel Ricciardo |
Antonio Felix da Costa Daniel Ricciardo |
Carlos Sainz Jnr Sebastian Vettel |
|
Ferrari |
Davide Rigon |
Davide Rigon |
Felipe Massa Davide Rigon |
|
McLaren |
Kevin Magnussen |
Oliver Turvey |
Gary Paffett |
|
Lotus |
Nicolas Prost |
Davide Valsecchi |
Nicolas Prost |
|
Mercedes |
Banned |
||
|
Sauber |
Robin Frijns |
Robin Frijns Nico Hulkenberg |
Kimiya Sato |
|
Force India |
James Calado |
Paul di Resta |
Adrian Sutil |
|
Williams |
Daniel Juncadella |
Pastor Maldonado |
Susie Wolff |
|
Toro Rosso |
Johnny Cecotto Jnr |
Carlos Sainz Jnr |
Jean-Eric Vergne Daniil Kvyat |
|
Caterham |
Alexander Rossi |
Will Stevens |
Charles Pic Giedo van der Garde |
|
Marussia |
Tio Ellinas Max Chilton |
Rodolfo Gonzalez |
Rodolfo Gonzalez Jules Bianchi |
In a move that has sent the rumour mill into overdrive, Red Bull have announced that Daniel Ricciardo will be testing the RB9 in this week’s Young Driver Test at Silverstone.
This will certainly give the young Ricciardo’s hopes of replacing fellow Australian driver Mark Webber at Red Bull next year a boost.
According to Red Bull, Ricciardo – who is facing competition for the Red Bull seat from Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen and fellow Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne – will be in the seat of the Red Bull RB9 on Wednesday afternoon.
Mark Webber, who is leaving Formula One at the end of the season to race for Le Mans sports car racing with Porsche, will be testing the Pirelli tyres on Thursday afternoon and Sebastian Vettel will be in the car on Friday afternoon.
Portuguese driver Antonio Félix da Costa who is a member of the Red Bull young driver programme, and would be most likely to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso, will test for Red Bull on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Carlos Sainz Jr will take over for the final morning at Silverstone.
The Young Driver Test at Silverstone was originally intended to be for young drivers only but after a spate of blow outs during last month’s British Grand Prix, the FIA opened it up to regular race drivers to test for Pirelli.
The FIA’s decision to allow race drivers to take part in the upcoming Young Driver Test in order to test the new Pirelli tyres has seen quite a few teams opting to make use of the opportunity to run their regular drivers.
Sauber have announced the they will run Nico Hulkenberg along with reserve driver Robert Frinjs and Japanese driver Kimiya Sato at the 17-19 July test.
Hulkenberg will be testing on the Thursday afternoon with Frinjs getting track action in the morning as well as on Wednesday. Kimiya Sato will take the C32 around Silverstone on the Friday.
Sauber have also confirmed that they will be bringing a new upgrade package to the Young Driver Test.
The FIA today imposed a ban on all tyre swapping for this weekend’s German Grand Prix. They have also issued strict limits on tyre pressures and cambers for the race.
This follows a request by Pirelli to the FIA, to limit how F1 teams exploit the rubber because according to Pirelli this was a major contributing factor to the blow-outs suffered at the British Grand Prix. Earlier this week, Pirelli openly blamed teams in a statement for the failures at Silverstone.
The FIA has agreed to enforce strict limits on tyre operations this weekend.
Race director Charlie Whiting, who nearly red-flagged the British Grand Prix, issued a note to teams on Friday stating that: “For safety reasons, we have been asked by Pirelli to ensure that the tyres on all cars are run under the conditions listed below.
It will be the responsibility of each team to satisfy the FIA technical delegate that the cars comply with the following requirements at all times.”
The note specified that minimum starting pressures front and rear will be 16psi, the minimum stabilised running front pressure will be 20psi, and at the rear it will be 19psi. The maximum negative camber allowed at the front will be four degrees, and it will be 2.5 degrees at the rear.
Regarding tyre swapping Charlie also added, “Front and rear tyres must be used on the side of the car for which they were originally designated (no swapping from side-to-side.)”. This was another factor which Pirelli stated contributed to the Silverstone failures.
With drivers threatening to boycott the German Grand Prix should further failures be experienced this weekend, we can only hope that the changes Pirelli has made to the tyres for this weekend will ensure that a recurrence of the drama last weekend is not seen at the Nurburgring.
