FORMULA 1 - 2013

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Williams: We ran new systems in preparation for the FW35

Williams – the only team not to be running their new 2013 car – report from the first day of Formula 1 testing at Jerez, in southern Spain.

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: Jerez is a unique circuit that we don’t race on during the season and it provides the perfect opportunity to do some final test and development work ahead of the FW35 launch. Today was a good day for us with Pastor completing 84 laps in the FW34. We concentrated on running some new systems in preparation for the FW35, as well as some planned set-up changes. We would be reluctant to do these over a normal race weekend as you lose too much track time making the changes, so it was ideal for us to get these into our programme today. It was also interesting to see the new Pirelli tyres in action and having the FW34 here helped us to really understand how the tyres are working.

Pastor Maldonado: We had no problems today and the car felt very consistent so we were able to learn a lot, which will be useful for the FW35 development. We planned to run the FW34 to enable us to have a reliable car to test the new tyres with and also try some different set-ups. It’s great to finally be back on track after what felt like a long winter and I’m confident we can achieve a lot this week.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Wednesday 6 February, with Pastor Maldonado continuing in the FW34 for the second day of the test.

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Caterham exhaust set to spark first controversy of 2013

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When Caterham unveiled its 2013 challenger – the CT03 – in the Jerez pitlane early on Tuesday, observers immediately spotted a bright new livery, the stepped nose and a suspicious exhaust concept.

“Cool!” said Dutch rookie Giedo van der Garde when asked what he thinks of the new green hue.

“Last year it was a little too dark, which sometimes didn’t look good on TV,” he told Dutch magazine Formule1. “We have had a good response so far.”

On the technical side, according to one publication, the CT03 is not lacking in innovation, with one aspect of its exhaust solution already raising eyebrows.

“There is one feature of the Caterham’s exhaust that I don’t think will be there when we get to Melbourne,” said Lotus technical boss James Allison.

Racecar Engineering magazine said the feature in doubt is a ‘flow-conditioner’ in the exhaust channel, which may fall foul of technical regulation 5.8.4.

Another noticeable feature of the CT03 is its nose, still stepped as in 2012 despite the FIA allowing teams to smooth it with a vanity panel for 2013.

“This is the package we will bring to Australia,” technical director Mark Smith is quoted by Brazil’s Totalrace.

Van der Garde was happy with his first day in the cockpit on Tuesday.

“It feels different (compared to the 2012 car),” said the 27-year-old, who last year completed the championship as Caterham’s Friday practice driver.

“The front feels good, gives me a good feeling. But so far the back is not to my liking. I have nothing to complain about. We knew in advance that our expectations are not too high and we would not suddenly be right in the middle of the pack.”

But Caterham has not sent out the best message of financial health by ousting its highly rated salaried driver Heikki Kovalainen.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Finland’s MTV3: “Kovalainen deserves to be in formula one in his own right. It’s a shame that the financial situation is requiring teams to have drivers with a budget, but unfortunately that’s the way formula one has been for at least 30 years.”

However, Caterham team boss Cyril Abiteboul insisted: “Our team is in a healthy position. We are still a small team,” he is quoted by Blick newspaper, “but our goal is to be the most efficient team in formula one.”

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Mercedes and Ferrari engines better than Cosworth says Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg is well placed to comment on the respective strengths and weaknesses of most of the current engine suppliers in F1, as he has driven with most of them over the past four years.

When he debuted in 2010, the German’s Williams was powered by a Cosworth, while last year he raced a Force India with a Mercedes V8.

And on Tuesday at Jerez, his brand new Sauber had a Ferrari engine.

Asked to nominate the differences, the 25-year-old said: “Mercedes has the most power at the top, but the Ferrari is very good in the mid range.

“Both engines are better than the Cosworth,” he is quoted by Speed Week, “although in qualifying trim it was very strong.

“Unfortunately it (the Cosworth) was not so good with full tanks,” added Hulkenberg.

F1′s other engine supplier is Renault, who may have yet another customer for 2014.

Team boss Franz Tost told reporters at Jerez on Tuesday that he is considering swapping Ferrari for the French-made turbo power in 2014.

“We are in negotiations but no contract (is) signed so far,” he said.

Tost said it would be an advantage for Toro Rosso to share an engine supplier with its sister team Red Bull.

“If you are racing with a Renault engine we would have the same gearbox as Red Bull, because this is possible from the regulation side,” he said.

“We will use the synergies that the regulations will allow us to do.”

Mercedes’ new shareholder and director Toto Wolff, meanwhile, said on Tuesday he can imagine F1 getting another engine manufacturer on board for the turbo era.

So far, Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes are committed to the V6 rules, and Wolff is quoted by Brazil’s Totalrace: “I think probably we will see a fourth one coming.”

With HRT’s demise, the only Cosworth-powered team left in F1 is Marussia. Boss John Booth admitted on Tuesday that he is in talks with suppliers about 2014.

