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)

Red Bull's pre season interviews with Vettel, Ricciardo, Horner and Newey

Testing analysis - the big talking points from Bahrain

Whereas the opening pre-season test at Jerez last month was all about systems checks and the reliability of the new 1.6-litre turbo power units, the second session in Bahrain last week saw a shift of emphasis towards outright performance - or at least it did for some teams…

While Mercedes and the similarly-powered Williams and McLaren teams were racking up around 300 laps over the four days, world champions Red Bull remained on the back foot, managing little over 100. We review this and the other major talking points in Sakhir…

Mercedes in pole position
There’s no denying that Mercedes are the current favourites for victory at next month’s season-opening Grand Prix in Australia. Not only did Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton clock the fastest times of the week in Bahrain, they put in 315 laps between them - a total only surpassed by Williams - and carried out both qualifying runs and race simulations in impressively efficient fashion.

Rosberg’s fastest lap of 1m 33.283s, set on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre, was within a second of his 2013 pole time at the circuit, proving that the 2014 cars are no slouches, and he could almost certainly have gone quicker, especially with a set of supersofts. Mercedes’ running was not without its problems, but being further down the development path than many rivals meant the team could diagnose and resolve issues quickly and get the F1 W05 back on track, ironing out the kind of difficulties others may not even discover until Melbourne.

It was generally good news for the other Mercedes-powered teams, too. McLaren’s MP4-29 was consistently on the pace, while Williams were sufficiently confident of their progress to spend significant time practising pit stops and to give an F1 rookie - new tester Felipe Nasr - a complete day in their FW36. Force India had one or two problems with the VJM07 in Bahrain, but it too looked capable of a decent turn of speed. 

Lotus - and Renault - recovering
After missing the opening test in Spain, Lotus had a lot to do in Bahrain. Predictably, their programme with the asymmetric-nosed E22 did not run entirely smoothly - only Marussia completed fewer laps - but things improved each day, with the last being the team’s most productive.

Encouragingly, Pastor Maldonado also set the fastest time for a Renault-powered car. Less encouraging was the fact that it was over five seconds off Rosberg’s leading pace. Renault admit they are still playing catch up, but at least their reliability looks to have improved, as shown by the 253 laps chalked up by Caterham.

Red Bull yet to bounce back
After managing a meagre 21 laps in Spain, Red Bull were hoping for dramatic improvement in Bahrain. There was improvement, but it was far from startling. They completed 116 laps - fewer than anyone bar Lotus and Marussia - and Daniel Ricciardo’s best lap of 1m 39.837s put them just 15th on the aggregate timesheet. The team were pleased to have resolved the problems of Jerez, but then kept running into new ones - and with the engineers still getting to grips with working on such a radically different machine, fixing them was rarely the work of a moment. That, of course, was an issue affecting most teams - Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry suggested that jobs on the 2014 cars are currently taking around twice as long as on their 2013 counterparts.

The dark (prancing) horse
While the headlines tended to focus on Mercedes’ might and Renault’s plight, it was more a case of ‘no news is good news’ at Ferrari. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen totalled a highly respectable 287 laps, and just two-tenths of a second separated their best times, suggesting a fascinating battle in prospect between the two former champions this season. They finished sixth and seventh respectively in the aggregate times and, along with Esteban Gutierrez in the Ferrari-powered Sauber, were the only non-Renault runners in the top 12. The only slight blot on the landscape was Raikkonen’s late crash in the final ten minutes of the week, one that highlighted the increased torque of the 2014 power units - something all drivers will need to be wary of this year, both in terms of driving style and managing tyre wear.

Marussia on the back foot
After beating perennial rivals Caterham to tenth in the 2013 constructors’ standings, Marussia were hoping to carry that momentum into the new campaign. Unfortunately for the Banbury-based team, they experienced several technical issues at the first test in Jerez, and they were similarly beset by difficulties in Sakhir. The John Booth-led squad bounced back from a computer virus on the first day of running, only to encounter a number of other issues which contributed to their position at the bottom of the mileage charts. On the plus side, things can only get better.

