The second day of testing was an eventful one at the Circuit de Catalunya. Numerous red flags halted or interrupted drivers runs, which were mainly short runs in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon.
The red flag's started before the green light, the session being delayed for 30 minutes in the morning after heavy fog engulfed the circuit. The 30 minutes lost were added on to the chequered flag time, meaning no crucial time was lost.
The absense of HRT and Marussia was still there, but the remaining teams persevered as they prepare for the 1st race in Australia, which is just 14 days away.
Romain Grosjean lead the pack again, just like day 1, after another late run by the Frenchman. His best time of 1m22.614 was over half a second better than 2nd placed Vergne in the Toro Rosso, who topped the times for most of the day. Grosjean completed more important running, 123 laps, after Lotus missed the 2nd test at the circuit. He completed a full 60 lap race run in the afternoon, placing 3rd, until the final moments of the session.
Vergne in the Toro Rosso was 2nd after another productive morning for the Italian team. However he had to sit out of the afternoon session as his car caught fire just before lunch, bringing out the red flag. His best time of 1m23.126 was the fastest time for the majority of the day, only being beaten by Grosjean in the final minutes of the session. He completed just 31 laps because of this set back, more so due to their afternoon planned race distance run which never got completed. He said "Of course it is a shame my winter testing ended with a less than satisfactory day, with not so many laps completed. However, yesterday we did a lot of running and the team still has two more days here with Daniel and I believe we can therefore make up for lost time."
3rd at the end of the long day's running finished 2010 and 2011 F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel in the Adrian Newey designed RB8. The tests have revealed Red Bull are up there, with Vettel's best time of 1m23.361 just 2 tenths off the Toro Rosso and 7 tenths behind the Lotus. His car did stop on track shortly after Vergne's but it was simply a fuel economy, dry fuelled run. Vettel notched up 85 laps but only measured 9 laps as his longest stint, possibly showing a focus on qualifying.
4th finished Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari F2012. It was a positive day for the Italian team and Spanish driver after Alonso completed a consistent race distance. He reached 124 laps by the end of the day, with a best time of 1m23.447 showing Ferrari should not be forgotten this season. His time was set in the morning, running 2nd before Vettel and later Grosjean displaced him.
5th finished Heikki Kovalainen, recovering from sickness, after a super soft run vaulted him up the order. Even on the softest Pirelli rubber, it was still a decent effort from a team ever improving. His best time of 1m23.828 was just over 1.2 seconds off Grosjean's pace but this result will immensely increase team moral after their difficult 2nd test.
6th finished Kamui Kobayashi, just 0.008 behind Kovalainen, in the Sauber C31. He did spend the majority of the afternoon in the pits after hydraulics issues, with just 77 laps over the day completed. He said "I am pretty happy with the car and its handling under race conditions. We wanted to improve compared to the last test, and we clearly did that. Obviously we couldn't do everything we had on our programme, but I think we can compensate for that."
Just behind him was someone who completed even less laps, Nico Hukenberg. Like Kobayashi he set his time in the morning, a 1m23.893, but it was one of just 33 after his Force India VJM05 experienced gearbox issues which brought out the only red flag of the afternoon. He said “The day started well with some set-up work and new tyres runs, but we had some downtime in the afternoon, which limited my mileage. It’s a bit frustrating, but we’ve had a pretty good winter so far and it’s nothing to worry about. I’ve got one more day in the car before we travel to Melbourne, so I will try to make the most of it and carry out a full race simulation.”
8th after todays eventful day of running finished 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes W03. His best lap of the Circuit de Catalunya was just a 1m23.997 and was one of 79 laps completed. The world champion had an eventful morning, bringing out 2 red flags. The first was for stopping on track with a mechanical issue, while the second was after he took his W03 for a spin in the gravel trap.
9th was a heavy contrast for the Mclaren team after finishing 2nd yesterday with Jenson Button. They had a driver swap for Friday, with Lewis Hamilton taking over the MP4-27. He completed 65 laps of mileage for the British team, the days focus was testing parts. This meant the car spent alot of its time in the garage having new parts fitted, with Lewis's time of 1m24.111 being just under 1.5 seconds off the front leading time. It is a fair bit further behind what Mclaren would of wanted, but it just shows how close the pack is.
10th finished Bruno Senna in the Williams FW34, after it was confirmed earlier today Frank Williams would be standing down on the Williams Grand Prix holdings board, with his daughter Claire. The Williams team had a disappointing day, fielding both drivers, with Senna being 2.3 seconds off the pace and Maldonado over 3 seconds away from Grosjeans late run.