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Senna swaps Formula 1 for Le Mans in 2013

Bruno Senna is bowing out of Formula 1, despite hoping to find a new seat after being replaced at Williams by Valtteri Bottas, instead the Brazilian has been signed up for 2013 by Aston Martin’s sports car team.

The David Richards-led Aston Martin Racing said Senna, 29, will “drive at each round of the WEC” this year.

WEC is the FIA’s world endurance championship, including the fabled Le Mans 24 hours.

Senna is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo: “Until 2009, I always had victories and podiums in the categories I passed.

“Since then, through a series of circumstances beyond my control, I did not have the same chance in F1. The proposals offered to me this season also did not give me this possibility,” said the Brazilian.

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Dennis declares McLaren will thrive despite defectors

McLaren chief Ron Dennis has declared defiantly that McLaren can thrive without those who do not bleed ‘rocket red’ blood.

Still the ‘supremo’ of the entire company, Dennis declared this week that – with Martin Whitmarsh now in charge – he has now “moved on” from his F1-dedicated days.

But the Financial Times insists that Dennis, 65, is still firmly involved; consenting to Lewis Hamilton’s departure and now musing the potential loss of McLaren’s technical director Paddy Lowe, also to Mercedes.

Dennis would not comment specifically, except to emphasise his beliefs about loyalty.

“You cut yourself, you bleed McLaren,” he said. ”We’re about winning, we care about how we win … we want to win with the right principles, the right values. If people don’t want to be part of that and want to go and do different things, then fine.”

Referring to the proverb about grass being greener on the other side, Dennis continued: “(But) if they get the hosepipe and the lawnmower out, they can easily contribute to making the grass greener their side of the fence”.

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Massa: Compared to last year, it’s a completely different planet

Felipe Massa delivered his eagerly-awaited verdict on Ferrari’s new Formula One car, designated F138, after the first day of Formula 1 testing at Jerez, on Tuesday, with sighs of relief likely to be heard around Maranello.

If the Brazilian did not appear overly thrilled after setting the sixth fastest time, he was happy at least not to be the bearer of bad news.

A year ago, Massa had rung Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo from the first day of testing in Jerez to inform him that the car was a “disaster” – a call that the patrician Italian described last week as one he would not wish on his worst enemy.

Montezemolo could answer his mobile without trepidation this time, because this year the new Ferrari was a tad over 1.5 seconds down on the best time of the opening day, last year – same time, same place – the F201 was over three seconds off the top pace.

Massa said he would tell his boss that “there are so many things to understand with the car and to work on and do but the first, basic feeling is nothing like last year.

“I think if you compare to last year, it’s a completely different planet,” added the Brazilian.

“The first impression is definitely a positive one,” maintained the Ferrari man. “We did not run as much as I had expected, but that’s normal when you are testing a new car. On a track like this where traction counts for a lot and the tyres feel it, we are going in the right direction and it feels more solid.”

“Last year I remember I was struggling a lot to drive the car, it was difficult to keep the car on the track. This year the base on the car is different.

“For sure there is relief because maybe this is an indication that we are not going to lose time,” said Massa.

“Last year when we drove the car for the first time we lost a lot of time, maybe more than a month of development to fix the issues.”

Ferrari made up some of the gap but still arrived in Australia last year with a car that was off the pace but with which double world champion Fernando Alonso managed to keep in contention against the odds.

By the halfway point in the season, the Spaniard had a commanding lead that was then whittled away by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel who captured his third title at the Brazilian finale.

Ferrari, overall runners-up in 2012, are determined this year will be different and Massa’s first impressions will have given them reason to be hopeful in a year without major regulation changes.

“The car is much more balanced. I felt a good direction in the middle of the car as well, it didn’t lose traction…I would say the difference compared to last year is huge,” said Massa, who will shoulder most of the early testing burden.

Alonso is missing the first test and will not drive the car until the second test in Barcelona on 19 February.

Massa concluded, “There is still a way to go before we understand the true behaviour of the car, but we are on the right road. There is still a great deal to do, as far as testing and development are concerned, but I am confident that this year, we will not lose time in understanding, as happened in 2012, what was the problem and how to solve it. Now we have a little more than a month to concentrate on the job, to be as well prepared as possible for the first race.”

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Melbourne want to extend grand prix deal

Melbourne wants to retain its Formula One grand prix beyond the remaining three years of the current deal despite large annual losses, Victoria state premier Ted Baillieu said on Tuesday.

Critics of the race, which moved from Adelaide to Albert Park in 1996, say losses of A$50 million ($52.09 million) a year are a waste of public money but Baillieu said it was a major asset for the city.

“There are three more races under the current contracts and we will see out those and commence discussions at an appropriate time,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“I say again the grand prix has been good for this state, good for this city and is a key part of our major events calendar and that calendar gives Victoria a competitive edge.

