2011 Formula 1 Pre-season testing

Discuss Formula 1 Testing

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Post by Ed » Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:10 am

Best lap times from day 4 in Barcelona:

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Massa Ferrari 1:22.625 121
2 Webber Red Bull 1:23.442 69
3 Buemi Toro Rosso 1:23.550 90
4 Heidfeld Lotus-Renault 1:23.657 95
5 Hamilton McLaren 1:24.003 107
6 Maldonado Williams 1:24.057 121
7 Sutil Force India 1:24.177 64
8 Perez Sauber 1:24.515 74
9 d'Ambrosio Marussia Virgin 1:26.501 50
10 Schumacher Mercedes 1:27.079 114
11 Trulli Team Lotus 1:29.992 18

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Post by Ed » Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:16 pm

Selected quotes from day 4 at Barcelona

Ferrari press statement:
The third test session in preparation for the World Championship, for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro and the other Formula 1 teams, came to an end today at the Catalunya Circuit, on the outskirts of Barcelona.
Felipe Massa was on track at the wheel of the F150th Italia for the second consecutive day. The Brazilian worked mainly on a comparison of the various types of tyre Pirelli brought here, running with different fuel loads and with different car set-ups. Felipe covered a total of 121 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.22.625.
With the Bahrain test having been cancelled, along with the first round of the championship, both of these events scheduled to take place at the Sakhir circuit, the pre-season test programme will now be modified.

Mark Webber - Red Bull
Not too bad today. We had a few niggles here and there but we did well and that’s been the case over the whole weekend. We had a very productive test, no question about it. We have a whole raft of data to go through, so we’ll see where the next test is and get ready for that.

I think the right decision was made, in light of what is going on, so we look forward to Melbourne instead. It would have been nice to go to Bahrain, but hopefully it can stage the race again. As for starting in Melbourne, it’s my home race and, as always, I’m looking forward to it. It is a sensational event, we’re in good shape as a team, so I hope to go there and get a very good result.
Ian Morgan, Head of Race Engineering - Red Bull
Today we got through quite a lot of work in evaluating some development components on the suspension, brakes and aero package. We got through the whole programme without any difficulties so, all in all, a useful day’s work.

