Analysis - the big talking points from the final Bahrain test

The final pre-season test in Bahrain gave the teams four last days in which to hone their machines ahead of the opening round of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship in Australia.

Once again, Mercedes-powered cars dominated both the timesheets and the mileage charts, but there were plenty more talking points to emerge from a fascinating session in Sakhir…

Mercedes and Williams looking strong
Two teams dominated the aggregate test times from the second Bahrain test - Mercedes and Williams. Felipe Massa recorded the fastest lap in Sakhir this winter, but Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were only a fraction away from the Brazilian’s headline time, with Valtteri Bottas just behind. 

Neither team has been immune to problems - indeed, Mercedes seemed to pick up more and more niggles as the test went along, perhaps as a result of running so many laps. However, both appear to have been able to diagnose and solve issues quicker than others. 

It has to be said that while many expected Mercedes to be at (or very near) the front in terms of pace, Williams’ form has been more surprising, particularly as the team are coming off one of their worst ever seasons. Of course, having the front running Mercedes power unit has helped their cause, but the Grove-based squad must be congratulated on producing a car that is seemingly not only fast, but also more reliable than most. Williams completed 936 laps during pre-season testing and the FW36 only stopped out on track once - and that was a high mileage failure in the internal combustion engine on the final afternoon of running.

Perhaps understandably, both Williams and Mercedes have played down their form somewhat (Hamilton preferred to focus on how quick Red Bull’s RB10 couldbe once they get on top of their problems), but Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali was less hesitant in his appraisal, saying: “From what we have seen so far, there are two teams out in front: Mercedes and Williams. After them, it could be us.”

Ferrari not quite where they want to be
Speaking of Ferrari, the Italian team have been ‘there or thereabouts’ throughout the entire pre-season, and it was the same at the final test. They don’t look to have the pace of the leading Mercedes-powered cars, but the Scuderia are convinced that there is a lot of potential that still needs to be unlocked from the F14 T, and in particular from its power unit. 

"I think the most important thing to understand on our side is how to manage the balance between electrical power, the ERS, the battery, all these things have an effect in terms of horsepower," said Domenicali.

Fernando Alonso, who along with team mate Kimi Raikkonen lost a fair chunk of track time in pre-season because of technical issues, agreed with his team principal’s assessment:

“There are a lot of things to learn with the use of the power unit to improve the performance of the car and we are not yet where we want to be. 

“Everyone in the team is very competitive and we are working day and night in order to get all the potential out of the F14 T as soon as possible.”

Force India looking like the dark horses
Force India didn’t achieve the same outright pace as Williams, Mercedes or even Ferrari in Bahrain, but after early teething troubles with the Mercedes-powered VJM07 in Jerez, they looked swift and -more importantly - reliable in Sakhir. The team completed three successive days of 100-plus laps to begin the final test, and that bodes well heading to Australia, as does the fact that both Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were able to conduct important set-up work and race simulations.

“Our time in Bahrain has gone largely to plan with the mileage achieved leaving us in good shape going into Melbourne,” said Andrew Green, Force India’s technical director. 

“We’re feeling positive about our reliability and have explored some encouraging directions for improving car performance. The other focus has been on our race readiness and we’ve done a great deal of homework to prepare the drivers for the challenge that awaits them in Melbourne."

Red Bull making progress - but not quickly enough 
Red Bull might have managed 77 laps on the final day in Bahrain - their best tally of pre-season - but that doesn’t make up for the fact that on several days they barely turned a wheel. The world champions’ tally of 320 laps this winter was bettered by every team bar Marussia and Lotus (who missed the first test in Jerez entirely).

Many will point the finger at power unit suppliers Renault, but Red Bull must take some of the blame. The RB10 may be an inherently quick machine, but Christian Horner’s team simply haven’t been able to get it working for long enough to prove it. Whilst their rivals have completed numerous race simulations, Red Bull’s runs have mainly been on the short side, with regular pit stops to check everything is okay (particularly at the rear of the car where overheating has been a problem). All of this makes a strong showing in Melbourne - and even a race finish - improbable (though not impossible). 