“I am very confident that the grand prix has been good for Melbourne and Victoria, will be good for Melbourne and Victoria.

“We intend to do whatever we can to ensure our major events calendar remains strong and the grand prix has been a part of that and we look forward to it being a part in the future.”

The row over the future of the race exploded again last month when the Herald Sun newspaper reported leaked documents as revealing that the Victorian government paid Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone more than A$30 million a year for the rights.

Baillieu said the report had misrepresented the nature of the fee.

“Those fees cover the arrival, the production of the grand prix itself – all of the equipment and personnel that is brought here – and they go to the company which runs the grands prix around the world,” he said.

With cities around the world lining up to host Formula One races at times more conducive to large television audiences in Europe, Ecclestone has long made it clear that the sport could walk away from Australia if a new deal is not struck.

The Australian Grand Prix opens the new Formula One season on March 17.

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Hamilton crashes on Day Two

Lewis Hamilton's first official run in the Mercedes W04 ended in the barriers when a rear brake issue resulted in a crash.

Having just posted the second fastest time of the morning to date, Hamilton went straight on at the Dry Sack hairpin and slid into the tyre barriers.

The Mercedes driver climbed unaided from his stricken W04 and gave the marshals a thumbs up as they raced over to check on him. The car, though, did not fare as well as it suffered front-end damage.

Mercedes wrote on Twitter: "Lewis suffered a loss of rear brake pressure, the front brakes enabled him to slow the car but he couldn't avoid the barrier."

The team later added: "We have traced the problem to the hydraulic brake line connecting to the right-rear caliper. The impact with the barrier also damaged the front left corner suspension and associated aero parts."

The incident was Mercedes' second in as many days of testing as, on Tuesday, Nico Rosberg stopped out on track with an electrical problem.

The German's stoppage resulted in unburnt fuel in the exhaust catching fire. He completed just 11 laps, four less than Hamilton managed before his crash.

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Jean-Eric Vergne not worried he might lose Toro Rosso F1 seat

Jean-Eric Verge says he has no concerns about his Toro Rosso job security if he does not make a good step forward in the 2013 Formula 1 season.

The Frenchman driver is well aware that the previous drivers at his team - Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari – were dropped without warning after Red Bull chiefs believed they had not delivered all that was expected of them.

But, ahead of a campaign where he is convinced he and Toro Rosso can make good progress, Vergne says he is calm about the future.

"I am not too worried about this," he said, when asked about Red Bull's potential impatience for its young drivers to make progress.

"I trust in myself to have the performance.

"I know when I have a good car, I can do something good. I showed it last year with the car we had, and we had some good races I would say.

"This year we definitely have a better car compared to last year's one. I am a better driver I believe, with more experience, and therefore these two combined will automatically give us better results."

Vergne and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will face increased pressure to do well, however, because rising Red Bull junior Antonio Felix da Costa (pictured) is knocking on the door of a promotion to F1.

Although aware there is some hype surrounding the Portuguese driver, Vergne said he did not feel threatened by another youngster emerging as a candidate for Toro Rosso.

"I don't see any problems in this," he said. "It is the way Red Bull works. I have been in the same position too.

"Antonio is a good driver. If he keeps doing a good job he deserves a seat in F1 and, following the politics of Red Bull, if one of us, Daniel or myself, is good enough to be one day at Red Bull, then that will leave a free seat at Toro Rosso anyway.

"Everybody has to deserve a seat – whether in F1, whether in the best F1 team to be world champion. You always have to perform.

"In any case, I am not here to just be in F1, just to garnish the driver platform. I have some objectives and I want to succeed. The pressure is only on me from me."

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Jerez F1 testing: Romain Grosjean leads second morning for Lotus

Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets while Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes Formula 1 test debut ended in the barriers on the second morning at Jerez.

The Briton had just set his fastest time in the W04, a 1m19.519s, when he slid across the gravel and nosed into the tyres at Dry Sack.

He was unhurt in the crash, which Mercedes later diagnosed as caused by a rear brake problem.

Hamilton had completed 15 laps at the time - just four more than Nico Rosberg managed for the squad before he was forced to abandon his opening day programme due to an electrical issue.

Hamilton's crash caused one of three red flags, with Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso stopping early on and Luiz Razia – confirmed as Marussia's second driver for 2013 - slowing to a halt on the main straight in the final minutes.

As he did so Grosjean, who was already fastest, set a new overall best at Jerez in the Lotus E21.

The Frenchman clocked a 1m18.828s, some three hundredths of a second faster than Jenson Button's day one benchmark in the McLaren.

Force India's Paul di Resta also found late gains, moving up into second position in the final minutes of the morning.

The Briton will hand control of the VJM06 to the team's simulator driver James Rossiter this afternoon.