We set out a pretty ambitious schedule for this test and I’m pleased to say that we managed to get through almost all of it. Obviously, the weather yesterday hampered us a little but even then we got some wet weather running in, which helps us understand the tyres a bit better. Overall, I think we are quite pleased with the progress we’ve made here.
Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso
Today went well and I am happy with what we achieved. We got through the entire programme we had planned and did enough laps to improve our understanding of the various types of Pirelli tyre. Along with the two other drivers, we gathered a lot of data over the past four days here in Barcelona and it will be important to analyse everything very carefully to find the right way to move forward in terms of reliability and performance, when we tackle the final pre-season test session. The team, at the track and back at the factory worked well to deliver a car reliable enough to do plenty of laps, which is always the most important thing at this point in the year.
Giorgio Ascanelli - Toro Rosso
This has definitely been a productive four days for us with a good number of laps completed. We addressed all the technical issues that came to our attention at the previous test in Jerez, although as you move forward and make progress, you always discover new problems. But 90 trouble-free laps today means that this is a positive end to our time in Barcelona.
Nick Heidfeld - Lotus Renault
In the morning we were not able to do most of our programme because we had an issue with the KERS. It’s a shame because track time is so limited, but it’s obviously better to have problems during testing before the season starts. In the afternoon we started the race simulation, which went reasonably well. We were using different tyre compounds and tried both scrubbed and new sets. We learned a lot by running the car on high fuel and have lots of useful data about the degradation rates. Then, at the end of the day, we returned to the set-up work.
Indy Lall, Team test manager - McLaren
It was very encouraging to log over 100 laps with MP4-26 today – an impressive conclusion to our four days in Barcelona. We’re still working through a very lengthy development programme – today wasn’t about pure performance, it was about conducting a disciplined series of long-runs – but it’s been a positive end to our test here.
Pastor Maldonado - Williams
We did 121 laps so it’s been a great day. We tried lots of things on the car this morning and this afternoon we did a race simulation. The car felt great. We need to work to understand a little bit more about the balance on the longer runs but I am happy as the car is getting better each time we go out.
Sam Michael - Technical Director - Williams
It has been another productive day but it certainly didn't start out like that! We had a problem with the KERS cooling system just before the session opened, so we had to disable KERS for the day. Pastor then spent the morning doing some mapping runs for Cosworth and running some new exhaust components for aero to check temperatures for the last test aero upgrade that is coming - all of that worked okay. In the afternoon we completed a race simulation with no problems. Overall it has been a productive test although we still have some reliability issues to work on. The final winter test will now be held back at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona from 8 – 11 March and we will be bringing our first race upgrade package.
Adrian Sutil - Force India
A very productive day in general for us. We made some good progress with the balance and we've now got a basic set-up that feels smooth and easy to drive. I also got a run on the supersoft tyres, which we didn't manage to do yesterday. Of course we also put the KERS on the car. It ran reliably and allowed us to complete the full test programme: very promising for this point in testing. It's still early days for the system but we have got ourselves into a good rhythm and can feed this back into the factory to get some more performance for the next test.
Dominic Harlow, Circuit engineering director - Force India
A good final day's testing concentrating on KERS set-up, reliability and also some aero tests that remained on our programme. Adrian also looked at some ride height sweeps and a few procedural checks. It's been a productive four days for the team and overall the car seems to be performing reliably and according to expectations in all the major areas.
Sergio Perez - Sauber
It was another positive day. I learnt a lot, in particular about the tyres. They kept changing, but now we have the final spec for the beginning of the season, so it was good I was able to run them today to learn how to maximise their potential. We did a lot of work over the two days, so I’m quite happy.
James Key - Sauber Technical Director
It was the final day of quite a long test in Barcelona. It’s always good to use this track as a reference. You get a far better idea about what your car is doing and where its strong and weak points are. Today we spent most of the time working on the set-up of the car, and we tried some new test items. We have to look at the data, but certainly we found some new directions. We also found some useful directions with the different compounds of tyres between the start in the morning, which was cold, and the afternoon when it was quite warm. The temperatures, the set up and the tyre compound are all very closely linked. There’s a lot of factors to consider, and we were able to learn more about all of them. Now we head off to the next test where we will introduce onto the car the first part of the update for the start of the season.
Jerome d'Ambrosio - Marussia Virgin
It was a shame not to have more time in the car today, but I have to say that I’m happy with my last test day in Barcelona. The car has improved a lot if we compare it to the first day of testing, and that is a good sign. The immediate focus will be working through all the data we have gathered and I’ll be spending time in the simulator later this week to ensure we keep moving forward.
John Booth, Team Principal - Marussia Virgin
We lost a bit of running today but we have to be happy with what we’ve achieved at this test. It has been extremely productive and the lessons learned will improve our performance significantly in readiness for the first race of the season. What we take away from this test most of all is how far we’ve come as a team in the space of just 12 months. This time last year, a problem like the one we encountered today would have brought us to our knees, but it’s a measure of the strength of our operation now that we came back from this setback and got ourselves out on track again in such a short space of time to bank crucial development mileage. We have gathered an enormous amount of information to review and feed back into the development cycle. With the landscape having changed significantly with regard to the season opener, we will use the extra time to review every aspect of our racing operation to ensure that we are fully prepared and ready for when the lights do go green.

Michael Schumacher - Mercedes
We’ve had another busy day, focusing on set-up work and improving our understanding of the car. The reliability was good, which gave us a solid platform to work from, and we made progress in terms of finding set-up directions. On the performance side, this isn’t the package we will start the season with, so we are not drawing too many firm conclusions. Overall it has been a productive test for us in Barcelona as we continue our pre-season preparations.
Ross Brawn - Mercedes
We have had a good test in Barcelona this week and made significant progress with our testing programme. Michael and Nico have both completed race weekend simulations, which have been extremely valuable to develop our understanding of the behaviour of the car and tyres on different fuel loads, and to use KERS and the adjustable rear wing in realistic situations. The reliability of the MGP W02 has been encouraging at this test which now allows us to turn our focus to the performance developments we have to come.

Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus
It's obviously disappointing to have the test cut short like this but these things happen in motor racing. We started the day well and until the accident happened I had picked up where I left off yesterday - the car has good balance, pace we can build on and has the potential to help us take the fight to the midfield, so I'm leaving here feeling confident about the season ahead and am looking forward to the next test, wherever that will be.
Mike Gascoyne - Chief Technical Officer - Team Lotus
Unfortunately the day was cut short due to the accident Jarno suffered this morning at turn 9. It was not his fault - it was caused by a car failure and we were missing a part we needed to put the car back together which meant we had to cut day four short. Despite this I still think there are a great deal of positives to take from the test in terms of the pace of the car and the fact that we are on top of the reliability issues. With that in mind we leave here with work to do but still on target for where we want to be. We will wait to see where the next test will be held and with the time we now have back at the factory we will be working hard to make sure we run through our complete programme at that test.

