Tag: toro rosso

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 medical 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:

February 22, 2015
Maldonado On Top of Time Sheets on Day 3 of Barcelona Test

Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado claimed the fastest time of the day on the 3rd day of the Barcelona test on the super soft tyres.

Maldonado’s run in the afternoon seen him cross the line with a 1:24.348, 0.391s ahead of Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso who also did a run on the super softs. “We achieved a lot today and it was great to complete so many laps and end the day as the fastest car,” said Maldonado.

Although the rain started to fall later in the day the drivers still managed to put in a respectable amount of laps one the rain had stopped.

The redesigned seal that was intended to fix McLaren’s MGU-K issue did not work as planned. This mean that Button had to run the day on reduced power completing only 24 laps for the day.

Defending World Champion, Lewis Hamilton took third spot of the day ahead of Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. Hamilton still battling an illness said it was very tough day for him physically. That didnt seem to affect his pace too much though and he completed a marathon 101 laps.

After an out lap spin that put him into the gravel trap, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the day with 105 laps with the 5th fastest time of 1:26.407 which was just marginally faster than Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull. Apart from the out lap incident. Vettel enjoyed a relatively trouble free day out on track.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas both drive for Williams on the day which seen Massa finishe 7th fastest and Bottas 9th fastest.

Mercedes test driver Pascal Wehrlein was back at Force India today. He completed 81 laps with the fastest time for him on the day of 1:27.333 in the 2014 VJM07.

February 22, 2015
Ricciardo Takes the Honour on Second Day of Barcelona Test

Daniel Ricciardo finished on top of the time sheets for Red Bull on the second day of the second pre-season test in Barcelona.

Ricciardo set his time of 1:24.574 just before the lunch break on the soft compound tyres. This time stood for the rest of the day. Second for the day was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who was just 0.010s off Ricciardo’s pace. Third for the day was Williams’ Felipe Massa who was just 0.098s off the pace. It was very close at the top today with the top three just separated by 0.1s.

Sergio Perez ended his day in 4th with a time of 1:24.702 for Force India. Lewis Hamilton who was not scheduled to drive today got behind the wheel of the W06 in the afternoon session and managed 5th fastest for the day and also managed to complete and impressive 89 laps despite not feeling well. Nico Rosberg drove the morning session and was 6th fastest for the day. He handed over to Hamilton so as to not further aggravate his inflamed nerve on his neck.

Despite the ERS issue on the McLaren, Fernando Alonso managed to complete 59 laps today with his fastest being a 1:25.961. Although well off the pace of the front running cars it is encouraging news for the Woking outfit and for Honda.

Jolyon Palmer had his debut for Lotus today. He finished 8 fastest. Marcus Ericsson finished 9th for Sauber and Carlos Sainz Jr finishing the slowest on the day. Sainz Jr clocked up 100 laps today despite a big off at the very fast T9 right hander.

It was a very strong showing from Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari. Although they may not show it, Mercedes are becoming increasingly weary about the pace of those three teams and will be watching them closely. There is no doubt that the other teams have stepped up their game but something tells me we have not yet seen the absolute pace of the Mercedes cars just yet.

Below are the unofficial times from day 2 of the second pre-season test:

Photo Credit: Infinity Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Team

February 20, 2015
Maldonado Puts Lotus on Top of the Time Sheets for Day one of Second Test

Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado finished the first day of the second winter test ahead of the pack after running with the soft compound tyre.

Maldonado’s time of 1:25.011 was 0.156s faster than Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari who held the top spot for most of the day. Although he set the fastest time, it was not a trouble free day for the Venezualan. He stopped twice on track in the morning sessions with sensor issues. Nevertheless a very good day for Lotus.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a good run of 74 laps for the day. Holding the top spot for most of the day is very encouraging for Ferrari at the moment with his and Maldonado’s fastest times are faster than Lewis Hamilton’s pole setting time for the Spanish Grand Prix last year.

Ricciardo finished the day in 3rd for Red Bull with Force India’s Sergio Perez finishing the day in 4th. The Mexican was not scheduled to drive today but was called up when Lewis Hamilton took ill after completing a few laps in the morning. Which meant that the Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein who was driving for Force India today, had to swap the Force India overalls for the Mercedes ones to take Hamilton’s place. Wehrlein managed 8th for Force India and 9th for Mercedes.

Felipe Nasr showed strong pace in the morning session for Sauber completing 79 laps. He ended the day in 5th. Max Verstappen ended the day in 6th with 94 laps on the board, the highest lap count for the day.