Toro Rosso's Ricciardo beat compatriot Mark Webber's Red Bull to third, the pair separated by less than a quarter of a second.

On his second day for Sauber Nico Hulkenberg finished fifth fastest, fractions ahead of Hamilton in the stricken W04.

Sergio Perez was less than six hundredths of a second down the road from Hamilton – the man he replaced at McLaren – on what was his first day of testing the MP4-28.

Ferrari spent much of its morning on evaluative runs, with Felipe Massa eventually ending the second morning in eighth position, just over one second off Grosjean.

On his second day for Caterham, Giedo van der Garde fell one thousandth short of matching his best time Tuesday, but still did enough to edge out Marussia debutant Razia and Pastor Maldonado in the 2012-spec Williams FW34.

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McLaren: Day spent acclimatising Sergio to his new office

McLaren report on the second day of Formula 1 testing at Jerez, in Spain.

After yesterday’s encouraging start, today’s focus switched to preparing Sergio for his first run behind the wheel of a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

The morning kicked off with a continuation of yesterday’s aero calibration work, carried out across a number of shorter runs.

Attention then turned towards acclimatising Sergio to his new office, running through a prescribed programme of mechanical and aerodynamic adjustments with MP4-28 to give him a greater understanding of the inherent feel of the car and the way it reacts to set-up changes.

The acclimatisation session continued throughout the afternoon, concluding in a number of longer runs. Sergio racked up 81 laps – a positive start to his Vodafone McLaren Mercedes career.

What’s next Jenson returns for his second and final day of Jerez testing, continuing the aero and mechanical work that has been established over the past two days.

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Sauber: Nico is building up a good relationship with the engineers

The Sauber F1 Team had a productive second day of testing. In the morning, when the track’s temperature was still cold, the team concentrated mainly on aerodynamic tests. Later in the morning and in the afternoon – in better track conditions – the engineers and Nico started with some basic set-up work, and then made some runs on heaviear fuel loads. The car ran without any technical problems all day. At the end the team did a fuel system check, and Nico ran out of fuel.

Tom McCullough, Head of Track Engineering : “It was a very good day with Nico achieving all our goals. Nico is building up a good working relationship with the engineers, which is important. We continued our work on understanding the Pirelli tyres. Without doubt the temperatures will be different once we go racing, but we still got to understand them well. The car was, again, very reliable, which gives us a solid basis.

Nico Hülkenberg : “For the second day in a row it was pretty successful. We went through a lot of test items and did a comparison of the compounds – soft, medium and hard – which was quite interesting. Otherwise I was able to continue my familiarisation with the car and I did some long runs. Like yesterday, it was a positive day.“

What comes next: This was the final day of testing for Nico in Jerez. Tomorrow and on Friday, Esteban Gutiérrez will take over.

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Force mechanic escapes serious injury

A Force India mechanic reportedly escaped with nothing worse than a few bruises after being hit by James Rossiter on Thursday morning.

Test driver Rossiter was in action for the midfield outfit on Thursday morning at Jerez, putting in the laps before handing over to Paul di Resta for the afternoon's session.

According to Autosport, coming back into the pits after a run, Rossiter missed his braking point.

As a result the Brit clattered into the front jack mechanic, throwing him into the air.

The mechanic was taken to the track's medical centre where thankfully it emerged he escaped with nothing worse than bruises.

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Maldonado defends old car decision

Pastor Maldonado is confident Williams won't be penalised for opting not to run their new car at Jerez.

Out of the 11 Formula One teams, Williams is the only one not testing their 2013 challenger at the opening pre-season test.

The Grove-based team have instead been using last year's FW34 fitting with development parts for this year's car.

Maldonado, though, is adamant his team has not made an error in judgement.

"We are confident with the new car," Maldonado told Autosport. "But we want to be even more confident.

"With the test we planned to do here, there is no better way to do it than with the other car because we have a lot of confidence in it, a lot of data to compare and we are going to be more clear [in understanding the tyres] with it.

"We are trying small parts in the car, different things and different settings to try and understand the components.

"It is very important to be here with the old car."

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Grosjean: We could have done a better time, but we were blocked

Romain Grosjean did the first two days of Formula 1 preseason testing for Lotus at Jerez, ending day two comfortably fastest of all in the E21, and afterwards said he was sure he could have gone quicker. Here is a Q&A with the Frenchman at the end of his two day stint in southern Spain.

You did 95 laps today [Wednesday] and we made you walk home! How was your second day of testing?

Romain Grosjean: Yes I know! It was good today; the programme went to plan and showed we have good reliability. The whole test has gone well for me; we’ve done some interesting things and some less interesting things but it all bodes well for the season ahead. My feeling in the car is good and it was great to be at the top of the times today. Even if it doesn’t mean anything at the moment, it’s still good to be at the front.

Did you use the soft, medium and hard compounds?