Formula One drivers have threatened to boycott the German Grand Prix this weekend if a repeat of the problems at Silverstone are experienced.
Four drivers suffered blown tyres during a dramatic British Grand Prix on Sunday at Silverstone, forcing Pirelli to revert to Kevlar-belted tyres for this weekend’s race at the Nurburgring. They will also be introducing a new tyre for the remainder of the season.
Although Pirelli are confident that bringing back the Kevlar-belted tyres this weekend will ensure that a repeat of the Silverstone fiasco is not suffered, drivers are not fully satisfied and the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, which represents the majority of drivers, said its members wanted to express their “deepest concerns”.
In a statement following a meeting of the GPDA on Thursday evening, a statement was issued stating that should similar problems occur during the German GP weekend, they would withdraw from the event in the interest of safety.
The statement read:
“The drivers of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association wish to express their deepest concerns about the events that took place at Silverstone.
“We trust that the changes made to the tyres will have the desired results and that similar problems will not occur during the German GP weekend.
“We are ready to drive our cars to the limit, as we always do, and as it is expected by our teams, sponsors and fans.
“However, the drivers have decided that, if similar problems should manifest themselves during the German GP, we shall immediately withdraw from the event, as this avoidable problem with the tyres endangers again the lives of drivers, marshals and fans.”
Fernando Alonso spoke earlier on Thursday about the dangerous situation he found himself in behind Sergio Perez who suffered a blow out. “I committed to overtake Sergio on the left,” he said, “I was lucky because maybe if I chose the right, everything would hit my helmet. There are pieces of steel coming at 300kph so it would be like a bullet or a knife.” He added, “Pirelli made some changes. We trust them. We think they solve the problem.”
Pirelli issued a statement on Tuesday blaming the failures on the teams but Jenson Button said following the GPDA meeting that “We followed all of Pirelli’s guidelines – on both cars.”
Pictures have been posted on the Internet showing that tyre swapping was taking place but no further comment has been made about this by the drivers.
Pirelli will introduce completely new tyres for the 2013 Hungarian grand prix.
The announcement comes after the Italian tyre manufacturer was put in the spotlight with several tyre failures during the Silverstone grand prix. The all new tyres, which will feature 2012 construction combined with 2013 compounds, will be introduced for Hungarian grand prix. These new tyres will be tested at the young driver’s test at Silverstone in mid-July.
For the immediate future, and this weekend’s German grand prix, teams will be provided with the kevlar-belted rear tyres that were tested at the Canadian grand prix. Teams will also be banned from swapping left and right tyres and strict limitations will be placed on camber and tyre pressures. Pirelli believe that a combination of these factors were to blame for the spectacular failures at the British grand prix.
To prevent a repeat of the failures Pirelli have requested that their engineers be allowed access to real time tyre data, including pressures and cambers, during a race. “What happened at Silverstone was completely unexpected and it was the first time that anything like this has ever occurred in more than a century of Pirelli in motorsport,” said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.
“These incidents, which have upset us greatly, have stressed the urgency of the changes that we already suggested – which will be introduced for free practice in Germany on Friday.
“We would like to acknowledge the willingness of the FIA, FOM, teams, and drivers to act quickly to find an immediate solution to the problem.
“In particular, the adoption of winter tests, arranged with the FIA, that are more suitable for tyre development, and the possibility of carrying out in-season testing will contribute to the realisation of tyres with increasingly improved standards of safety and performance.”
Hembery went on to stress that the Pirelli tyres are safe for use. “I’d like to re-emphasise the fact that the 2013 range of tyres, used in the correct way, is completely safe,” he said.
Formula 1’s govering body, the FIA, has announced that it will send its own observers to this month’s young driver’s test.
The recent Mercedes-tyregate debacle has prompted the FIA to appoint a ‘security guard’ to ensure that no current race drivers do any work on car development. On the back of multiple tyre failures at the British grand prix the governing body changed testing regulations to allow for the regular race drivers to help out with the tyre work at the test. The Silverstone grand prix circuit will be used from July 17 – 19 for the test.
However, the FIA has stipulated that no current race driver will be only be allowed to work on an emergency testing programme for tyre manufacturer Pirelli. The observers will scrutinise the running programs of every team to ensure that all development work is done by the ‘young’ driver who still be present at the test.
Pirelli also has two further private tests planned in the coming weeks for which the FIA have told Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hembery, that it would be willing to allow the tyre company to use a 2013 car if required.