Teams returned to the Bahrain International Circuit on Thursday for the third and final pre-season test of the 2014 season.
The four-day event is the team's last chance to prepare their cars and new V6 Turbo power-units before the first round of this year's championship in Melbourne, Australia, next month
Fortunes were, like the first Bahrain test, mixed on day one as the Renault-powered teams continued to struggle with reliability problems and failed to complete any considerable mileage.
One front running team had to take an early bath, but surprisingly enough it was not Red Bull Racing (although the Milton Keynes-based outfit's day wasn't much better). An exhaust issue on the Lotus E22 of Pastor Maldonado cut short his afternoon with just over one hour of the session remaining.
The Mercedes-powered cars proved to be strong and reliable once again, with Force India, McLaren and Williams all completing well over 100 laps. The factory team managed 89 in comparison, but a late issue disrupted Nico Rosberg's running.
Sergio Perez ended the day at the top of the timesheets. For the second consecutive test, a Force India was fastest on the opening session. The Mexican driver managed 105 laps in the VJM07 and completed a race simulation.
Valtteri Bottas finished the session in second place, nine tenths down on Perez and his fastest lap of 1m35.290. It was a trouble-free day for the Finn, who also managed a full race run, as the Williams team switched its focus from reliability to performance.
Kimi Raikkonen set the third fastest time but ended the day on the circuit. His Ferrari F14 T ground to a halt with just a handful of minutes remaining, as the sun set over the 3.63-mile circuit. It was a difficult day for the 'Iceman' after an electrical issue and bodywork changes cost him track time. He completed 12 laps in the morning session but added 42 to his tally in the afternoon.
Nico Rosberg set the fourth fastest time after managing 89 laps. It wasn't a smooth day for Mercedes after a few small problems cut short the German driver's progress. "That was not a fantastic day for us," he admitted. "We tried some new parts on the car and you find out a lot through doing that. But unfortunately we did not only discover good things today.
"I managed to do a couple of good laps before lunch but in the afternoon we had a few small problems which ended my running a bit earlier than planned. This shows that we are pushing everything to the limit and we still have a massive challenge in front of us during the last three days of testing. We need to maximise our time here to be prepared for Melbourne. But after a difficult day overall we are on the right path."
Adrian Sutil had a positive day in the Sauber C33 and completed 89 laps. Kevin Magnussen lapped the Bahrain International Circuit 109 times on the opening day of the test. The Danish rookie's best time was 2.5 seconds off the pace set by Perez, and his running included a race simulation. The McLaren MP4-29 was largely unchanged, with the team planning to trial upgrades on Saturday and Sunday.
Red Bull Racing's woes continued as Daniel Ricciardo took to the track in the RB10 for the fifth time this winter. The Aussie could only complete 39 laps and spent most of the afternoon in the pits. Overheating issues meant he lost crucial track time once again, which undoubtedly caused a few worried looks in the garage.
Max Chilton was pleased with Marussia's running on Thursday despite only managing 44 laps in the Ferrari-powered MR03. "It’s great to finally achieve some reasonable mileage and also to have some consistency to our running once again," he said. "At this stage, there is still so much to learn about the car, so the information we have gathered is really important for the engineers.
"We have also had some positive signs in terms of reliability today, so all in all, I’m quite positive and we have a good basis now for the rest of the week. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the work we are doing over the next couple of days and I look forward to being back in the car on Sunday."
Daniil Kvyat set the ninth fastest time of the day after another tough session in the Toro Rosso STR9. It was a slightly more productive day, lapping the circuit 56 times, but it was still far from where the team want to be. As mentioned earlier, Pastor Maldonado's running in the Lotus E22 was cut short by over an hour due to an exhaust failure. The Venezuelan caused the second of four red flags and could only complete 31 laps with the new car.
"For sure it wasn’t what we wanted today, but we are all working very hard to make progress and I’m sure we’ll have solutions quite soon as a team, and it’s clear we have good potential and the car is not bad," he said. "We have had some problems but we are fixing them and we are making improvements with electronics and software every day we run.
Kamui Kobayashi ended the day at the bottom of the timesheet after his day in the Caterham CT05 was plagued by reliability problems. He managed just 19 laps. The car ground to a halt in the first hour of the day, causing an early red flag, and his day - like Maldonado's - ended prematurely.
So what can we take from the first day of test three? Well, the Mercedes-powered cars continue to look reliable and fast, while those with the Renault power-units struggled once again. More focus was put on performance testing for many, with drivers pushing a bit more out on track, and the majority of the teams brought plenty of new updates. However, there is still a long way to go.
Day 1 Times:
1. Sergio Perez (Force India), 1m35.290 – 105 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas (Williams), 1m36.185 – 127 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1m36.432 – 54 laps
4. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 1m36.624 – 89 laps
5. Adrian Sutil (Sauber), 1m37.700 – 89 laps
6. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), 1m37.825 – 109 laps
7. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing), 1m37.908 – 39 laps
8. Max Chilton (Marussia), 1m38.610 – 44 laps
9. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), 1m39.242 – 56 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), 1m40.599 – 31 laps
11. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham), 1m42.285 – 19 laps
 |
| © Sahara Force India F1 Team |
Fortunes were, like the first Bahrain test, mixed on day one as the Renault-powered teams continued to struggle with reliability problems and failed to complete any considerable mileage.