But for all their troubles, it mustn’t be forgotten that Red Bull are quadruple world champions for a reason and therefore it’s inconceivable that they’ll be in their current predicament for too much longer. As for the team themselves, they remain optimistic.

“Obviously we have had a lot of problems during testing, but we understand the problems and hope to have fixes in place for Australia,” said Red Bull’s race engineering co-ordinator Andy Damerum.

“We know the pace is in the car, as we saw from Daniel's performance here; what we have to do now is put all the pieces together and establish reliability for the race in Melbourne. There is plenty of motivation in the team and we'll keep working hard over the next two weeks."

Lotus well behind the curve
If Red Bull’s test period was bleak, Lotus’s wasn’t any rosier. After missing the first session of the year in Jerez, the Enstone team needed the remaining two tests to run smoothly, but after a successful shakedown of the twin prong-nosed E22, things went downhill rapidly in Bahrain. 

Clearly they are having issues with the Renault power unit and its installation and even if the problems can be fixed before Australia, Lotus will head to Melbourne significantly under-prepared, and not just from a car point of view, but from a driver point of view too.

“We’ve ended our pre-season test programme with a lot of unknowns and a full workload for the days ahead,” said Alan Permane, Lotus’s trackside operations director, after Sunday’s final test running. “We’re all focused, both at Enstone and in Viry, on analysing all the data we have gained to make as much improvement as we can before we get to Australia for the first race of the season. Today we put some more mileage on the E22, but once again we stopped early, which is obviously not what we wanted. There will be some long days and nights before the first race but we are determined to make as much progress as possible.”

No one knows what to expect in Australia!
Trying to get anyone in Bahrain to commit to a prediction for the season’s first race in Melbourne was like trying to get blood out of a stone. All anyone could agree on was that it is going to be highly unpredictable and reliability is likely to be the defining factor. 

(source: f1.com)

Pre-season testing in numbers - who went fastest and furthest

In terms of pace it was Williams and Mercedes who finished winter testing on a high, with the former’s Felipe Massa clocking the fastest time of the second and final Bahrain session. Factor in the first Sakhir test and the Jerez opener to see who’s accrued the most mileage pre-season and again it’s Mercedes and Williams leading the way…

Unofficial aggregate test times from second Bahrain test:
1. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 33.258s, 202 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 33.278s, 159 laps
3. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 33.484s, 192 laps
4. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 33.987s, 236 laps
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 34.280s, 196 laps
6. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 35.290s, 213 laps
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 35.426s, 141 laps
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 35.577s, 189 laps
9. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 35.701s, 135 laps
10. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 35.743s, 105 laps
11. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 35.894s, 197 laps
12. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 36.113s, 137 laps
13. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, 1m 36.467s, 181 laps
14. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 36.835s, 105 laps
15. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 36.901s, 74 laps
16. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, 1m 37.087s, 153 laps
17. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, 1m 37.303s, 192 laps
18. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1m 37.468s, 77 laps 
19. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 38.083s, 172 laps
20. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m 38.391s, 125 laps
21. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 39.302s, 65 laps
22. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 40.599s, 62 laps

Total laps in second Bahrain test - by team (power unit, where different):
1. Williams (Mercedes), 438
2. Force India (Mercedes), 402
3. Sauber (Ferrari), 373
4. Mercedes, 351
5. Ferrari, 337
6. Caterham (Renault), 297
7. Toro Rosso (Renault), 272
8. McLaren (Mercedes), 271
9. Marussia (Ferrari), 258
10. Red Bull (Renault), 182
11. Lotus (Renault), 127

Total laps in second Bahrain test - by power unit:
1. Mercedes, 1462 (4 teams)
2. Ferrari, 968 (3 teams)
3. Renault, 878 (4 teams)

Total 2014 test distance - by team (power unit, where different):
1. Mercedes, 4972.644 km
2. Williams (Mercedes), 4893.432 km
3. Ferrari, 4488.516 km
4. McLaren (Mercedes), 4153.464 km
5. Sauber (Ferrari), 4039.32 km
6. Force India (Mercedes), 3974.868 km
7. Caterham (Renault), 3313.128 km
8. Toro Rosso (Renault), 2436.384 km
9. Red Bull (Renault), 1705.764 km
10. Marussia (Ferrari), 1686.084 km
11. Lotus (Renault), 1288.056 km (Lotus missed opening Jerez test)

