Who said what after the conclusion of Jerez tests
A round-up of comment after the fourth day's testing at Jerez - not all teams issued these afterwards
Fernando Alonso heads past the cones © Sutton Images
Force India
Paul di Resta "Another productive day with a lot more miles on the car. At the moment that's what it's all about - giving ourselves a clear direction and getting as much data as we can on the performance of the new car on different fuel loads. We're not going for times, rather fine-tuning the balance and set-up, plus getting to grips with a few development items we will use at the next test, including the DRS [drag reduction system]. Towards the end of the day we found a good path for the next test and have something positive to build on next week. Unfortunately we couldn't do our final run of the day when something broke on the front of the car and I skidded into the gravel. It was a shame and the team will look at it now, but until that point we were improving with each run."
Lotus
Heikki Kovalainen "The combination of a number of small issues throughout the day and different weather conditions than the last three days meant we had a bit of a disrupted day but we did manage to take another step forward with the setup options and that lap at the end proves there is good pace in the car. We spent quite a lot of time looking at how to find the best balance settings with the tyres and it looks like we keep moving forward in that area. It's a little unfortunate that we had a stop / start day but this is what testing is about. We have a few days now to work on ironing out the issues and look to Barcelona to start working on long runs so I leave Jerez in a positive frame of mind and am already looking to get back in the car next week."
Dieter Gass, sporting director "Firstly I think we're all pleased to see Heikki put in such a good lap at the end of the day in tricky weather conditions - both he and Jarno have performed really well over the last couple of days and I want to thank them both for their efforts. Today was affected by a few issues on the car and the obvious change in the weather but the team has worked extremely hard over the whole test to give both Jarno and Heikki a chance to show what the car can do and our thanks go to them and everyone back in the factory for working so hard. Even with these problems the car does look quick and we have a very good platform to work on in Barcelona and at the final test in Bahrain."
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg "Every lap is beneficial in pre-season testing and the work that we achieved today was good, however the long stoppage was unfortunate. It's a steep learning curve and there is a lot of hard work ahead, but with the developments that we have to come, I am confident that we will continue to progress."
Ross Brawn "The four days in Jerez have proved to be extremely useful for the team, although the test has not been without its challenges. We had good reliability for the middle two days which allowed us to accumulate a lot of mileage, however there are issues to be resolved so that we can maximise our track time for the remaining two tests. Both Michael and Nico continue to feel comfortable in the car and our priorities remain on reliability, developing our understanding of the tyres and the KERS, whilst simultaneously pushing on with the developments still to come. "
Red Bull Ian Morgan, head of race engineering "It's been a pretty solid test overall. We've got some good mileage and the car has been reliable. Our main focus during the test has been on understanding the tyres and how to get the best from them and I think we've made some good progress with that."
Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi "For me these two days have been very interesting. Although we lost track time today, we still covered some good mileage and I have learnt a lot more about the character of the new tyres. We still have to work hard but to me it was a positive test."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara, head of track engineering "Today we had to stop early because of a power train related problem, but still we have covered a reasonable mileage. We started in the morning with runs of about eight laps each on the hard Pirelli tyre compound to test mechanical set-up options. After 11am we did one single run on super soft tyres, and then worked again on the car's set-up on harder tyres. After lunch we did long runs with medium and hard tyres, the longest distance being 18 laps. Kamui also had an off today and got stuck in gravel, but without damaging the car. Because we had to finish early we had no running in the wet at the end. Overall we had very good track conditions in Jerez and did a lot of tyre evaluation, worked on systems and set-up. While it was also good for Kamui to work with the new systems, it was even more important and a really positive experience for the team to do some proper work with our new driver, Sergio, here in Jerez. More mileage in total would have been appreciated, but there are more tests to come."
Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi "We got through the entire programme we had planned for today, so I have to congratulate the team for ensuring the car worked all day. I did 90 laps today and more than that yesterday, so we can be quite pleased. I had my first taste of Super Soft and Intermediate rain tyres just at the end, which is better than nothing, as I don't suppose we are likely to get much rain between now and the first race. Therefore, I am satisfied with the past two days, even if we know there is a long way to go in terms of developing the car. Reliability improved throughout the test and since Valencia, so we must continue working in this direction while also beginning to think more about performance."
Laurent Mekies, chief engineer "Overall, this was a good test for us, during which we completed a respectable number of laps and learned a lot about the new car in terms of reliability and performance," said "We have to keep improving now, working on getting all the potential out of the car, which is the most important target over the next few weeks. Hopefully we can achieve even more in next week's test in Barcelona."
Virgin
Jerome d'Ambrosio "My two first days driving the new MVR-02 have been very interesting and useful for me and the team. We are all still getting to know the new car and it was a shame that I couldn't have more time in the car today. But I am happy with the work we have done here in Jerez and now I can't wait to get back in the car in Barcelona and continue improving."
Nick Wirth, technical director "Overall, I am delighted with this positive first test for the MVR-02. Many of the systems that caused us problems last year have performed faultlessly and we've learned a lot. The team has gathered lots of basic aero data, pressures and loads, and conducted tests with the blown diffuser and moving rear wing and the data correlates well with our aero predictions. As with every new car, the test has revealed a number of small issues which we'll address quickly, but the main thing is that the basic package seems reliable, which was our first priority. We're still missing some parts, which has limited our basic set-up and a bit of performance, but we'll have these for Barcelona. The car is a good step forward from last year, which is what we wanted."
Williams
Rubens Barrichello "We completed some long runs today and looked at trying some different things on the car. This morning was also the first time we could run a few new sets of tyres and get some momentum. The car performed as it should do so I am happy with that. The day went with minor problems, but we have some good direction and it is great to get some more mileage on the car."
Sam Michael, technical director "Nothing was going to stop us from doing over 100 laps today! After limited running up to now, we concentrated on setup and long runs. Rubens was trying various things to learn about the Pirelli tyres - some worked, some didn't. Now we've also gathered some data on the Pirelli wet tyre after a small shower at the end of the session. At the next test we will also have KERS back on the car as we ran without it today. We did suffer from a hydraulic leak during the middle of the day but overall, it's encouraging that we've had no major fundamental failures on the car - especially considering how tight the package is. All of the faults that have been causing our downtime in the recent days are small things that systems will quickly put right."
Times
Driver Car Time Laps
1. Rubens Barrichello Williams FW33 1:19.832 103
2. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber C30 1:20.601 86
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari F150 1:21.074 115
4. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso STR6 1:21.213 90
5. Bruno Senna Renault R31 1:21.400 68
6. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus T128 1:21.632 43
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes WO2 1:22.103 45
8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull RB7 1:22.222 90
9. Jenson Button McLaren MP4-26 1:22.278 70
10. Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin MVR-02 1:22.985 45
11. Paul di Resta Force India VJM-04 1:23.111 99
Credit: ESPN F1 (espn.com)
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