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Post by Ed » Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:18 pm

As the test session in Bahrain has been cancelled due to the anti-government protests, the final test session will now be held in Barcelona from the 8th to the 11th of March

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Post by Ed » Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:31 pm

Day 1 of the final pre-season test at Barcelona.

Only 8 of the teams are present with Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams and HRT all expected to commence their testing tomorrow.

Top 10 at 2:20 PM:

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Webber Red Bull 1:22.544 40
2 Button McLaren 1:23.782 47
3 Heidfeld Lotus-Renault 1:24.735 20
4 Valsecchi Team Lotus 1:25.406 50
5 Perez Sauber 1:25.443 54
6 Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.030 31
7 Buemi Toro Rosso 1:26.087 11
8 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:32.060 30

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Post by Ed » Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:37 am

Testing results from the first day:

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Webber Red Bull 1:22.544 97
2 Button McLaren 1:22.910 74
3 Petrov Lotus-Renault 1:22.937 27
4 Perez Sauber 1:24.117 90
5 Heidfeld Lotus-Renault 1:24.735 20
6 di Resta Force India 1:25.039 38
7 Valsecchi Team Lotus 1:25.406 50
8 Buemi Toro Rosso 1:26.004 48
9 Hulkenberg Force India 1:26.030 31
10 Razia Team Lotus 1:26.723 29
11 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:32.060 57

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Post by Ed » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:41 am

Selected quotes from day 1 at Barcelona

Mark Webber - Red Bull
It was a pretty good day and not much has changed since last week. We got some good laps in today. I think everybody is limited by tyres – we don't have unlimited sets of tyres these days, so the mileage is a bit controlled by how many you have at your disposal. But, all in all, we had a good afternoon and got some good information.
Ian Morgan, Head of Race Engineering - Red Bull
Today was the first proper test for Chassis 02 and I’m happy to say everything went according to plan. We had a mixture of things to get through today, concentrating on some short runs in the morning and then longer race-distance type runs in the afternoon.
The only difficulties we encountered were the slightly low ambient temperatures and some windy conditions. It would be nice to get the chance to test in hotter conditions and we hope for a bit of increase as the week goes on. But that was a small problem really on a pretty useful day for us.
Jenson Button - McLaren
The last couple of tests haven’t been perfect for us, and I think that’s partly due to us lacking set-up work. But today I think we made some positive progress with MP4-26’s balance.

This morning, I did a number of short runs and, in the afternoon, we did some long runs, looked at set-up and balance, and spent the rest of the day looking at tyre consistency.

I know there’s not much testing left – I only have one more day in the car – but, after today, I feel we can make further positive progress over the next few days. Given the limited amount of set-up work we’ve completed this winter, I feel we now have a good base upon which we can build. And that’s nice to see.


Toro Rosso Press Statement
Today, the Catalunya circuit hosted the first day of its second pre-season test, replacing the one originally planned to take place in Bahrain. The hope was for warmer weather than at the previous three sessions – Valencia, Jerez and Barcelona - but in fact, a cold wind kept it chilly and the breeze meant conditions were not ideal for aerodynamic testing.
Sebastien gave STR6 chassis number 3 its maiden outing today, starting to run in the light rain that affected the start of the session. Unfortunately, after just a couple of laps, a component failed on the car, causing damage to the car itself and a tyre. Repairing the damage took up the rest of the morning, so the Swiss driver’s running was restricted to this afternoon. Running only the hard Pirelli tyre, the team worked on aero measurements and front wing evaluation.
Sebastien continues to drive tomorrow, before Jaime Alguersuari takes over on Thursday for the final two days of testing prior to cars and equipment being freighted to Melbourne for the first race of the season.

