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Formula 1
F1: Vettel On Top As Mercedes W03 Joins The Field
Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel paced day one of winter testing at Barcelona...
Sebastian Vettel prepares to climb in the Red Bull RB8 in Barcelona. (Photo: Getty Images)
Sebastian Vettel was on top as testing resumed at Barcelona on Tuesday after a 10-day break since the opening session in Jerez.
Marussia made its seasonal debut albeit with the only 2011 car in action Tuesday, as rookie Charles Pic logged some valuable mileage after the team missed Jerez. HRT is not attending this test while it readies its new contender.
Inevitably, the teams are stepping up a gear after using Jerez for initial systems checking and data acquisition. Given that they had already done a lot of running, there were a surprising number of mechanical problems among the teams, with many drivers not fulfilling their planned schedules.
The most notable victim was Romain Grosjean, who ran just seven laps with the Lotus before the team stopped him, suspecting a problem with the latest 02 chassis. It was due to be replaced tomorrow by 01, as used in the Jerez test, which the team intended to fly from the UK. However, after further investigation, it took the drastic step to cancel the rest of the test — costing Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen four days of running between them.
Vettel showed that Red Bull could be the team to beat again by topping the times, ousting the Force India of fellow German Nico Hulkenberg from the top spot. Vettel was one of the few drivers to go quicker in the hotter conditions of the afternoon.
Vettel lost some valuable track time when changes over the lunch break took longer than planned, but the German was happy with his day.
“It’s clear that the cars have less grip than last year, but we try to come back from that slowly," he said. "It’s difficult to judge where we are compared with the others right now. It’s all based on feeling and the feeling I have inside the car at the moment is fine. I think we had a good day today, with no trouble. We had a long lunch break when we made some changes, but not because anything broke down. All in all, it was a good day.”
The Force India VJM05, meanwhile, continues to impress with its reliability and overall performance.
Hulkenberg said: "Once gain it’s good to do so many laps, and I’m pleased with how things went today. It was only my second day in the car and I’m still bedding in and getting used to things, but after each run I felt a bit more comfortable. We started with some aero runs and more data gathering this morning, and then moved to longer runs in the afternoon. The car feels consistent and the drivability is good so I feel positive heading into tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton was third as McLaren continued to put miles on the MP4-27. McLaren noted that Hamilton was happy with the car, especially in high-speed corners.
“With more than 500 kilometers under our belt, this was an extremely productive day,” said team manager David Redding. “The car ran reliably and without problem all day and Lewis was happy with the car. Given the cooler temperatures we experienced today, we’re optimistic that we’re headed in the right direction with our tire and setup work for the start of the season.”
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth with the Toro Rosso, a second behind Hamilton. He lost the last hour with a technical problem.
“It was a good day with 76 laps under my belt,” said the Aussie. “In the morning, apart from working on the overall development of the car, we were also getting ready for Melbourne, running through various procedures, working to a set time scale, as if it was a race weekend. That went well and in the afternoon, we did some race-type runs which were successful until the car stopped with just the final hour to go.”
Fernando Alonso was fifth after what appeared to be a largely routine day for Ferrari.
The Mercedes W03 made its first public appearance, and a hydraulic problem in the afternoon put a stop to Michael Schumacher’s progress after just 51 laps.
Nevertheless, the German was pleased with the car: “My initial feelings with our new car are certainly good. I'm happy with the different evaluations that we have done over the last week, but obviously with the rule changes, we won't know more until later.
“It's certainly an improvement and we have worked hard on the areas we had defined last year. The aerodynamics figures look good so I'm not worried about the shape of the nose! Even though we had the hydraulic problem today, I'm pleased with all the mileage we have achieved so far with the new car.”
Heikki Kovalainen suffered a rear track rod failure with the Caterham, which ultimately cost him a lot of mileage.
“That obviously wasn’t how we wanted day one here to go,” said the Finn. “But that’s what testing is for – pushing everything to the limit to make sure we get rid of the problems before we get to the first race.
“It’s hard to learn a lot from limited laps, but I’m back in the car on Friday and I’m sure we’ll be able to push on with the program between now and then and make sure we get as much as we can out of the next three days on track.”
Unofficial Tuesday test times from Barcelona:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:23.265, 79 Laps
2. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:23.440, 97 Laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:23.590, 114 Laps
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:23.618, 76 Laps
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:24.100, 75 Laps
6. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 1:24.150, 51 Laps
7. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:24.219, 66 Laps
8. Bruno Senna, Williams, 1:25.711, 97 Laps
9. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:26.035, 31 Laps
10. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1: 26.809s, 7 Laps
11. Charles Pic, Marussia*, 1:28.026, 121 Laps
* 2011 car
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
Marussia made its seasonal debut albeit with the only 2011 car in action Tuesday, as rookie Charles Pic logged some valuable mileage after the team missed Jerez. HRT is not attending this test while it readies its new contender.
