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F1: Grosjean Fastest In Jerez As Hamilton Crashes
Second day of testing at Jerez concludes...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted February 06, 2013   Jerez, ES
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP walks away from his car after crashing into the gravel at turn six during Formula One winter testing at Circuito de Jerez on February 6, 2013. (Photo: Getty Images)
Romain Grosjean topped the times for Lotus on the second day of testing at Jerez, the Frenchman going some 0.6s faster than the best time set by Jenson Button on Tuesday as he set a best of 1m18.218s.

Once again Mercedes provided the biggest news of the day as Lewis Hamilton crashed after suffering a brake failure due a fault with a hydraulic line. With only the front brakes working Hamilton slid across the gravel trap, hitting the tire wall at some 35mph. He damaged the nose and front suspension of the W04, and the car did not run again. He had completed only 15 laps, and only a handful of those were proper flying laps.

“We had a good start but then unfortunately we had a failure which brought our day to an early end,” said Hamilton. “These things happen and it’s all part of testing. Of course, it’s better that we get these small issues out of the way sooner rather than later, and the guys are working really hard to overcome them. From the few short laps that I completed this morning, my general feeling was very positive.

“I got a good understanding of where the base of the car is and, whilst we need to do work in certain areas, it was good to have some laps to get a feel for what those areas are. I’ve told the guys that we just need to keep pushing and I know that we all will be doing that.”

Grosjean was pleased with progress and Lotus continued to show good form, and run reliably.

“It was good today, the program went to plan and we showed we have good reliability,” said Grosjean. “For me, the whole test has gone well which bodes well for the year ahead. My feeling in the car is good and it was great to be at the top of the times. Even if it doesn’t mean anything during testing, it’s still good to be at the front.”

Behind Grosjean Paul Di Resta took second spot after another solid day for Force India. The Scot stepped out of the car in the final hour to give some mileage to former BAR and Honda tester James Rossiter, who is the team’s simulator specialist. He is being given some seat time so improve the correlation between track and the virtual world.

“I managed to do 95 laps today, which was a good effort,” said Di Resta. “And we got through the program without any issues. We did some more good aero work this morning and then tried some set-up changes on the car.
“Testing is a good chance to make bigger changes than you would make during a race weekend and that’s allowed us to really see how they affect the car and has given us valuable data on tire performance. The handling of the car so far is good and I’m feeling comfortable after two days in the car.”

Daniel Ricciardo was third for Toro Rosso, finishing the day ahead of the sister Red Bull of fellow Aussie Mark Webber, the latter expressing himself happy with the work the team got through.

“A few more laps today and a bit of a clearer picture of what the STR8 is like,” said Ricciardo. “We completed our program, with short runs in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon. We also tried the Medium Pirelli, having only used the Hard yesterday, so at least for this circuit, we have established a good compare of the two compounds. We ran through several other test items and I think we can be satisfied with the day’s work that has produced some useful information.”

Nico Hulkenberg put more miles on the Sauber and took fifth spot, while despite his limited running Hamilton was still sixth at the end of the day.

Sergio Perez had his first ever run in the McLaren, completing over 80 laps as he learned about the car’s systems and the team’s procedures. Felipe Massa set the ninth best time in the Ferrari F138, ahead of Pastor Maldonado in the old Williams, and Rossiter.

“Today, we concentrated 100% on the aerodynamic side and on the exhausts,” said Massa. “In the morning, I didn’t even do a flying lap because we used the time available to do constant speed runs and to analyze various aerodynamic solutions.

“All the changes to the car took longer than planned, but in the afternoon, I managed to do three long runs which were very important in order to understand which direction we need to follow in the coming days.”

Caterham had a reliable day as Giedo van der Garde ran 88 laps in the CT02. At the bottom of the times was new Marussia driver Luiz Razia, who was only confirmed shortly before the session began. An engine air pressure issue restricted him to just 31 laps during the day.

Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:18.218 95
2. Paul Di Resta Sahara Force India 1:19.003 95
3. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:19.134 83
4. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:19.338 101
5. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:19.502 99
6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:19.519 15
7. Sergio Perez McLaren 1:19.572 81
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:19.914 78
9. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:20.693 71
10. James Rossiter Sahara Force India 1:21.273 19
11. Giedo Van Der Garde Caterham 1:21.311 88
12. Luiz Razia Marussia 1:23.537 31

Adam Cooper notched up his 28th season as a racing journalist in 2012. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
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