Jenson Button’s day came to an early end after and MGU-K failure. The word from McLaren is that they will need to redesign the MGU-K component and that the engine would need to be replaced until the MGU-K was redesigned. There was no guarantee from Honda that the problem may not occur again. Fernando Alonso, who was scheduled to drive on Saturday and Sunday will be in the car tomorrow to prevent Button from having his day affected by the problem.

Susie Wolff ended her day in 10th ahead for Williams ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 11th. Wolff collided with Sauber’s Felipe Nasr on track in the afternoon session. The contact between the two resulted in Nasr ending up in the T5 barriers with Wolff coming to a stop in the gravel. At the time Wolff was on an out-lap while Nasr was supposedly on a timed lap. Both drivers blame each other for the incident.

After Hamilton took ill, news emerged that Nico Rosberg had an inflamed nerve in his neck and will have to rest until the swelling subsides. It looks as though Wehrlein will be driving the Mercedes for a bit longer.

Below are the unofficial times for Day 1 of the second pre-season test

February 19, 2015
Renault expect “significant performance step” before Australia

According to Renault’s chief technical officer Rob White, the engine manufacturer is on course to make considerable performance improvements with their 2015 Formula One power unit before the season-opening race in Melbourne, Australia.

Renault have made sweeping comprehensive changes to their F1 power unit over the winter break in an effort to reduce the performance deficit to Mercedes which they experienced during the 2014 F1 season.

Despite reliability issues hampering running in this year’s first pre-season test at Jerez for both the Red Bull and Toro Rosso F1 teams, Renault are certain that we’ll see big leaps forward before before March 15 when F1 returns to Melbourne.

White spoke to F1’s official website saying that, “First and foremost we need to run reliably, be quick and closer to front.

“Our honest expectation is that we will make a decent improvement but it is difficult to quantify the gain relative to our competitors who will also progress.

“What we can say is that we are on course to make a significant performance step and resolve the principal reliability weaknesses by the time we get to the first race.”

According to White, Renault has also opted to use the majority of their engine development tokens prior to the 2015 Australian Grand Prix in order to deliver these big performance gains, but added that the decision making around when Renault will use the remaining tokens for future upgrades during the course of the season, will be “juggling act”.

“We have used the majority of the tokens for the first race and our use of tokens during the course of the season will be relatively modest,” he explained.

“It then becomes a matter of strategy about when you introduce the remaining tokens; whether to introduce at the start of the season when the technology is relatively immature but could give greater relative performance, or later in the season when the part has had more testing miles but the impact on performance will be potentially less.

“Clearly the juggling act we need to perform is which areas of the power unit are the most worthwhile to attack for performance reasons. We have therefore prioritised token spend to make as much headway as possible with performance.”

Photo Credit: Renault Sport F1

February 18, 2015
F1 2015: Why you can read into F1 testing

For as long as cars have been running around test tracks, most have warned against reading too much into the pre-season. It is, after all, just that, a test. Teams truck their way to European race tracks with their new cars and set about an examination and assessment of what exactly the engineers and designers have rustled up.

The first roll-out of the cars is closely observed by millions of fans who scour the internet and fervently stalk their favourite forums for the most minute updates and details. Sky F1, for example, sends a whole team of journalists to these sessions to document every move that the teams make. Yet, the warnings that the times at the end of the day don’t mean anything subsist.

These warnings though aren’t necessarily always applicable. For one, should the goings-on from Jerez be disregarded you would fail to notice that Ferrari has made an enormous improvement from last year. Okay, it wouldn’t exactly be hard to build a better car than last season’s F14T which was a colossal waste of carbon fibre. But Sauber, who also runs with Ferrari power, has confirmed that the new power unit is a substantial step forward from the Italian manufacturer’s first attempt at the hybrid-turbo engines.

What’s more, Kimi Raikkonen has said that he finds the handling of this car much better and to his liking. Let’s be honest the ever aloof and not-so-media-friendly Raikkonen will hardly be the type of guy to provide a sound bite just for the sake of it. Now, Ferrari hasn’t suddenly transformed into world beaters but they may just be on to something with the SF15T.

The telltale, good, signs from testing would be stacks of laps and reliability. Here the Mercedes W06 is still way ahead of the curve. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton both completed nearly two full race simulations a day at Jerez. They set about completing their testing program in an ominously reserved manner. There were no proclamations that they were, again, going to blow-away the competition. There was just lap after lap of a car which can seemingly keep going forever.