Vitaly Petrov - Lotus Renault
We didn’t do a massive number of laps this afternoon, but we managed to check the balance and did some set-up work ready for tomorrow. The new aero parts are another step forward and have given us some more downforce.
Nick Heidfeld - Lotus Renault
I have a cold at the moment so the team said I could try the car this morning and stop in the afternoon. The priority of the day was to assess some new aero parts. That’s why we did a lot of in and out laps for the aero mapping. We are still analysing the data, but the feeling was positive. Then, we used the rest of the morning to do a few starts, system checks and looked at some development items.
Sergio Perez - Sauber
The morning session was quite positive with all the updates we have here. The afternoon started over an hour late for us because of an hydraulic leak, but in the end we managed to recover a bit. I hope Kamui can complete the evaluation work tomorrow. On Thursday I will be focussing on getting ready for the race in Melbourne.
James Key - Sauber Technical Director
Generally it was a good day of work despite a few problems after the lunch break. We had our start of season package on the car with a lot of new parts for both tidying up areas on the car and improving its performance. It is a significant aero package and it generally worked. We spent the morning evaluating new parts and carrying out back to back comparisons and aero measurements. In the afternoon we then worked on set up changes to adapt to the new package and tyres. So far we have seen reasonably positive results. Unfortunately for Sergio he had traffic on his fastest lap towards the end of the day, but this is nothing to complain about. Tomorrow with Kamui we will be running a similar programme, doing basic set up work and further evaluations.
Paul di Resta - Force India
All things considered, a good afternoon of running. We missed a bit of running after lunch as the guys fixed the problem from earlier in the day but when we did go out we got through a lot of productive work. It was my first time running the KERS system as we didn't run it last time in Barcelona, and all went well with that. Using the DRS [drag reduction system] and deploying KERS together takes some time to get used to but with time it will become a lot more natural. We also used the hard and soft tyre compounds from Pirelli and are understanding their behaviour a lot more. I'm looking forward to building on this programme tomorrow when I'll be in the car all day.
Nico Hulkenberg - Force India Test Driver
It was good to be back in a Formula 1 car as the last time I drove was about a month ago in Valencia. It was also my first outing in the VJM04 so there were quite a lot of new systems to get used to, such as the KERS and moveable rear wing. There's definitely a lot more work for the driver to do on the steering wheel and quite a lot of information to take in and get to grips with. We ultimately finished a little early with a reliability item just before the lunchtime break, but although we are still learning about the new systems, I can see we're heading in the right direction for the first part of the year.
Dominic Harlow, Circuit engineering director - Force India
A busy programme today as we shook down a new chassis, plus it was Nico's first opportunity to familiarise himself with the VJM04 before his free practice outing in Australia. There are several new systems from the VJM03, including KERS and the DRS, but he equipped himself well and gave a lot of valuable feedback that we will push back into our programme for the remainder of this test. Paul took over for the afternoon, conducting his first-ever test with the live KERS system. Apart from one reliability problem before lunch we had no major issues and we'll continue with race simulations with Paul tomorrow.

Davide Valsecchi - Team Lotus Test Driver
First I want to thank Team Lotus for the opportunity to drive the car today. It was a great experience and one I want to build on with the team. To begin with it was obviously all new to me - new seat, more power, better brakes, the whole package, but by the end of the morning I was much more confident in the car and had the chance to push. By the time the morning session ended I think the team were pretty happy with how I performed so I can't really ask for more than that. It's definitely been a good day.
Luiz Razia - Team Lotus Test Driver
It was really good to get back into an F1 car and pretty much from the first laps I could feel that this car is a step forward from what I have driven before. Despite the delay this afternoon while the car was being fixed I'm pleased with how I performed. I know that with more running my times would have come down but today wasn't about setting fastest laps - it was about learning how to work with the team to the agreed plan and give feedback that helps the car and the team continue to develop.
Mike Gascoyne - Chief Technical Officer - Team Lotus
A pretty good first day of this fourth test. We managed to run through our whole programme with the two drivers and they both did an excellent job. Apart from one small spin for Davide at the end of his session neither of them made any mistakes and Luiz performed very well, despite his time in the car being slightly cut short due to a minor mechanical issue. I'm sure that he would have improved even further with more running and after having completed our plans for the day I want to thank both drivers for the work they have done in the car today.
Jerome d'Ambrosio - Marussia Virgin
On the one hand it is a shame that Timo can’t take part in the test this week as the combined inputs of two drivers provides more detailed feedback for the engineers. On the other hand, four days of running will give me a lot of beneficial time in the car to prepare for my first race, so I’m looking forward to a very busy week for me and the team. With the track being so ‘green’ today and the conditions quite cold, our focus has been on pitstop practice, which has been extremely valuable for myself and the crew. With more pitstops in the races this year, perfecting our execution is even more critical as the stops can be crucial in making up ground to other teams during a race. It’s been quite a start-stop day however, so I’m looking forward to some longer runs starting tomorrow to work with the hard and soft compounds that we will use in the first three races.
John Booth, Team Principal - Marussia Virgin
None of the teams expected to be running here at the Circuit de Catalunya this week and it feels a little strange to be back in Barcelona when we would ordinarily have been in Bahrain. Nonetheless, what we can look forward to is a week of highly representative running at a track where the characteristics really lend themselves to honing our car for the first ‘few’ races rather than just the season-opener. It’s been a cold start to the week here so we’ve tailored our programme accordingly and as the temperature comes up over the next few days we’ll really start to feel the benefit of working with the specific tyre compounds in race representative conditions. It’s a big week for Jérôme as we’ve handed him the baton for four full days, but there can be no better situation for him to ensure he is fully prepared for his racing debut in Melbourne. Timo’s feedback would obviously have been extremely beneficial here, but it’s more important that having recovered well from his operation we don’t take any risks as we need him to be fighting fit for the opening race. He will be here later in the week though to ensure he is across all of the data and as close to the action as we can get him for now. It will be good to have him back.
Last edited by Ed on Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:00 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Ed » Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:20 pm