RG: Yes, we used all three compounds. We’re not 100% yet on the differences between the tyres, however Kimi is next up in the car for two days so he will have a good run on them and give us a better idea of what we need to do for the next test session in Barcelona.

How different do the tyres feel from last year?

RG: Jerez is a pretty tricky track to judge tyres, but since yesterday we’ve been suffering a little bit with graining. It’s not easy to understand everything but I think they work quite well and it’s up to us to find the best solutions.

Your fastest lap was quite comfortably quicker than anyone else out there and it came right in the middle of the day; were you pushing or was it part of the programme?

RG: It was part of the programme. We tried the softs on the car and it worked well. We probably could have done a better time, but were blocked by the McLaren. We kept to our programme and were generally happy with everything.

Are you looking forward to Barcelona and the next test?

RG: Yes, absolutely! I’m looking forward to going to Barcelona as it’s a Grand Prix circuit and we’ll see a little more there as it’s very representative of the season itself. We’ll also have some additional feedback from Kimi, so it will be good to get more track time there. There will be further pieces coming for the car and the team will continue working so hopefully we will have an even better package.

How does it compare to the E20 now that you’ve got some good miles under your belt?

RG: To be honest it’s similar to how it was last year; we identified our weaknesses and the team has been working hard on those areas. We’re still at a very early stage in the year so it’s good to start with a baseline that works well. The main areas of improvement are the general stability and consistency through the corners.

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Brawn wants extra testing for 2014 turbo engines

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn is calling for Formula 1′s engine suppliers to be allowed to do some early testing ahead of the 2014 season.

Brawn said it is a risk to stick to the current plan, which would involve manufacturers and teams running all-new turbo V6s for the first time mere weeks ahead of the next world championship.

“We are looking for a solution,” he is quoted by the Dutch magazine Formule1.

“I’m not saying we need testing with the new engines this year, but maybe the first test days can be brought forward.

“For the engine supplier, it’s a difficult task,” added Brawn.

Red Bull’s Christian Horner agreed that some tweaks for the pre-2014 test programme would be “logical”.

But Lotus’ technical director James Allison is not so sure.

“Is it possible to get ready in three tests? Yes,” he answered rhetorically, saying simulation and dynamometer technology in F1 has become sufficiently advanced.

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Many empty seats at Jerez with local hero Alonso absent

Jerez is struggling to fill seats during the four days of Formula 1 preseason testing without Spanish hero Fernando Alonso.

The 2012 runner-up and Ferrari driver elected to sit out the opening test of the pre-season in favour of cycling training in a hot country — possibly the Canary Islands.

His absence has led to mostly “empty grandstands” as the rest of the formula one world tests at Jerez in southern Spain, Brazil’s Globo reports.

“We have 25 to 30 per cent more journalists this year,” Jerez’s media boss Raul Zarzuela said.

“Everyone wants to see the new cars — it’s almost like a grand prix,” he added.

But “The absence of Alonso has hurt the interest here (in Spain),” Zarzuela admitted. “We (Spain) are in (economic) crisis, of course, but it only costs 10 euros for the whole day.”

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Lotus: The car isn’t yet fully to Kimi’s liking

Kimi Räikkönen had his first taste of the E21 on track during the third day of testing in Jerez, Spain, ending the day with the 4th fastest time after a programme of aerodynamic assessment.

A crisp morning gave way to glorious blue skies as the team ran through a variety of exhaust evaluations. Running for Kimi ended early due to a clutch issue.

Fast Facts:

• Track: Jerez, Spain, 4.4km
  
• Chassis: E21-01
  
• Weather: Sunny, ambient 5-18°C, track 7-26°C
  
• Programme: System checks, temperature monitoring, data correlation, evaluation of the performance of the car with its initial aerodynamic package.
  
• Laps Completed: 40
  
• Classification: P4, 1:19.200
  
• Interruptions: Running curtailed early (clutch).
  

Kimi Räikkönen: “It was good to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car again. The E21 feels quite good so far, even if the balance isn’t quite to my liking yet. That didn’t stop us going through the programme we wanted to do which had a lot of aero runs in it. We know the car can go faster, we were just running through what we needed to achieve. It’s a shame that we had a clutch issue at the end of the day, but that’s why we come testing so we can find these problems and fix them.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “Although we haven’t covered as many laps as we have on the previous two days we have still have been very productive. We spent much of the morning testing various exhaust exit specifications for our Coand?

system. The car isn’t yet fully to Kimi’s liking, but we improved this through the day. We still have work to do with the balance, which is something we’ll work on tomorrow. Running ended early for us with a clutch failure which we’re investigating, but overall we’ve had a productive day of aero and exhaust testing.”

What’s Next? Kimi Räikkönen will take the wheel of the E21 for final day of the Jerez test tomorrow.

