Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets on the opening day of winter testing at the Jerez circuit, kicking off the new Formula 1 era.
It was a quiet day of on-track action, with all nine teams at the circuit suffering problems over the course of the session.
Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Force India all unveiled their 2014 machinery in the pit lane early in the morning, just minutes before the green light signalled the start of pre-season testing.
Lewis Hamilton was the first driver out on track and held the early lead, but by the chequered flag, it was Raikkonen who emerged with the fastest time. The Finn suffered a troubled start to his campaign after the new Ferrari F14 T ground to a halt on its first installation lap.
However, the problem was swiftly fixed and he managed to complete a total of 31 laps - the most of anyone. His best time of 1m27.104 was 10 seconds slower than the fastest time from testing at Jerez in 2013 - set by Felipe Massa, who coincidentally was also driving a Ferrari.
However, teams were not chasing times on the opening day, with installation and system checks taking priority. There was quite a buzz surrounding Mercedes after they launched the elegant W05 as the sun was rising over the 2.8 mile circuit.
The team was eager to get going but their running was cut short late in the morning after Hamilton hit the tyre barrier at turn one. Mercedes later confirmed that the accident had been caused by a front wing failure, with last year's Hungarian Grand Prix race winner being just a passenger in the car as it travelled across the gravel trap and into the wall.
"For me it's an incredibly positive start to be the first car out on track and completing a good number of laps," he said. "Other teams have been going out for single-lap runs, starting a few hours after we had first hit the track, so to have started running through our test programme was very encouraging. The car feels quite good, especially considering it's so early in our programme, so overall it's been a positive day.
"Of course, it's unfortunate to end the day early when everyone has worked so hard and we had looked like easily completing the most mileage of anyone here today, but we'll make that track time back and it's better to have these things happen now than in Melbourne."
Despite losing half of the day, he still managed to give the team 18 laps worth of data and set the second fastest time of the day. A brief rain shower in the closing stages didn't deter Valtteri Bottas from getting some track time in the new FW36. Williams spent most of the first day preparing its 2014 car but it eventually broke cover - sporting its 'heritage blue' testing livery - with just over an hour of the session remaining.
The Finn completed seven laps and moved up to third on the timesheets with his final effort, as he got used to the new machine. He said: "It wasn't an ideal start to the day but the positive thing is that the team did a great job to fix the problems we found overnight and we got the car working well to complete a few laps this afternoon.
"The car matched my expectations on track with more torque. It feels like a very different car compared to last year in the way it handles as well as the power. After only a few laps we found a few things we can improve which is also good, so we need to start working on those things tomorrow."
Sergio Perez was at the wheel of the VJM07 on the opening day of testing, finishing in fourth palce. The Force India driver made an appearance early in the day but he was forced to stop the car out on track, causing one of four red flag periods.
A few hours later, the VJM07 emerged from the team's garage once again to complete a few short runs before the chequered flag. Jean-Eric Vergne's day started off in promising style with a number of short stints on track. However, his STR9 broke down mid-way through the session and the car never reappeared.
The Frenchman still managed to complete 15 laps of the Jerez circuit, eight more than Esteban Gutierrez. The 22-year-old only managed one timed lap driving the Sauber C3 after a handful of issues.
We had to wait quite some time to see the Red Bull RB10 emerge from its pit garage, with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel at the wheel. The team found a problem with the car on Monday night and spent the majority of the first test day fixing it.
However, they did manage to get three laps of data out of the car in the final 15 minutes of the session. Like Williams, the new Caterham CT05 had a rather low-key launch as Marcus Ericsson pulled out of the team's pit garage, revealing the car's distinctive and unique nose design.
He only completed one lap of the Jerez circuit, with about one hour of the session remaining, before returning to the pits. McLaren's MP4-29 was the only car that failed to take to the track after the Woking-based outfit suffered electrical issues.
Despite the team's best efforts to solve the problem, the mechanics eventually ran out of time. Another outfit who failed to appear was Marussia, as their new car only started its journey to Jerez on Tuesday morning after it was forced to remain at the factory for repairs.
With the complicated new regulations, a lack of running early on was inevitable. So too was the amount of reliability issues suffered by teams. The majority of the teams ran their cars for the first time at Jerez and unlike previous seasons, everything is brand new.
Now the teams will study the data and information gathered from the opening day and start preparing the cars for day two. For information on driver line-ups, as well as images from test, check out my Twitter and Facebook pages.
Day 1 Times:
1. Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1m27.104s - 31 laps
2. Hamilton (Mercedes), 1m27.820s - 18 laps
3. Bottas (Williams), 1m30.082s - 7 laps
4. Perez (Force India), 1m33.161s - 11 laps
5. Vergne (Toro Rosso), 1m36.530s - 15 laps
6. Gutierrez (Sauber), 1m42.257s - 7 laps
7. Vettel (Red Bull), no time - 3 laps
8. Ericsson (Caterham), no time - 1 lap
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Force India all unveiled their 2014 machinery in the pit lane early in the morning, just minutes before the green light signalled the start of pre-season testing.