Total 2014 test distance - by power unit:
1. Mercedes (4 teams), 17994.408 km
3. Ferrari (3 teams), 10213.92 km
2. Renault (4 teams), 8743.332 km

(source: f1.com)

Hamilton leads final day of pre-season testing

The final pre-season test of 2014 drew to a close under floodlights in Bahrain on Sunday, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton setting the pace from the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton’s best time of 1m 33.278s was just two-hundredths down on the winter benchmark at Sakhir, set by Williams’ Felipe Massa on Saturday. The teams’ next track outing will be opening practice in Australia in less than two weeks’ time.

As Hamilton led the way, it was another highly productive day for Williams. Bottas racked up 108 laps, despite an engine failure - remarkably the team’s first and only on-track stoppage of pre-season testing.

“We ran a similar programme with Valtteri as we did with Felipe yesterday, starting off with some chassis and aero tests this morning,” explained Rod Nelson, Williams’ chief test and support engineer. “We did some long runs after the lunch break to look at tyre degradation before moving on to a qualifying simulation. Towards the end of simulation, and before we were able to fit the supersoft tyres, we had a high mileage failure in the Internal Combustion Engine.

“With the number of laps we have put on it, it wasn't a big surprise but it was still a shame that Valtteri couldn't get that final chance to push. However, with an overall team total of 936 laps under our belt, we are still pleased that that is the only time the FW36 has stopped on track throughout testing. We end the pre-season running feeling very happy with the car, power unit, drivers and team. Everything is working together as it should and we are pleased with the direction that the team is going in.”

At Ferrari, Fernando Alonso’s progress with the F14 T was hampered somewhat by the need for a gearbox change, but the Spaniard finished the day third nonetheless.

“The team did its utmost to carry out changes on the car as quickly as possible, but again today, we had planned to do more laps than we managed,” Alonso told Ferrari’s website. “There are a lot of things to learn with the use of the power unit to improve the performance of the car and we are not yet where we want to be. Everyone in the team is very competitive and we are working day and night in order to get all the potential out of the F14 T as soon as possible.”

Force India’s programme ended slightly early due to a suspected component failure, which meant Nico Hulkenberg, fourth fastest, wasn’t able to complete his planned race simulation. Hulkenberg was followed in the times by Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne, who like the German (and Alonso) completed 74 laps.

Sauber had both their race drivers in action, with Adrian Sutil sixth fastest and Esteban Gutierrez eighth, as the Swiss team wrapped up their winter test programme.

“It was good for them to have this valuable time in the car,” said Giampaolo Dall’Ara, head of track engineering. “Looking back at the first test in Jerez, we had a tough programme to get through and faced several unexpected problems, which meant we lost running time. The learning curve was very steep at the first test. Now it’s a bit flatter, but there is still enough to do.”

Max Chilton was an encouraging seventh for Marussia, despite losing substantial track time to an electrical problem on the MR03, while world champion Sebastian Vettel managed a vast improvement on his zero lap count of Saturday, as he finished ninth after 77 tours of Sakhir.

Jenson Button ended tenth after a difficult final day for McLaren. A high-mileage engine failure and some as-yet undiagnosed control electronics problem meant Button was unable to evaluate the team’s new Melbourne-spec front wing that had arrived in the morning.

Eleventh in the times was Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi, who completed an impressive 106 laps in the CT05, while the final spot was filled by another Renault-powered runner, Romain Grosjean in the Lotus.

“We’re not in an ideal situation,” admitted Grosjean, after further power unit problems for the team. “There is a lot of new technology for everyone to understand, but even though we have stopped many times and spent a lot of time in the garage, each time we run the car we are learning something new. 

"We’re all working as hard as we can in Enstone and I’m sure that Renault Sport F1 is doing the same. We now have two weeks to find a lot more performance and reliability.”

Opening practice for the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix begins at 12.30 local time on Friday, March 14.