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Red Bull: Now is the time to do our homework

After two days with Mark Webber at the wheel of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing RB9, today it was Sebastian Vettel’s turn to get acquainted with the new car. The triple world champion wasted no time in exploring its potential and set the day’s third-quickest time, with a lap of 1:19.052.

After 102 laps Sebastian said it had been good to get behind the wheel again after the winter break.

“So far, I think we can be pretty happy,” he said. “Mark had a good couple of days to start with and I took over today. It was great to get back in the car, to get rid of the rust and to get back in the groove again. The first feeling is good and the car is working well. It’s difficult to judge the speed, but in terms of reliability it looks pretty good. For today we accomplished what we set out to achieve – which was to put a lot of laps on the car.

“At this stage it’s very difficult to judge anything else,” he added. “It could be that there is a favourite after these three tests, but it could turn out to be completely different in Australia because it’s a different track with different characteristics. I expect the Championship to be at least as tight as last year, as the regulations haven’t changed so much.

“In terms of the times, it’s always nice to be on top, but if there’s one phase of the year where it matters least, it’s here. Now is the time to do our homework. It’s good for us to do a lot of laps, to see that the car is working well and we’ll go from there.”

Race Engineering Co-ordinator Andy Damerum commented: “Obviously today was Sebastian’s first chance to drive the RB9 and, as with Mark, the car behaved well. We were a little delayed getting out this morning because of a few changes we wanted to make, but it didn’t hamper progress and another 102 laps is very respectable. Today was about carrying on the work of the past two days, evolving the car and how it’s performing. We worked on set-up in the morning, did some aero work in the afternoon and also put in some longer runs to check durability and to continue assessing the tyres. Tomorrow, it’ll hopefully be more of the same.”

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Williams: Everything went as planned and we completed a lot of lap

Williams report on the third day of Formula 1 testing at Jerez, in Spain.

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: We’ve had a productive day today with Valtteri completing a busy test programme without issue.

We did a number of higher fuel runs as Valtteri clocked up 86 laps on his first outing as an official race driver for the team. The Jerez circuit is quite aggressive on tyres and we have already gained a lot of data over the last two days, so we decided to switch our focus. Aside from some core mechanical work in preparation for the FW35, we focussed on further aero evaluations throughout the day and gathered all the data we required.

Valtteri Bottas: It was my first day as an official race driver today and it’s been a long wait. Since the announcement last year I’ve been looking forward to this day and it’s great to finally get the season underway. Everything went as planned and we completed a lot of laps doing both aero and tyre work to gather some good data. It was a great start to 2013 for me.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Friday 8 February, with Valtteri Bottas continuing in the FW34 for the final day of the test.

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JEREZ TEST DAY 3: FERRARI SHOW GREAT POTENTIAL AS FELIPE MASSA LET'S RIP

Felipe Massa underlined Ferrari’s statement of intent by topping the times on the penultimate day of testing, in Jerez. He set the two fastest times of the week to end the day around a second clear of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. After two difficult days of unreliability for Mercedes, Rosberg managed to make up for lost time with 148 laps, or 655km of running; more than two race distances in one day.

Ferrari have been one of the first teams to start bringing development parts to the car after starting tests on Tuesday with a fairly standard launch car.

After spending much of yesterday concentrating on constant speed runs for aerodynamic measurement, fitting a different exhaust configuration and a new floor, he was able to let loose in the F138 today during a series of short runs on the soft tyre this morning.

He lowered Romain Grosjean’s benchmark from Wednesday and became the only driver to dip in to the 1m:17s. He did this twice during the day.

He did the time on the first lap of a six lap run, which means he will have had around 20 kilos of fuel on board, so there is another six tenths of a second there for a low fuel time.

The Ferrari looks consistent on the longer runs too, the degradation looks well managed and the drop off in performance not as severe as McLaren and Mercedes’ long runs at this stage.

Ferrari found the same issues on the softer compound tyres that other teams have during the week. Although temperatures have been considerably lower than we can expect to see later in the year, Pirelli have admitted that the Jerez circuits abrasive surface prohibited teams from attacking over a a series of laps, with driver’s having to adopt a one-lap-on one-lap-off strategy.

So far this week Red Bull have been able to lap most consistently and quickly over a longer run. With Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel of the RB9 for the first time today they were able to complete an eleven lap run on the medium tyre with an average lap time of 1:21.7s – a pace which any other team is yet to show of a run of similar length. As a comparison to the changes in lap times over the course of the week, Jenson Button averaged 1:24.1s over an eight lap stint on the medium tyre, on Monday.

“It is an evolution of last year’s car and we have tried to keep the strengths and address some of the weaknesses. Obviously with relatively stable regulations the car is an evolution as are some of the others,” Christian Horner said today.

Red Bull has now done 1,222 kilometres of running on the new car. Vettel was one of three drivers to complete more than one hundred laps today, alongside Esteban Gutierrez and Nico Rosberg. Mercedes were in need of a faultless day, and after completing 148 laps they will be looking to Lewis Hamilton for some short, light fuelled runs when he returns to the car tomorrow.