Day 2 of the final pre-season test at Barcelona.

11 teams are present.

Top 10 at the lunch break:

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Vettel Red Bull 1:21.865 57
2 Petrov Lotus-Renault 1:22.670 41
3 Massa Ferrari 1:23.324 53
4 Buemi Toro Rosso 1:23.838 76
5 di Resta Force India 1:24.334 37
6 Kobayashi Sauber 1:25.485 61
7 Rosberg Mercedes 1:26.120 54
8 Hamilton McLaren 1:28.946 37
9 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:28.982 42
10 Trulli Team Lotus 1:29.286 39
11 Maldonado Williams No Time 5

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Post by Ed » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:17 am

Day 2 results from the final pre-season test at Barcelona.

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Vettel Red Bull 1:21.865 112
2 Buemi Toro Rosso 1:22.396 120
3 Petrov Lotus-Renault 1:22.670 116
4 Hamilton McLaren 1:22.888 57
5 Massa Ferrari 1:23.324 101
6 di Resta Force India 1:24.334 118
7 Kobayashi Sauber 1:24.436 107
8 Rosberg Mercedes 1:25.807 100
9 Trulli Team Lotus 1:26.090 98
10 Maldonado Williams 1:26.989 29
11 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:28.982 64

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Post by Ed » Thu Mar 10, 2011 10:43 am

Selected quotes from day 2 at Barcelona

Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
It was a good day and a good time, although to be honest, it’s difficult to say where we are, as the lap times of the teams are all over the place. We’ve done a lot of laps again today, which is good. We have had no major problems with reliability throughout testing and the speed looks good as far as we can judge, but I think we have to wait until after Melbourne – maybe in Malaysia or China – to really see where we are.
Ian Morgan, Head of Race Engineering - Red Bull
It was good to have the race team here yesterday and today, to go through pit stop practices. Normally, we would do that once in pre-season testing but, as we lost a little time with the weather at the last test, this extra test was a good opportunity to get some more practice in ahead of Melbourne.
As for the rest of today’s programme, it was much the same as yesterday. Seb did 112 laps without any real problems all day, which is gratifying. It’s always difficult though, to tell what your true position is until you start the season, but our pace looks good at the moment, which is promising.
Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso
We can be pleased with what we achieved today, because with 120 laps, it meant we completed all the programme we had planned. Apart from the race simulation, I was also able to do a qualifying simulation. We showed a reasonable performance level and the team did a very good job in preparing the car so well. Overall, it has been a productive test. Now, we must wait and see if we can make even more progress over the next two days with Jaime driving and then we can see where we really are when we get to Melbourne.
Vitaly Petrov - Lotus Renault
I’m pleased with what we achieved today and I was able to learn a lot about the car and the tyres. We spent the morning doing shorter runs and working on the set-up, and I was pretty happy with the car by the end of the morning. But the most important thing was to complete the race distance, which we managed this afternoon. It’s the first time I’ve been able to do consistent long runs and really start understanding the tyres.
McLaren Press Statement
Lewis took over the wheel for his penultimate day of pre-season testing. His programme largely mirrored Jenson’s day yesterday: he spent the morning running pitstop rehearsals with a full-race crew, which was cut short by a minor hydraulics leak.
The morning’s planned race simulation was also halted due to an exhaust failure just before lunch.
For the afternoon, Lewis and the engineers ran through a number of set-up evaluations, conducted over shorter runs. Lewis declared himself positive with the new components brought to this test, and the team is positive that it can end its preparations with two trouble-free days of running.
Tomorrow is a changeover day for the team, which will not be running at the Circuit de Catalunya. Track testing resumes on Friday, with Jenson once again driving MP4-26

Ferrari Press Statement
Today, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro started its final test session in preparation for the Formula 1 World Championship, which gets underway on Sunday 27 March in Melbourne, Australia.
Felipe Massa was at the wheel of the 150° Italia today. The team tackled a very full programme today, centred on evaluating updates which have been fitted to the car. Felipe covered a total of 101 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.23.324.
The Scuderia continues testing at this circuit tomorrow, again with Felipe Massa on track.