Unofficial Sunday test times from Bahrain
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 33.278s, 70 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 33.987s, 108 laps
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 34.280s, 74 laps
4. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 35.577s, 74 laps
5. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 35.701s, 74 laps
6. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, 1m 36.467s, 91 laps
7. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 36.835s, 61 laps
8. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, 1m 37.303s, 86 laps
9. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1m 37.468s, 77 laps 
10. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 38.111s, 22 laps
11. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m 38.391s, 106 laps
12. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 39.302s, 32 laps

(source: f1.com)

Bahrain to name first corner after Schumacher

The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) has announced that it is to name the first corner of the track after Michael Schumacher, following consultation with the seven-time world champion’s family. 

Schumacher, who won the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004 and helped with the design of the circuit, including turn one, remains in hospital following his skiing accident at the end of last year.

“With the support of his family, it is a great privilege to be able to honour arguably the greatest racing driver in the history of F1 and someone who the people of Bahrain hold close to their hearts,” said Zayed Al Zayani, BIC Chairman.

“From his first appearance at the BIC in 2004, he immediately became an inspiration for all those who love motorsport in the Kingdom and it is therefore natural for us to recognise him in this way. The team at the BIC continues to offer Michael and his family its best wishes.”

Schumacher’s manager, Sabine Kehm, added: “Michael's family would like to thank the Bahrain International Circuit for this gesture, acknowledging Michael's achievements in Formula One and interest in the BIC circuit design. We take it as a recognition for his passion for motorsport. I am convinced Michael will love the idea and feel very honoured about having a BIC corner named after him.”

The BIC is honouring Schumacher as part of its 10th anniversary, which will also be the venue’s first Formula One night race, the 2014 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on April 04-06. 

(source: f1.com)

Massa sets record pace as Red Bull's struggles continue

There were contrasting fortunes on display on the third day of the final pre-season test in Bahrain on Saturday.

Whilst Williams’ Felipe Massa was able to record the fastest time seen at the Sakhir circuit so far this winter, reigning world champions Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull had another day to forget as they failed to complete a single lap.

The Milton Keynes-based team had hoped to carry over momentum from Friday, their best test day of the year so far. However, no sooner had Vettel headed out on track - almost three hours into the session - then he was forced to once again park the Renault-powered RB10.

The car was returned to the pits and eventually emerged again just before lunch, but this time Vettel made it only to the end of the pit lane. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the car would remain in the garage for the rest of the day.

“Given how well the car behaved yesterday we were anticipating a solid run for Seb today but almost as soon as he went out there was an electrical problem, which meant stopped him on track,” said Red Bull’s race engineering co-ordinator Andy Damerum. 

“We brought the car back, identified the issue, which is one other teams have had but which hadn’t affected us so far, and set about fixing it. We got ready for another run but this time the car stopped in pit lane. We brought it back again and discovered a leak, which we thought we could fix but it turned out that it had caused enough damage that we weren’t able to go out again.

“Having run so well yesterday it is frustrating to have had these problems today, but all we can do is keep solving the issues.”

As Red Bull were struggling to get their new car working, Felipe Massa and Williams were focused on extracting performance from theirs. The Brazilian was fastest as the teams paused for lunch and lowered the bar again in the afternoon. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg briefly knocked the FW36 off the top spot, but a late day surge returned Massa to the head of the timesheet.

“We had a very good day today doing almost 100 laps,” Massa enthused. “We did a lot more performance work in the car which is something that we haven't done so much of so far. 

“I'm really happy with the car and feel we found a good balance. We did so much work on the set-up but it is very important that we go to Australia prepared. Of course you are always happy when you see your name at the top in first place, but as well as performance, today was good for the mileage and reliability of the car which we know is needed for Australia. 

“You can never be sure that you are 100 percent ready for the first race, but I feel that what we have done in these days testing has been important for making sure that we have a car that can not only get to the end of the race, but that will have good performance as well.”

There was over two seconds between Rosberg, who completed 103 laps despite a morning engine change, and the next man on the timesheet, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was spending his final day in the F14 T before the first race in Australia.

“I’d hoped to do more laps, but this wasn’t an easy day,” said the Finn. 

“We lost some time this morning when we had to fix something on the car, but then we managed to make up for some of it in the afternoon. Running a race distance, we continued to get more data relating to fuel consumption strategies and tyre degradation, even though the strong wind upset the driving a lot. 