Lewis Hamilton was the first driver out on track and held the early lead, but by the chequered flag, it was Raikkonen who emerged with the fastest time. The Finn suffered a troubled start to his campaign after the new Ferrari F14 T ground to a halt on its first installation lap.
However, the problem was swiftly fixed and he managed to complete a total of 31 laps - the most of anyone. His best time of 1m27.104 was 10 seconds slower than the fastest time from testing at Jerez in 2013 - set by Felipe Massa, who coincidentally was also driving a Ferrari.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
However, teams were not chasing times on the opening day, with installation and system checks taking priority. There was quite a buzz surrounding Mercedes after they launched the elegant W05 as the sun was rising over the 2.8 mile circuit.
The team was eager to get going but their running was cut short late in the morning after Hamilton hit the tyre barrier at turn one. Mercedes later confirmed that the accident had been caused by a front wing failure, with last year's Hungarian Grand Prix race winner being just a passenger in the car as it travelled across the gravel trap and into the wall.
"For me it's an incredibly positive start to be the first car out on track and completing a good number of laps," he said. "Other teams have been going out for single-lap runs, starting a few hours after we had first hit the track, so to have started running through our test programme was very encouraging. The car feels quite good, especially considering it's so early in our programme, so overall it's been a positive day.
"Of course, it's unfortunate to end the day early when everyone has worked so hard and we had looked like easily completing the most mileage of anyone here today, but we'll make that track time back and it's better to have these things happen now than in Melbourne."
Despite losing half of the day, he still managed to give the team 18 laps worth of data and set the second fastest time of the day. A brief rain shower in the closing stages didn't deter Valtteri Bottas from getting some track time in the new FW36. Williams spent most of the first day preparing its 2014 car but it eventually broke cover - sporting its 'heritage blue' testing livery - with just over an hour of the session remaining.
The Finn completed seven laps and moved up to third on the timesheets with his final effort, as he got used to the new machine. He said: "It wasn't an ideal start to the day but the positive thing is that the team did a great job to fix the problems we found overnight and we got the car working well to complete a few laps this afternoon.
"The car matched my expectations on track with more torque. It feels like a very different car compared to last year in the way it handles as well as the power. After only a few laps we found a few things we can improve which is also good, so we need to start working on those things tomorrow."
Sergio Perez was at the wheel of the VJM07 on the opening day of testing, finishing in fourth palce. The Force India driver made an appearance early in the day but he was forced to stop the car out on track, causing one of four red flag periods.
A few hours later, the VJM07 emerged from the team's garage once again to complete a few short runs before the chequered flag. Jean-Eric Vergne's day started off in promising style with a number of short stints on track. However, his STR9 broke down mid-way through the session and the car never reappeared.
The Frenchman still managed to complete 15 laps of the Jerez circuit, eight more than Esteban Gutierrez. The 22-year-old only managed one timed lap driving the Sauber C3 after a handful of issues.
We had to wait quite some time to see the Red Bull RB10 emerge from its pit garage, with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel at the wheel. The team found a problem with the car on Monday night and spent the majority of the first test day fixing it.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
However, they did manage to get three laps of data out of the car in the final 15 minutes of the session. Like Williams, the new Caterham CT05 had a rather low-key launch as Marcus Ericsson pulled out of the team's pit garage, revealing the car's distinctive and unique nose design.
He only completed one lap of the Jerez circuit, with about one hour of the session remaining, before returning to the pits. McLaren's MP4-29 was the only car that failed to take to the track after the Woking-based outfit suffered electrical issues.
Despite the team's best efforts to solve the problem, the mechanics eventually ran out of time. Another outfit who failed to appear was Marussia, as their new car only started its journey to Jerez on Tuesday morning after it was forced to remain at the factory for repairs.
With the complicated new regulations, a lack of running early on was inevitable. So too was the amount of reliability issues suffered by teams. The majority of the teams ran their cars for the first time at Jerez and unlike previous seasons, everything is brand new.
Now the teams will study the data and information gathered from the opening day and start preparing the cars for day two. For information on driver line-ups, as well as images from test, check out my Twitter and Facebook pages.
Day 1 Times:
1. Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1m27.104s - 31 laps
2. Hamilton (Mercedes), 1m27.820s - 18 laps
3. Bottas (Williams), 1m30.082s - 7 laps
4. Perez (Force India), 1m33.161s - 11 laps
5. Vergne (Toro Rosso), 1m36.530s - 15 laps
6. Gutierrez (Sauber), 1m42.257s - 7 laps
7. Vettel (Red Bull), no time - 3 laps
8. Ericsson (Caterham), no time - 1 lap
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.