Paul di Resta - Force India
A reasonable day of running for us today and good reliability and clear weather meant we could get through all of our programme. In the morning I worked through the qualifying sims and in the afternoon it was onto the race runs. I've done pit stops before in practice last year but trying them in race conditions was a new experience. However they were similar in length to what I've experienced in the DTM over the past four years so I think I dealt with them OK. I'll have a break tomorrow while Adrian takes over the car to test some new aero upgrades we're running for the first time. I'll get my chance to run them on Friday and look forward to seeing how much time they will give.
Dominic Harlow, Circuit engineering director - Force India
Paul was back in the car today, this time for a full day of running. In a productive outing he covered over 500km, running our standard Saturday practice and qualifying programmes before lunch and then moving to a full race simulation in the afternoon. We also had our full race crew here today to give them some live pit stop practice. Reliability was good again, which allowed us to cover our primary objectives for today. Paul takes a break tomorrow and Adrian will be in the car for the full day.
Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber
It was an interesting and productive day for me, and we completed our programme as planned. We achieved a good mileage and learnt a lot. The set up work with the new car is different to last year’s car, and it is good to get more experience with that. In the afternoon the way the track evolved was quite significant, and we struggled a bit with adapting the car and finding the right balance. But this is nothing to worry about.
James Key - Sauber Technical Director
Today we ran a similar programme to yesterday to allow Kamui to evaluate the new parts on the car and give us his feedback. We ran various set up options to check their effectiveness, and to help us to learn more about future development directions. In the afternoon we also did a little bit of work dedicated to the tyres, and again gained some valuable data. Now we are looking forward to doing race simulations with both drivers – with Sergio tomorrow and Kamui on Friday.

Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
It was nice to get the first of our upgrades on the car today, and to feel their potential. Thanks to everyone at the team for their hard work as I think we have some impressive developments, even though we couldn't test or show the full performance today as not all of the elements are on the car and working together yet. We had glimpses that showed that the full package should be a big step. The bodywork problem cost some time at the end, however we still learned a great deal.

Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus
We're pretty happy with how the day went - completing 98 laps gave us a chance to work through a number of setup options and we collected a lot of useful data on the tyre degradation. They're behaving pretty much how we expected them to and the changes we made to the car gave us the results we wanted so we'll look through all the information we've gathered and see if we can take another step forward tomorrow.
Mike Gascoyne - Chief Technical Officer - Team Lotus
Today was a very good day for us, much more productive than a couple of the days we have had in testing so far. It is good to complete 98 laps with no real problems on the car. We concentrated on long runs, looking at tyre degradation and setup options, and the pitcrew worked through a number of pitstop practices in advance of the first race so we ran through the entire plan and everyone is happy with the work that has been done today.
Pastor Maldonado - Williams
It hasn’t been a good day as we didn’t complete our planned programme. We unfortunately didn’t get enough running in to make too much progress.
Sam Michael - Technical Director - Williams
It has not been a productive day for us after we had a KERS fault first thing this morning. We removed the system and were able to get out for some limited running late afternoon.
Jerome d'Ambrosio - Marussia Virgin
Today has been a little frustrating as we lost valuable track time. The mechanics worked very hard to get me back out on track as quickly as possible, so with the laps that we did complete we have at least been able to gather some useful information. We still have a lot of work to do so we look forward to a trouble-free day tomorrow so we can start to move things on a little with our tyre evaluation programme.
John Booth, Team Principal - Marussia Virgin
It was disappointing to lose track time on a day when we really wanted to start getting stuck into our race preparation work, but on the positive side we did well to recover and again demonstrated our ability to turn the car around quickly when faced with an issue. Touch wood, our reliability has been relatively good so far, so it’s quite pleasing that we got to the bottom of the problem so quickly and applied a good solution. We also worked through some suspension geometry changes in order to try to optimise the performance of the tyres with race stints in mind. We hope to have a clear run at the programme tomorrow in order to continue the good work we have started.

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Post by Ed » Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:10 am

Day 3 results from the final pre-season test at Barcelona.