One front running team had to take an early bath, but surprisingly enough it was not Red Bull Racing (although the Milton Keynes-based outfit's day wasn't much better). An exhaust issue on the Lotus E22 of Pastor Maldonado cut short his afternoon with just over one hour of the session remaining.
The Mercedes-powered cars proved to be strong and reliable once again, with Force India, McLaren and Williams all completing well over 100 laps. The factory team managed 89 in comparison, but a late issue disrupted Nico Rosberg's running.
Sergio Perez ended the day at the top of the timesheets. For the second consecutive test, a Force India was fastest on the opening session. The Mexican driver managed 105 laps in the VJM07 and completed a race simulation.
Valtteri Bottas finished the session in second place, nine tenths down on Perez and his fastest lap of 1m35.290. It was a trouble-free day for the Finn, who also managed a full race run, as the Williams team switched its focus from reliability to performance.
 |
| © Ferrari |
Kimi Raikkonen set the third fastest time but ended the day on the circuit. His Ferrari F14 T ground to a halt with just a handful of minutes remaining, as the sun set over the 3.63-mile circuit. It was a difficult day for the 'Iceman' after an electrical issue and bodywork changes cost him track time. He completed 12 laps in the morning session but added 42 to his tally in the afternoon.
Nico Rosberg set the fourth fastest time after managing 89 laps. It wasn't a smooth day for Mercedes after a few small problems cut short the German driver's progress. "That was not a fantastic day for us," he admitted. "We tried some new parts on the car and you find out a lot through doing that. But unfortunately we did not only discover good things today.
"I managed to do a couple of good laps before lunch but in the afternoon we had a few small problems which ended my running a bit earlier than planned. This shows that we are pushing everything to the limit and we still have a massive challenge in front of us during the last three days of testing. We need to maximise our time here to be prepared for Melbourne. But after a difficult day overall we are on the right path."
Adrian Sutil had a positive day in the Sauber C33 and completed 89 laps. Kevin Magnussen lapped the Bahrain International Circuit 109 times on the opening day of the test. The Danish rookie's best time was 2.5 seconds off the pace set by Perez, and his running included a race simulation. The McLaren MP4-29 was largely unchanged, with the team planning to trial upgrades on Saturday and Sunday.
 |
| © Red Bull/Getty Images |
Red Bull Racing's woes continued as Daniel Ricciardo took to the track in the RB10 for the fifth time this winter. The Aussie could only complete 39 laps and spent most of the afternoon in the pits. Overheating issues meant he lost crucial track time once again, which undoubtedly caused a few worried looks in the garage.
Max Chilton was pleased with Marussia's running on Thursday despite only managing 44 laps in the Ferrari-powered MR03. "It’s great to finally achieve some reasonable mileage and also to have some consistency to our running once again," he said. "At this stage, there is still so much to learn about the car, so the information we have gathered is really important for the engineers.
"We have also had some positive signs in terms of reliability today, so all in all, I’m quite positive and we have a good basis now for the rest of the week. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the work we are doing over the next couple of days and I look forward to being back in the car on Sunday."
Daniil Kvyat set the ninth fastest time of the day after another tough session in the Toro Rosso STR9. It was a slightly more productive day, lapping the circuit 56 times, but it was still far from where the team want to be. As mentioned earlier, Pastor Maldonado's running in the Lotus E22 was cut short by over an hour due to an exhaust failure. The Venezuelan caused the second of four red flags and could only complete 31 laps with the new car.
 |
| © Caterham F1 Team |
"For sure it wasn’t what we wanted today, but we are all working very hard to make progress and I’m sure we’ll have solutions quite soon as a team, and it’s clear we have good potential and the car is not bad," he said. "We have had some problems but we are fixing them and we are making improvements with electronics and software every day we run.
Kamui Kobayashi ended the day at the bottom of the timesheet after his day in the Caterham CT05 was plagued by reliability problems. He managed just 19 laps. The car ground to a halt in the first hour of the day, causing an early red flag, and his day - like Maldonado's - ended prematurely.
So what can we take from the first day of test three? Well, the Mercedes-powered cars continue to look reliable and fast, while those with the Renault power-units struggled once again. More focus was put on performance testing for many, with drivers pushing a bit more out on track, and the majority of the teams brought plenty of new updates. However, there is still a long way to go.
Day 1 Times:
1. Sergio Perez (Force India), 1m35.290 – 105 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas (Williams), 1m36.185 – 127 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1m36.432 – 54 laps
4. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 1m36.624 – 89 laps
5. Adrian Sutil (Sauber), 1m37.700 – 89 laps
6. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), 1m37.825 – 109 laps
7. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing), 1m37.908 – 39 laps
8. Max Chilton (Marussia), 1m38.610 – 44 laps
9. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso), 1m39.242 – 56 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), 1m40.599 – 31 laps
11. Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham), 1m42.285 – 19 laps
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