It is still close, just 3 seconds covering all 11 drivers today. The morning delays halted some drivers running, while it also impeded drivers already on runs. The drivers will be hoping the next 2 days will be less incident filled.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Grosjean Lotus 1m22.614s 123
2. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.126s +0.512 31
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.361s +0.747 85
4. Alonso Ferrari 1m23.447s +0.833 124
5. Kovalainen Caterham 1m23.828s +1.214 104
6. Kobayashi Sauber 1m23.836s +1.222 77
7. Hulkenberg Force India 1m23.893s +1.279 33
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.978s +1.364 79
9. Hamilton McLaren 1m24.111s +1.497 65
10. Senna Williams 1m24.925s +2.311 48
11. Maldonado Williams 1m25.801s +3.187 20
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
The absense of HRT and Marussia was still there, but the remaining teams persevered as they prepare for the 1st race in Australia, which is just 14 days away.
Romain Grosjean lead the pack again, just like day 1, after another late run by the Frenchman. His best time of 1m22.614 was over half a second better than 2nd placed Vergne in the Toro Rosso, who topped the times for most of the day. Grosjean completed more important running, 123 laps, after Lotus missed the 2nd test at the circuit. He completed a full 60 lap race run in the afternoon, placing 3rd, until the final moments of the session.
Vergne in the Toro Rosso was 2nd after another productive morning for the Italian team. However he had to sit out of the afternoon session as his car caught fire just before lunch, bringing out the red flag. His best time of 1m23.126 was the fastest time for the majority of the day, only being beaten by Grosjean in the final minutes of the session. He completed just 31 laps because of this set back, more so due to their afternoon planned race distance run which never got completed. He said "Of course it is a shame my winter testing ended with a less than satisfactory day, with not so many laps completed. However, yesterday we did a lot of running and the team still has two more days here with Daniel and I believe we can therefore make up for lost time."
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
4th finished Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari F2012. It was a positive day for the Italian team and Spanish driver after Alonso completed a consistent race distance. He reached 124 laps by the end of the day, with a best time of 1m23.447 showing Ferrari should not be forgotten this season. His time was set in the morning, running 2nd before Vettel and later Grosjean displaced him.
5th finished Heikki Kovalainen, recovering from sickness, after a super soft run vaulted him up the order. Even on the softest Pirelli rubber, it was still a decent effort from a team ever improving. His best time of 1m23.828 was just over 1.2 seconds off Grosjean's pace but this result will immensely increase team moral after their difficult 2nd test.
6th finished Kamui Kobayashi, just 0.008 behind Kovalainen, in the Sauber C31. He did spend the majority of the afternoon in the pits after hydraulics issues, with just 77 laps over the day completed. He said "I am pretty happy with the car and its handling under race conditions. We wanted to improve compared to the last test, and we clearly did that. Obviously we couldn't do everything we had on our programme, but I think we can compensate for that."
Just behind him was someone who completed even less laps, Nico Hukenberg. Like Kobayashi he set his time in the morning, a 1m23.893, but it was one of just 33 after his Force India VJM05 experienced gearbox issues which brought out the only red flag of the afternoon. He said “The day started well with some set-up work and new tyres runs, but we had some downtime in the afternoon, which limited my mileage. It’s a bit frustrating, but we’ve had a pretty good winter so far and it’s nothing to worry about. I’ve got one more day in the car before we travel to Melbourne, so I will try to make the most of it and carry out a full race simulation.”
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
9th was a heavy contrast for the Mclaren team after finishing 2nd yesterday with Jenson Button. They had a driver swap for Friday, with Lewis Hamilton taking over the MP4-27. He completed 65 laps of mileage for the British team, the days focus was testing parts. This meant the car spent alot of its time in the garage having new parts fitted, with Lewis's time of 1m24.111 being just under 1.5 seconds off the front leading time. It is a fair bit further behind what Mclaren would of wanted, but it just shows how close the pack is.
10th finished Bruno Senna in the Williams FW34, after it was confirmed earlier today Frank Williams would be standing down on the Williams Grand Prix holdings board, with his daughter Claire. The Williams team had a disappointing day, fielding both drivers, with Senna being 2.3 seconds off the pace and Maldonado over 3 seconds away from Grosjeans late run.
It is still close, just 3 seconds covering all 11 drivers today. The morning delays halted some drivers running, while it also impeded drivers already on runs. The drivers will be hoping the next 2 days will be less incident filled.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Grosjean Lotus 1m22.614s 123
2. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m23.126s +0.512 31
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m23.361s +0.747 85
4. Alonso Ferrari 1m23.447s +0.833 124
5. Kovalainen Caterham 1m23.828s +1.214 104
6. Kobayashi Sauber 1m23.836s +1.222 77
7. Hulkenberg Force India 1m23.893s +1.279 33
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m23.978s +1.364 79
9. Hamilton McLaren 1m24.111s +1.497 65
10. Senna Williams 1m24.925s +2.311 48
11. Maldonado Williams 1m25.801s +3.187 20
No comments:
Post a Comment