“I’d like to be able to say we did better, but there’s still one more day with Fernando to continue our preparation for Melbourne.”

Below Raikkonen, in P4 and P5, were rookies Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat, both of whom were also having their final runs before Australia. Compared to Magnussen, Kvyat has had limited track time so far this winter, so he was delighted to lap 81 times on Saturday.

“(It was) a very positive day because we managed to complete a good amount of laps,” the Russian commented. 

“The work all went in the right direction and we carried out many important tests and did some longer runs. That means I am feeling much more confident with the car now. The next stop is Melbourne and I don’t want to make any predictions about how we will get on in Australia, although the one thing I can say is that I am really looking forward to my first Grand Prix.”

Sixth position on the day went to Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg who concentrated on race simulation work in the afternoon after a morning experimenting with setups on the VJM07. The German completed 115 laps – just two fewer than the days mileage leader Marcus Ericsson. The Caterham rookie finished just behind Marussia’s Jules Bianchi in the standings having clocked the eighth best time.

The day’s final time went to Romain Grosjean who had a stop-start day in the Renault-powered Lotus E22. After a tardy start, a promising 33 lap afternoon session was cut short by an MGU-K issue.

Similarly afflicted with technical problems were Sauber. Having completed their highest lap tally so far on Friday, the Swiss team went to the other extreme on Saturday with Adrian Sutil managing just one lap before encountering an engine problem. 

“Unfortunately today we have encountered an anomaly on the engine and as a precautionary measure we decided to change it, which meant that we could only manage one lap in the morning,” explained Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Sauber’s head of track engineering . 

“However, assembly takes considerably longer and at a certain stage during the afternoon we decided to focus on tomorrow and be ready for the final day of testing. The crew worked tirelessly and hopefully tomorrow we can get on with our programme.”

Pre-season testing concludes at Bahrain on Sunday.

Unofficial Saturday test times from Bahrain
1. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 33.258s, 99 laps
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 33.484s, 103 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 35.426s, 87 laps
4. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 35.894s, 88 laps
5. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 36.113s, 81 laps
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 36.205s, 115 laps
7. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, 1m 37.087s, 78 laps
8. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 38.083s, 117 laps
9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 42.166s, 33 laps
10. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, No time, 1 lap
11. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, No time, 0 laps 

(source: f1.com)

Force India quickest again as Red Bull rally in Bahrain

For the second day in a row, Force India’s Sergio Perez was the fastest man on track at the final pre-season test in Bahrain on Friday. 

As on Thursday, Perez set his timesheet-topping lap during a short run in the morning session. The Mexican went on to complete over a 100 laps for the second consecutive day, bringing his winter test programme to a successful close.

"It feels very good to have another full day and to do so many laps,” said Perez. “It’s my last time in the car until we arrive in Melbourne and I’m feeling positive about how things are going. 

“The set-up work today was very useful because we tried some different things to have a better direction for the first race. Everything went to plan and we managed to complete all the long runs in the afternoon.”

Fernando Alonso was another to show good pace on his penultimate day of running before Melbourne. The Ferrari driver, who conducted a comparison of aerodynamic parts in the morning before moving on to a race simulation in the afternoon, clocked 122 laps (over 600km) and a best lap that was only 0.064s slower than Perez’s.

“Six hundred kilometres are always welcome, but it’s still too early to say we are a hundred percent
ready for Melbourne,” explained the Spaniard. “We still have a lot to learn, but I am happy with the way the day went.”

Just behind Alonso on the timesheet was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, whose quickest time of 1m 35.743s was comfortably the world champion team’s best lap of the winter.

“(It was) a very much better day’s work for us today,” said Red Bull’s race engineering co-ordinator Andy Damerum.

“We were a bit late out in the morning, but that was simply due to the repairs we had to make overnight because of the damage we had yesterday. That was pretty much a ‘fix in the field’. 

“When we did send Daniel out this morning we again put him on short runs just to test everything, as obviously you don’t want to push too hard, have a problem and then wreck the rest of the day. That cautious approach also allowed us to do some pit stop practice, which we haven’t done as yet and also to do some aero work on the car. 