Inevitably, the teams are stepping up a gear after using Jerez for initial systems checking and data acquisition. Given that they had already done a lot of running, there were a surprising number of mechanical problems among the teams, with many drivers not fulfilling their planned schedules.
The most notable victim was Romain Grosjean, who ran just seven laps with the Lotus before the team stopped him, suspecting a problem with the latest 02 chassis. It was due to be replaced tomorrow by 01, as used in the Jerez test, which the team intended to fly from the UK. However, after further investigation, it took the drastic step to cancel the rest of the test — costing Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen four days of running between them.
Vettel showed that Red Bull could be the team to beat again by topping the times, ousting the Force India of fellow German Nico Hulkenberg from the top spot. Vettel was one of the few drivers to go quicker in the hotter conditions of the afternoon.
Vettel lost some valuable track time when changes over the lunch break took longer than planned, but the German was happy with his day.
“It’s clear that the cars have less grip than last year, but we try to come back from that slowly," he said. "It’s difficult to judge where we are compared with the others right now. It’s all based on feeling and the feeling I have inside the car at the moment is fine. I think we had a good day today, with no trouble. We had a long lunch break when we made some changes, but not because anything broke down. All in all, it was a good day.”
The Force India VJM05, meanwhile, continues to impress with its reliability and overall performance.
Hulkenberg said: "Once gain it’s good to do so many laps, and I’m pleased with how things went today. It was only my second day in the car and I’m still bedding in and getting used to things, but after each run I felt a bit more comfortable. We started with some aero runs and more data gathering this morning, and then moved to longer runs in the afternoon. The car feels consistent and the drivability is good so I feel positive heading into tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton was third as McLaren continued to put miles on the MP4-27. McLaren noted that Hamilton was happy with the car, especially in high-speed corners.
“With more than 500 kilometers under our belt, this was an extremely productive day,” said team manager David Redding. “The car ran reliably and without problem all day and Lewis was happy with the car. Given the cooler temperatures we experienced today, we’re optimistic that we’re headed in the right direction with our tire and setup work for the start of the season.”
Daniel Ricciardo was fourth with the Toro Rosso, a second behind Hamilton. He lost the last hour with a technical problem.
“It was a good day with 76 laps under my belt,” said the Aussie. “In the morning, apart from working on the overall development of the car, we were also getting ready for Melbourne, running through various procedures, working to a set time scale, as if it was a race weekend. That went well and in the afternoon, we did some race-type runs which were successful until the car stopped with just the final hour to go.”
Fernando Alonso was fifth after what appeared to be a largely routine day for Ferrari.
The Mercedes W03 made its first public appearance, and a hydraulic problem in the afternoon put a stop to Michael Schumacher’s progress after just 51 laps.
Nevertheless, the German was pleased with the car: “My initial feelings with our new car are certainly good. I'm happy with the different evaluations that we have done over the last week, but obviously with the rule changes, we won't know more until later.
“It's certainly an improvement and we have worked hard on the areas we had defined last year. The aerodynamics figures look good so I'm not worried about the shape of the nose! Even though we had the hydraulic problem today, I'm pleased with all the mileage we have achieved so far with the new car.”
Heikki Kovalainen suffered a rear track rod failure with the Caterham, which ultimately cost him a lot of mileage.
“That obviously wasn’t how we wanted day one here to go,” said the Finn. “But that’s what testing is for – pushing everything to the limit to make sure we get rid of the problems before we get to the first race.
“It’s hard to learn a lot from limited laps, but I’m back in the car on Friday and I’m sure we’ll be able to push on with the program between now and then and make sure we get as much as we can out of the next three days on track.”
Unofficial Tuesday test times from Barcelona:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:23.265, 79 Laps
2. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:23.440, 97 Laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:23.590, 114 Laps
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:23.618, 76 Laps
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:24.100, 75 Laps
6. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 1:24.150, 51 Laps
7. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:24.219, 66 Laps
8. Bruno Senna, Williams, 1:25.711, 97 Laps
9. Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, 1:26.035, 31 Laps
10. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1: 26.809s, 7 Laps
11. Charles Pic, Marussia*, 1:28.026, 121 Laps
* 2011 car
Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
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