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Perez Sauber 1:21.761 95
2 Massa Ferrari 1:22.092 132
3 Webber Red Bull 1:22.466 97
4 Barrichello Williams 1:22.637 105
5 Schumacher Mercedes 1:22.892 89
6 Heidfeld Lotus-Renault 1:23.541 32
7 Kovalainen Team Lotus 1:23.990 40
8 Petrov Lotus-Renault 1:24.233 24
9 Sutil Force India 1:24.334 108
10 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:24.779 107
11 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:27.336 96
12 Trulli Team Lotus 1:34.485 6

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Post by Ed » Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:12 pm

Selected quotes from day 3 at Barcelona

ٍSergio Perez - Sauber
We did a lot of useful preparation work for the first race weekend. Although we could not complete the race simulation because of a technical problem, for me it was an interesting and positive programme. It was my last day of testing. I feel ready and I can’t wait to race!.
James Key - Sauber Technical Director
We have had an interesting day as we carried out qualifying practice and race simulation. In the morning we started off with some general set up work, and then went into a qualifying practice, which was the first time we had run the car on low fuel. This was also the first time for Sergio to go through all those procedures from Q1 to Q3. He did a good and controlled set of laps, setting a time of 1:22.042 minutes on soft tyres and 1:21.761 on the super soft compound. In the afternoon we started a race simulation, but unfortunately this was stopped early due to a KERS problem, which meant we could not complete the laps we wanted.
Ferrari Press Statement
Second day of testing for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro at the Catalunya Circuit, again with Felipe Massa at the wheel of the 150° Italia.
On his final day of testing prior to the start of the World Championship, the Brazilian tackled a busy work programme, focussing mainly on a comparison of various aerodynamic elements, before moving on to a simulation of a race weekend. Felipe covered a total of 132 laps, the quickest in a time of 1.22.092.
The Scuderia continues testing at this circuit tomorrow, when Fernando Alonso will be on track.

Mark Webber - Red Bull
We had a good day again. The car was reliable, so hopefully the weather will stay dry tomorrow and then rain on Saturday, so we get a good week out of it!
I feel I’m ready for the first race now and while, of course you want a good run at your home race, I don’t want to jinx with it any forecasts. In terms of team preparation, it’s the best we’ve ever had going into the first part of a season in terms of reliability. All the departments have done a sensational job in getting every aspect ready.
Hopefully, we’re not too far from our main rivals to start with and we’ll just go from there.
Ian Morgan, Head of Race Engineering - Red Bull
It’s been a good week so far, with no major difficulties. The weather helped us out a bit as well. With track temperatures near 30°C, it was nice to finally get a bit of running in the kind of conditions we may see at some European races. All in all, a successful day and I think Mark’s now pretty comfortable with everything. He has a good feel for the car and how the tyres work, which is more important than ever this season.
Tomorrow, it will be Seb’s turn to complete his pre-season work. We’ll run through a similar programme to today and, as with Mark, try to get him as comfortable as possible with everything before we pack up for Australia.

Rubens Barrichello - Williams
We had two aims today; to work on new tyre runs and to carry out some long runs. The new updates on the car seem to have made the car more consistent, and I was happy with our long run pace compared to last week. There’s still some work to be done to improve our performance on the first lap on new tyres.
Sam Michael - Technical Director - Williams
After completing some checks and mapping work with the new aero package, we went through a range of mechanical set-ups today. We’re seeing some quite positive signs and we’re heading in a good direction. We did have a failure on a very high mileage, rear suspension component late in the afternoon, so we're analysing the data on that now.

Michael Schumacher - Mercedes
We've had a very productive day and completed a reasonable amount of mileage. We were able to check and confirm a lot of things on the set-up of the car with the new upgrade package, and my initial impressions are certainly positive. We've worked hard on reliability at the previous tests and our priority now is to develop and fine-tune the car which we have done quite successfully today.