“We were back in the garage over lunch to make some changes, though nothing drastic, and then in the afternoon we were very much better again. Daniel was able to do a longer run of 20 timed laps, our longest so far. 

“The car is still difficult to drive for Daniel but we’ll tune that out. We have more parts to fit overnight and hopefully we’ll be able to get some more decent runs in with Sebastian over the next two days and also give him the opportunity to do some performance runs. Overall a good day today and very encouraging.”

Felipe Massa was the second-fastest Mercedes-powered runner on the day in Williams’ FW36, just ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button whose running was interrupted by red flag-inducing technical problems. 

“We had a problem within the gearbox - it took a while to change, as anything within the power-unit does these days - but we got back out at the end, and everything ran smoothly, which was good,” explained Button. 

“It was a shame to lose that time - it’s the first major issue we’ve had this winter; but it’s better to suffer it here, rather than at a race weekend.

“We were still able to do a long-run on high-fuel this afternoon. The basic car is good, and there’s a great deal of potential there, but there’s still a lot of work to do. We have a good understanding of the power-unit, and we know how to race it, but, in terms of balance and grip, the car isn’t quite there yet.

“But I know we’ve got some good improvements in the pipeline – and they should help us close the gap to the front of the grid.”

Marussia’s fortunes continued to show improvement with Jules Bianchi completing 75 laps in the Ferrari-powered MR03 for the sixth fastest time. The Frenchman finished ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who endured a stop-start day in the F1 W05. The 2008 world champion brought out the first red flag of the morning after becoming beached in the gravel, and then suffered a day-ending gearbox problem in the afternoon.

“Like every team, we're encountering problems every day and we've still got some work to do in terms of both reliability and speed,” said Hamilton. 

“There are no specific problem areas, just lots of different things we need to improve. It's important to get as much mileage under our belts as we can and just as important to discover any problems before we get to Melbourne. It might be frustrating at times but finding them at this stage is actually a positive. 

“We really don't know where anyone stands right now and we have enough to concentrate on without looking at how other teams are getting on. The focus is on ourselves and will continue to be right up to the first race. Today was a fairly average day but I've got one more to go before we get to Melbourne, so hopefully that will be a bit more productive.”

Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez filled places eight and nine on the timesheet, the former evaluating various suspension settings and the latter one of three drivers to surpass the 100-lap mark on Friday.

“The mileage we covered today was great, and these were the most laps in one day for the team so far,” said a happy Gutierrez. 

“From a reliability point of view, I think we are doing well so far. After some aero work this morning I was able to get into the long runs and race simulation. I also managed to get a feeling for different settings, including fuel saving, and that worked quite well. The pit crew and the engineers are working incredibly hard, and together we were able to get used to race weekend procedures.”

For the second day in a row, the slowest times were recorded by Renault-powered teams Lotus and Caterham. Pastor Maldonado and Marcus Ericsson both suffered fires at the rear of their cars which curtailed their running. 

Both teams will be hoping for an improved day of running when testing resumes in Bahrain on Saturday.

Unofficial Friday test times from Bahrain
1. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 35.570s, 108 laps
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 35.634s, 122 laps
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 35.743s, 66 laps
4. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 36.507s, 103 laps
5. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 36.901s, 52 laps
6. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, 1m 38.092s, 75 laps
7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m39.041s, 89 laps
8. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 39.636s, 61 laps
9. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, 1m 39.976s, 106 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 41.613s, 31 laps
11. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 42.516s, 55 laps

(source: f1.com)

Perez the pacesetter at final pre-season test in Bahrain

Force India’s Sergio Perez finished with the fastest time on the opening day of the final pre-season test in Bahrain on Thursday.

Perez took his Mercedes-powered VJM07 around the Sakhir circuit in 1m 35.290s in the morning session, and with many teams opting to concentrate on long runs, the Mexican's time was not bettered in the afternoon.

"We really needed a good day to start this week and today we had it,” said a delighted Perez, who completed 105 laps in total. 

“We managed to do a lot of laps, try several different (tyre) compounds and mappings, and it's been a fantastic day in terms of learning about the car. Tomorrow is my last day in the car before the season starts so hopefully we can have another solid day to be in good shape for Melbourne.” 