Rosberg and Vettel ended the day in second and third places, both around a second off Massa’s pace.

Rosberg’s time was set on the first lap of a 16 lap run in the Mercedes. He will have had 60 kilos of fuel on board at the time, which is 40 kilos more (equivalent to around 1.1 seconds of lap time) than Massa’s fastest timed lap. However the Mercedes lap times tail off steeply towards the end of the run. This is worth keeping an eye on in the next two tests when the teams will do race distance runs and we will get a clear picture of which cars are looking after their tyres the best.

At this early stage it looks positive for Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen had his first day in the Lotus E21 and spent much of the morning getting himself comfortable and conducting constant speed aero tests. A series of short runs this afternoon brought him to within 2/10ths of Vettel.

Raikkonen was closely followed by Jean-Eric Vergne, in his first outing in Toro Rosso’s STR8, and James Rossiter in the Force India. Vergne continued Toro Rosso’s promising pace this week as he completed a number of short runs and he too ended the day within 2/10ths of Vettel.

Rossiter had a troubled morning after striking his front-jack man. The mechanic has been checked and given the OK, but Force India were hit by exhaust troubles later in the afternoon when Paul Di Resta took over.

After topping the times on Monday, Jenson Button ended the day in seventh. McLaren chose to concentrate of long, fuel laden runs in the afternoon with Button completing eighty-three laps in the process.

JEREZ TEST DAY 3

1. Felipe Massa – Ferrari 1m17.879s 85 Laps

2. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 1m18.766s +0.887 148

3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m19.052s +1.173 102

4. Kimi Raikkonen – Lotus 1m19.200s +1.321 40

5. Jean-Eric Vergne – Toro Rosso 1m19.247s +1.368 85

6. James Rossiter – Force India 1m19.303s +1.424 42

7. Jenson Button – McLaren 1m19.603s +1.724 83

8. Esteban Gutierrez – Sauber 1m19.934s +2.055 110

9. Max Chilton – Marussia 1m21.269s +3.390 78

10. Valtteri Bottas – Williams 1m21.575s +3.696 86

11. Charles Pic – Caterham 1m22.352s +4.473 57

12. Paul di Resta – Force India 1m23.729s +5.850 7

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Dramatic Ferrari debut for De la Rosa as F138 catches fire

It was a dramatic Ferrari debut for veteran Pedro e la Rosa when, after two installation laps, he was forced to park the F138 due to a fire under the engine cover on the fourth and final day of Formula 1 testing at Jerez.

Ferrari wrote on Twitter: “Difficult start of the day for De La Rosa: F138 stopped on track after the second installation lap.”

The incident took place just over an hour into the morning session.

On 16 January 2013, de la Rosa was announced as the Ferrari development and reserve driver for the 2013 Formula 1 season.

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Mercedes: Everybody is working flat out to move us forward

Lewis Hamilton completed the final day of the first winter test in Jerez, Spain for Mercedes AMG Petronas today.

After running on his first day in the car was limited to just 15 laps, Lewis today completed a total of 145 laps as he familiarised himself with the new F1 W04.

Lewis’ running this morning concentrated on set-up changes as he familiarised himself with the car

Following a delay to repair the track surface at Turn 5, Lewis focused on completing a race distance

This was successfully completed during the afternoon with further valuable miles put on the new car

Lewis and Nico completed a combined total of 1426 km over the four days of testing in Jerez

Mercedes AMG Petronas will resume testing on Tuesday 19 February in Barcelona.

Lewis Hamilton: Today we managed the kind of mileage that the car is capable of and I think we have a good platform to start working from. Now we need to understand the F1 W04 even more: personally, I am learning something with every lap I do and every change I make to the set-up. Overall, I think we are probably at the level we would have hoped to be. The team has done a great job to add downforce to the car over the winter and they now need Nico and me to tell them where we can improve and the direction we need to go. Everybody has been incredibly supportive and I am really building a good bond with the team; they feel energised, ready to go and everybody is working flat out to move us forward.

Ross Brawn: After a difficult first half of the test, the last two days have really been as good as we could have hoped for. Nico is probably best placed to compare between last year’s car and the new F1 W04 and he seems pretty enthusiastic, but it is hard to have any reliable feeling of where we stand relative to the competition.

Lewis had a very constructive day today as he settled in to the car; he has been very straightforward in telling us what he thinks, is interested in everything about the car and has a very good eye for detail. Overall, the step we have to make from where we were at the end of last year is substantial and it is also, of course, a moving target. But looking at the team as a whole, I can see very encouraging signs of progress.

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Jerez Test Day 4: Raikkonen and Lotus end week on a high

Last year at Jerez, Kimi Raikkonen made his comeback in style by topping the first day of testing, this year he left the best to last as he powered around in the Lotus E21 to set the fastest lap on the da,y as the first stanza of pre-2013 season Formula 1 testing came to an end.