Vitaly Petrov - Lotus Renault
Unfortunately we lost some time this morning because we had a problem with the KERS so we couldn’t do the longs runs we had planned. For the rest of the morning we did some brake work and continued getting more data on the tyres.
Nick Heidfeld - Lotus Renault
We spent the afternoon trying some different ideas with the set-up and we made quite a few improvements and learned some useful things. I ran on the medium and the soft tyres, and the car felt much better by the end of the day, but there is still a lot more work to complete before the last day of testing tomorrow.
Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus
That was a pretty good afternoon for me. Jarno had some problems this morning with one of those things that's hard to predict but the team managed to get it sorted for the afternoon and we were able to work through the whole plan. I can feel it coming together well - we'll sort out the reliability and I think we are just where we want to be.
Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus
Obviously it's a bit frustrating that the gearbox issue cut short my time on track this morning, but we've now got some time back in the factory to fix the problems so I'm looking forward to heading to Australia and begin the fight with the midfield teams.
Mike Gascoyne - Chief Technical Officer - Team Lotus
A difficult morning for Jarno with the gearbox change. We had put a new 'box on overnight but saw a problem with it this morning so had to change it during the session. Unfortunately a water leak then meant that Jarno was not able to complete any real running, but this afternoon we made some real progress with Heikki. He was able to work through a program on the tyre options and the blown diffuser so after a tricky morning it was a very positive end to the day.
Adrian Sutil - Force India
We carried on where Paul finished yesterday, running through our race weekend programme. The race simulation worked well in the afternoon including live pit stops and a safety car exercise to cover a few different scenarios that can happen during Grands Prix. The balance was generally OK, we identified some areas of performance where we can gain time and I'm looking forward to working on these tomorrow when I'm back in the car for the morning.
Dominic Harlow, Circuit engineering director - Force India
The VJM04 covered a good mileage again today as Adrian carried out a race simulation together with some aerodynamic and set-up tests. The race team were also present again for live pitstop practice before the first race. We have a busy final day of testing ahead tomorrow as we look to complete the maximum preparation possible in this pre-season.
Laurent Mekies - Chief Engineer - Toro Rosso
The warmer track temperature was definitely useful for the teams and for Pirelli, in terms of preparing for Melbourne. Also bearing in mind that the season gets underway soon, we have carried out a lot of pit stop practice runs, as clearly this will be a key element during races this season. In fact, over the past two days, we have completed a total of sixty pit stops.

Marussia Virgin Press Statement
Day three of the four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya took place in much-welcomed warm and sunny conditions today, creating the perfect environment for the team to continue with its intensive race preparation programme for the start of the 2011 season.

Jérôme spent the day according to plan, pounding round the 4.655 km circuit, putting plenty of mileage on the MVR-02 whilst evaluating the Pirelli PZero tyres, optimising set-up and proving out new parts for the first race in Australia in two weeks’ time. Of the 11 teams that were taking part today Marussia Virgin Racing ended the day with the fifth highest number of laps under their belts.

Aside from a late morning fuel pressure problem, which was quickly rectified, the team had a trouble-free day which yielded plenty of very useful data to be fed straight back into the car development programme.
Last edited by Ed on Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Ed » Fri Mar 11, 2011 9:22 pm

Times from day 4 at noon:

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Schumacher Mercedes 1:21.268 34
2 Heidfeld Lotus-Renault 1:22.073 39
3 Alonso Ferrari 1:22.101 59
4 Barrichello Williams 1:22.233 62
5 Kobayashi Sauber 1:22.354 38
6 Vettel Red Bull 1:23.012 20
7 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:23.363 22
8 Kovalainen Team Lotus 1:23.437 53
9 Sutil Force India 1:23.921 26
10 Button McLaren 1:25.837 28
11 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:27.570 31

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Post by Ed » Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:05 am

Day 4 results from the final pre-season testing at Barcelona:

Position Driver Team Fastest time Total Laps
1 Schumacher Mercedes 1:21.249 67
2 Alonso Ferrari 1:21.614 141
3 Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.788 22
4 Heidfeld Lotus-Renault 1:22.073 67
5 Barrichello Williams 1:22.233 89
6 Kobayashi Sauber 1:22.315 98
7 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:22.675 72
8 Vettel Red Bull 1:22.933 64
9 Kovalainen Team Lotus 1:23.437 138
10 di Resta Force India 1:23.653 26
11 Sutil Force India 1:23.921 26
12 Maldonado Williams 1:24.108 11
13 Button McLaren 1:25.837 57
14 d'Ambrossio Marussia Virgin 1:27.375 46

Red Bull, Lotus-Renault, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Force India, Team Lotus and Marussia Virgin have concluded their 4 day test

Day 5 is the final day of testing for Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams as they started the test a day later while McLaren will also be present as they didn't test on Thursday.

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Post by Ed » Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:56 pm

Final day of testing at Barcelona and it is wet.

4 drivers in action on this final day however so far none of them have set any time due to the very wet track. (it is 11:30 local time)

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Post by Ed » Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:48 pm

Rain continues to fall in Barcelona and so far only Hamilton has set a lap time (a 1:50.280) and covered a total of 14 laps. The other drivers have covered 5 installation laps each.

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