Even in testing where the laptimes don’t mean that much there is still the odd team/driver who’ll take out the fuel and set a flashy time. It happens for various reasons not least of all to attract a bit of media attention and please the suits that put up the sponsorship cash. The longer runs are what you want to pay attention to. The consistency in laptimes is an important barometer. The more consistent the time, the more it suggests a predictable car. The reasoning then is that the more confidence a driver has in the car’s behaviour the more assured he’ll be in pushing it around the lap.

While what happens at testing isn’t an out-and-out pecking order for the season there is much to learn from it. The next area is the press statements made by drivers. Yes, they get coached to the hilt but sometimes they do reveal a kernel of telling information. At Toro Rosso the engineers and owners are completely infatuated with Max Verstappen who they have dubbed the next Ayrton Senna. It’s noticeable in the Verstappen-obsessed chatter that they don’t talk much about their car which looks a bit of a handful.

The most entertaining and puzzling statements have come from McLaren. New-old driver Fernando Alonso has declared himself impressed with Honda’s “scientific approach.” What did Ferrari use, witchcraft? Once more we see an attempt to deflect from what has been a pretty poor start for the McLaren-Honda alliance. Better that this be the headline than the handful of installation laps they were able to complete at Jerez.

So, there is after all much to glean from testing. Pay attention to the press statements and what they try to detract attention from. Forget about the flashy-headline-grabbing-laptime and instead study the longer runs and determine how consistent the laptimes are. The second test takes place at the Barcelona circuit from the 19^th to the 22^nd of February.

February 17, 2015
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:

February 17, 2015
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

February 4, 2015
Toro Rosso Take the Covers off the STR10

The Toro Rosso F1 team revealed their 2015 contender today at an even at the Jerez Circuit in Spain where the first 2015 pre-season test will take place.

The biggest most noticeable change on the car is the nose. No more proboscis monkey nose on the car. Instead the team have a similar nose to McLaren and Ferrari. The other noticeable change is the air intake below the roll hoop. It’s split into two sections with additional intakes further back. Towards the rear of the car we can see a more compact design with a large under cut in the bodywork which allows more air to flow above the diffuser.

“The launch of the new STR10 car today here in Jerez de la Frontera marks the start of a new and hopefully thrilling F1 season,” said Team Principal Franz Tost.

“The 2015 season is a new challenge for all of us. We’ve put a lot of work into the STR10 and we are convinced that we will have a successful year,” he added.

“Our objective is to finish fifth in the constructors championship and we are ready to do our best to achieve it. Our engine partner Renault has also worked very hard to come up with new modifications and I’m sure that our joint effort will give us a package which will certainly be very competitive. All in all, we have a much stronger team as well as a very competitive STR10 and fast drivers; it’s a great combination.”

Photo credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso F1

January 31, 2015
F1 2015: Jerez Test Driver Line Up
The first test for the 2015 Formula 1 Season gets underway tomorrow in Jerez, Spain.

The test will run from 01 – 04 February. This is how the drivers will line up on each day

Day 1: Sunday 1 Ferbuary
- Mercedes – Nico Rosberg
- Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo
- Williams – Valtteri Bottas
- Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel
- McLaren – Fernando Alonso
- Force India – Not participating
- Toro Rosso – Carlos Sainz Jr.
- Sauber – Marcus Ericsson
- Lotus – Pastor Maldonado
Day 2: Monday 2 February
- Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton
- Red Bull – Daniil Kvyat
- Williams – Valtteri Bottas
- Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel
- McLaren – Jenson Button
- Force India – Not participating
- Toro Rosso – Max Versappen
- Sauber – Felipe Nasr
- Lotus – Romain Grosjean
Day 3: Tuesday 3 February
- Mercedes – Nico Rosberg
- Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo
- Williams – Felipe Massa
- Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen
- McLaren – Fernando Alonso
- Force India – Not participating
- Toro Rosso – Carlos Sainz Jr.
- Sauber – Felipe Nasr
- Lotus – Pastor Maldonado
Day 4: Wednesday 4 February
- Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton
- Red Bull – Daniil Kvyat
- Williams – Felipe Massa
- Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen
- McLaren – Jenson Button
- Force India – Not participating
- Toro Rosso – Max Versappen
- Sauber – Marcus Ericsson
- Lotus – Romain Grosjean
The Caterham and Marussia teams have not finalized their entries for the 2015 season and have been excluded from the list.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
January 31, 2015