Perhaps the most telling statistics, on the final day, were:

1. The fact that the top seven times were within one second of Iceman’s best – make that within 0.796 seconds.

2. The time set by Felipe Massa in the Ferrari F138, only 24 hours earlier, remained the fastest of all four days.

Raikkonen’s best time of 1:18.148 came at around 16:00 pm – it was a concerted ‘all-or-nothing’ effort – which saw him annex top spot on the timing screens. Thereafter he stuck to longer runs and went on to notch up 83 laps in total.

He summed up his day, “Our focus has been testing parts on the car, but I’ve been able to get the set-up more to my liking. For sure there’s more work to be done in this area, but that’s what we’re here for. The car feels strong and we seem to have a good idea of where we’re going with improvements. Let’s see what happens in Barcelona.”

Jules Bianchi, one of the favourites to bag the Force India seat for this season, was on duty for the team in the morning. Clearly fired up by the opportunity, the young Frenchman did his chances no harm when he posted the second best time of the day in the VJM06; a couple of hours before Raikkonen bumped him off the top line of the timing sheets – and only by a mere 0.027 seconds.

Bianchi, a Ferrari Driver Academy graduate, completed 56 laps before handing over to Paul di Resta, who racked up 49 laps but was five seconds down on the top pace as the team focused on long runs and big fuel loads.

The young Frenchman said of his first day in the VJM06 cockpit, “My first experience of the new car was very positive and it’s clearly an improvement over last year’s car. I spent most of the time on the medium tyres, but I got a chance to run the softs as well and they offered a lot of grip so I enjoyed that.”

World champion Sebastian Vettel completed 96 laps in the RB9, his best time up half a second on his previous days best.

“I think for the whole team it’s been quite a good test,” said Vettel. “No problems in terms of reliability and we did a lot of laps, so I’m quite pleased with the results. I feel a bit better than last year.”

It was another good day for rookie Gutierrez who has applied himself impressively to the task at hand, notching up 252 laps during his two day stint in the cockpit, and ending best of the rookies again, as he did a day earlier in the Sauber C32. He was also the fastest of the Ferrari powered brigade.

Next up, in fifth, with Ferrari power too, was Jean Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso STR8 with 92 laps to his credit and half a second on his time 24 hours earlier.

Lewis Hamilton, who only managed 15 laps in his debut session with the Mercedes W04 a couple of days earlier, racked up 145 laps (most of all on the final day) on his way to setting the sixth best time. Together with Nico Rosberg’s tally, from Thursday, the Silver Arrows did 293 laps during the course of the final two days – making up for the first two problem packed sessions.

“We managed the kind of mileage that the car is capable of and I think we have a good platform to start working from. Now we need to understand the F1 W04 even more: personally, I am learning something with every lap I do and every change I make to the set-up. Overall, I think we are probably at the level we would have hoped to be,” reflected Hamilton.

Hamilton’s replacement at McLaren, Sergo Perez, was next up with the seventh best time in the MP4-28, but 1.703 seconds down on the top pace on his way to ticking off 98 laps on his chart.

Valterri Bottas had the honour of testing the Williams FW34 for the final time, as the team will debut the successor at Barcelona on 19 February. The young Finn was eighth on the timing screens when the flag fell.

Newly appointed Ferrari test and reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa had a fiery debut for the team when the F138 caught alight during an installation lap, within an hour of him hopping into the car.

The repair job took around four hours before the Spanish veteran could return to the programme of collating data for back-to-back comparisons with the team’s simulator. Nevertheless he completed 51 laps and set the ninth best time in the process.

Caterham new boy Charles Pic had a good day with 109 laps to his credit, with a best lap time that was good for tenth and over a second up on his Thursday time.

Rookie, and Marussia new boy, Luiz Razia was 11th on the timing sheets, with 82 laps on his pit board.

The second edition of 2013 preseason testing takes place at Circuit de Catalunya, in Barcelona on 19-22 February.

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Ferrari denies Alonso missing from Jerez because of rib injury

Ferrari on denied rumours Fernando Alonso is nursing an injury, hence the reason he is absent from testing at Jerez.

Most suspect that the Spaniard is sitting out the Jerez test this week so that the new F138 car can be ‘shaken down’ by Felipe Massa and Pedro de la Rosa ahead of Alonso’s debut on the much more representative Barcelona track.

But one or two whispers in the Jerez paddock this week suggested Alonso may have injured a rib whilst karting last month.

However, as the double world champion is currently running and cycling in Dubai and happily posting photos to Twitter to prove it, a Ferrari spokesperson said on Friday: “It’s obvious how hard Fernando is training at the moment.

“This rumour (about the injury) is utter nonsense and totally untrue,” Ferrari added.