Who said what after testing…
1) Sergio Perez – Force India: 105 laps, 1:35.290
“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.”
Andrew Green, Technical Director:
“It has been a very productive day for the team and we managed to complete a high number of laps. The morning was mainly devoted to working on the tyres, gathering data about the various compounds at our disposal, in addition to a few performance runs to optimise our set-up. In the afternoon we switched to longer runs. We were able to do some good long run simulations, which sets us up nicely for the remainder of the week.”
2) Valtteri Bottas – Williams: 128 laps, 1:36.184
“ It’s been another good day for us. 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.”
Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
“We started the morning by testing some aero components, all of which correlated well with what we were expected from the wind tunnel. We then did a race simulation this afternoon including laps to the grid and everything that goes into a race and that also went well.”
3) Kimi Raikonnen – Ferrari: 54 laps, 1:36.432
“We had a small problem today, which limited the number of laps but still managed to learn some new things about the car. During the race weekends there will be little time to try different things in terms of set- up, so it was important today to keep on this track to find out what’s the best direction to go in. On the final day of the test, we will put everything together that we have learned so far and will concentrate on the conditions we will encounter in the races.”
Ferrari Spokesman
“This morning’s work soon got delayed, because of a problem on the car that took some time to fix before the lunch break. Once back on track in the afternoon, Kimi managed to run regularly, alternating between aero measurements and a series of set-up tests over short runs. Testing continues at this circuit tomorrow, when Fernando Alonso will be on track.”
4) Nico Rosberg – Mercedes: 89 laps, 1:36.624
“We tried some new parts on the car and you find out a lot through 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.”
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)
“We have brought a number of aerodynamic updates to the car for evaluation throughout the week. We’ve also been looking at a number of problems which arose during running last week and have introduced solutions for them. By lunchtime and into the early part of afternoon, a number of problems with the car began to emerge which hindered Nico’s progress and eventually brought our running to a halt an hour ahead of schedule. We understand what went wrong and will be reviewing it overnight with the aim of having a better day tomorrow.”
5) Adrian Sutil – Sauber: 89 laps, 1:37.700
“We did a lot of mileage today. However, we have to work on our performance. We still had a few issues. Nevertheless, we were able to do qualifying runs and almost a complete race simulation. I was able to gain experience on all dry tyre compounds. Generally they are all a bit harder than last year, but I have no concern about them as they should last well over the race distance.”
Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering:
“In the morning we did front wing and suspension work. Then we went on to do low fuel qualifying runs until early afternoon, before switching to high fuel race simulations.”
6) Kevin Magnussen – McLaren: 109 laps, 1:37.825
Without any new parts to evaluate, the first two days of running will focus on mileage and reliability: Kevin spent the morning in Bahrain undertaking a series of short, set-up runs. After the lunchbreak, he completed a full-race distance, and fitted in some further set-up work.
The engineers also took the opportunity to run through a series of prove-outs, testing the car while running it on the pitlane speed-limiter, and doing practice starts.
7) Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull: 39 laps, 1:37.908
“The morning was much better for us with a few longer runs. Behind the wheel, that’s the best I’ve felt so far. 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.”
Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum:
“We sent Daniel out for a long-ish run, but we had to abort about five laps in, as we noticed some issues on the sensors. We brought him in, had a look at the car and discovered that we had a problem with the exhaust. So we had a long afternoon in the garage.”
8) Max Chilton – Marussia: 44 laps, 1:38.610
“It’s great to finally achieve some reasonable mileage and also to have some consistency to our running once again. At this stage, there is still so much to learn about the car, so the information we have gathered is really important for the engineers.”
John Booth, Team Principal
“We have had a challenging time in pre-season testing so far, but it looks like we are starting to turn the corner and motivation within the Team is high.”
9) Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso: 56 laps, 1:39.242
“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.”
Team Spokesperson
“Shortly after the 30 minute lunch break, introduced for the first time at the Bahrain tests, the STR9 had a technical failure, which could not be fixed in time for the car to go out again today. Tomorrow, Jean-Eric Vergne takes over at the wheel, when the team will be pushing to make up for lost track time.”
10) Pastor Maldonado – Lotus: 31 laps, 1:40.599
“It wasn’t what we wanted today, but we are all working very hard to make progress and I’m sure we’ll have solutions quite soon as a team, and it’s clear we have good potential and the car is not bad. We have had some problems but we are fixing them and we are making improvements with electronics and software every day we run.”
Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
“Today started well and we evaluated new aero parts in the morning. Unfortunately, our new specification exhaust system failed, causing a small amount of damage to the surrounding area of the car. This stopped us running early due to the rectification work required. For tomorrow, we will run with our previous specification of exhaust.”
11) Kamui Kobayashi – Caterham: 19 laps, 1:42.285
“19 laps on the first day of the final test isn’t how we wanted to start these final four days of testing, but when each problem surfaces the whole team is working very hard to fix them. This morning we had an electrical problem, not related to the engine, that meant I had to stop on track. It was a lot less dramatic than it looked, but when there’s smoke coming from the car it’s obviously not good so we got the car back and had it fixed and cleaned up again by lunchtime.
“In the afternoon we were back out first, but found a series of power unit related software problems kept meaning we had to come back to the garage earlier than planned. I know how determined Renault are to fix these.”
Cedrik Staudohar, Track Support Leader, Renault Sport F1:
“Day one of the final test brought some challenges but we know what the issues are and we are working hard to resolve them for the remaining three days in Bahrain. In the morning Kamui stopped on track after seven laps with an electrical issue unrelated to the Power Unit, then we encountered a sequence of software and ignition issues this afternoon. We understand why they originate, but unfortunately some of the fixes take a reasonable amount of time to implement in the garage.”
Overall
1 Sergio Perez Force India 1m 35.290s 105 laps
2 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m 36.184s 128 laps
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m 36.432s 54 laps
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1m 36.624s 89 laps
5 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1m 37.700s 89 laps
6 Kevin Magnussen McLaren Mercedes 1m 37.825s 109 laps
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1m 37.908s 39 laps
8 Max Chilton Marussia 1m 38.610s 44 laps
9 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m 39.242s 56 laps
10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1m 40.599s 31 laps
11 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1m 42.285s 19 laps
And finally what about Pirelli
As a result of Pirelli’s collaboration with the FIA to ensure a better monitoring of tyre usage parameters, they are trialling a special type of sticker on each tyre tread in Bahrain. These stickers read the maximum temperature reached by the tyre tread while the tyres are being pre-heated by the teams in their tyre blankets.
Pirelli prescribes a maximum temperature of 110°C (230°F), which should not be exceeded at any point before the tyre takes to the track. The FIA will ensure that this limit is respected, together with the minimum tyre pressures when leaving the pits and maximum camber levels on the track.