Second on the timesheet was Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, who used a short run in the afternoon to vault up the standings. Prior to that, the Finn had concentrated on longer race simulation runs, racking up a day-high 128 laps in the process.

"It was nice to get the whole run plan done," said Bottas. "We didn't have any issues all day so well done to all the team for getting the car running so well. We have a lot of data to analyse tonight after doing some aero work this morning and a race distance and set-up work this afternoon. We did some very interesting tests and there are still plenty of things to improve so we'll keep pushing."

Behind Bottas was countryman Kimi Raikkonen. Technical issues restricted the Ferrari driver to just 12 laps in the morning, but the F14 T featured heavily in the afternoon’s running, completing a series of set-up tests over short runs before stopping again just before the chequered flag. 

Last week’s overall pacesetter Nico Rosberg set the fourth quickest time of the day in Mercedes’ F1 W05 and was another to work on longer runs and set-up before a technical gremlin brought his programme to a slightly premature end.

“That was not a fantastic day for us,” Rosberg explained. “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 was the second fastest of the two non-Mercedes-powered runners in the top six, finishing with the fifth best time for Sauber, but he wasn’t entirely happy with his progress.

“We did a lot of mileage today,” he said. “However, we have to work on our performance. We still had a few issues. Nevertheless, we were able to do qualifying runs and almost a complete race simulation.” 

In sixth place was rookie Kevin Magnussen who had another productive day at the wheel of McLaren’s MP4-29. The Dane completed a number of short set-up runs in the morning and a full race distance in the afternoon as he continued preparations for his Grand Prix debut in Australia.

Daniel Ricciardo gave world champions Red Bull some hope in the morning session when he took the so-far problematic RB10 around 32 times for P5. However, the overheating issues that have plagued the Milton Keynes-based team throughout pre-season returned in the afternoon and the Australian was only able to add another seven laps to his morning tally. Despite this, Ricciardo was upbeat about the progress the team have made.

“Behind the wheel, that’s the best I’ve felt so far,” he explained. 

“The package seems to be coming together better. We still had a few issues today, but at least when the car was on track it was much more useful running and we made progress in the morning. It’s getting there.”

Another team looking to bounce back from a poor test last week were Marussia. Max Chilton showed the squad had put their IT problems firmly behind them by recording 44 laps and the eighth fastest time.

“We are all very pleased that we have made such good progress today and achieved our target of being able to run the MR03 in high and low fuel specification,” said Marussia team principal John Booth. 

“We are reasonably happy with the performance of the car and the reliability is also starting to come, although these are complicated cars and we are treading carefully. There is only a short space of time now until Melbourne, so the work we will do over the next three days will be crucial. 

“We have helped that process significantly by putting in place some firm building blocks for the rest of the week. We have had a challenging time in pre-season testing so far, but it looks like we are starting to turn the corner and motivation within the team is high.”

The other rookie on track on Thursday - Daniil Kvyat - had a mixed day for Toro Rosso. The Russian, who has struggled for mileage in pre-season, completed 43 laps in the morning, but a technical failure with the Renault-powered STR9 shortly after lunch confined him to the garage for the rest of the afternoon. 

Rounding out the times were two other Renault-powered runners - Lotus’s Pastor Maldonado and Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi. Both drivers suffered issues, Maldonado’s being an exhaust problem which sidelined him whilst he was evaluating new components. 

“Today started well and we evaluated new aero parts in the morning,” said Lotus’s trackside operations director Alan Permane. 

“Unfortunately, our new specification exhaust system failed, causing a small amount of damage to the surrounding area of the car. This stopped us running early due to the rectification work required. 

“For tomorrow, we will run with our previous specification of exhaust and we do not expect to see any similar problems to those we saw today.”

The final test continues in Bahrain on Friday.

Unofficial Thursday test times from Bahrain
1. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 35.290s, 105 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 36.184s, 128 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 36.432s, 54 laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 36.624s, 89 laps
5. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, 1m 37.700s, 89 laps
6. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 37.825s, 109 laps
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 37.908s, 39 laps
8. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 38.610s, 44 laps
9. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 39.242s, 56 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 40.599s, 31 laps
11. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m 42.285s, 19 laps

(source: f1.com)