Williams’ second Felipe
It seems one Brazilian driver named Felipe wasn’t enough for Williams. Joining veteran countryman Massa, 21-year-old Felipe Nasr was announced as the team’s new test driver on Saturday morning. They wasted no time in putting him in the car, as that same day he got his very first taste of F1 machinery. And a very impressive debut it was too: 87 laps, fourth fastest on the day, and 12th quickest of the 24 drivers in the week’s aggregate timesheet.

(source: f1.com)

Bahrain test in numbers - who went fastest, and furthest

Whereas the opening pre-season test in Spain was effectively an extended shake-down, this week’s session in Bahrain allowed at least some of the teams to start discovering the true performance of their 2014 machines.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg topped the overall times, but which teams completed the most mileage - and with which power unit?

This week’s unofficial aggregate test times from Bahrain
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 33.283s, 174 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 34.263s, 141 laps
3. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 34.910s, 127 laps
4. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 34.957s, 169 laps
5. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 36.445s, 137 laps
6. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 36.516s, 161 laps
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 36.718s, 126 laps
8. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 37.066s, 65 laps
9. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, 1m 37.180s, 151 laps
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 37.328s, 171 laps
11. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 37.367s, 76 laps
12. Felipe Nasr, Williams, 1m 37.569s, 87 laps
13. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 38.707s, 85 laps
14. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 38.974s, 57 laps
15. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 39.837s, 43 laps
16. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m 39.855s, 83 laps
17. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1m 40.224s, 73 laps
18. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, 1m 40.443s, 89 laps
19. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 40.472s, 77 laps
20. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 41.670s, 26 laps 
21. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 42.130s, 102 laps
22. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 42.511s, 21 laps
23. Robin Frijns, Caterham, 1m 42.534s, 68 laps
24. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, no time, 8 laps

Total laps run - by team (power unit, where different):
1. Williams (Mercedes), 323
2. Mercedes, 315
3. McLaren (Mercedes), 296
4. Ferrari, 287
5. Caterham (Renault), 253
6. Sauber (Ferrari), 240
7. Force India (Mercedes), 213
8. Toro Rosso (Renault), 134
9. Red Bull (Renault), 116
10. Lotus (Renault), 111
11. Marussia (Ferrari), 29

Total laps run - by power unit:
1. Mercedes, 1147 (4 teams)
2. Renault, 614 (4 teams)
3. Ferrari, 556 (3 teams)

(source: f1.com)

Ayrton Senna's life style in brazil Part 1 - 3

Rapid Rosberg keeps Mercedes ahead on final day in Bahrain

The second of 2014’s three pre-season tests drew to a close in Bahrain on Saturday, with Mercedes leading the way by a clear margin. Nico Rosberg’s best lap of 1m 33.283 was over 1.5s quicker than that of nearest rival, McLaren’s Jenson Button, and a second faster than team mate Lewis Hamilton’s P1 time from Friday.

“This morning we were able to try some qualifying practice runs which felt good, meaning I could attack the lap a bit as I found a good balance,” said Rosberg, whose best time was the fastest of the week. “Later in the day we did a race simulation, which was crucial to learn all the new things in the car. There was a lot of feedback from the engineers, so my head was full of information!”

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third in the timesheets after a programme of set-up work and practice starts, despite a late crash which brought the day’s running to an end five minutes early.

“We have managed to improve some things compared to Jerez and we continue to understand more about the behaviour of the car,” Raikkonen told Ferrari’s website. “We tried various solutions to try and be as well prepared as possible for next week’s test and for the start of the season. Hitting the barrier? I spun on the kerb at the exit of turn 4, these things can happen! Luckily, it was right at the end of the day, I’m only sorry because it means the team now has more work to do.”

Raikkonen was followed on the timesheet by Williams debutant Felipe Nasr, the Brazilian making an impressive first appearance as the team’s new test and reserve driver.

“I am very happy to have driven a Formula One car for the first time, and reaching 87 laps made it also a very productive day,” said Nasr. “There were so many things going through my head before sitting in the car. It was what I was expecting though: very different to any other car I have ever driven with the amount of downforce, brake efficiency and the power. It was a learning process for me, but I was giving feedback to the engineers all day and I think we found some good things. I'm so pleased to have had this opportunity and I am now looking forward to the next time.”

“(Felipe) did a very good job for us,” added Williams’ chief test and support engineer, Rod Nelson. “We were keen for him to get some experience of the FW36 under his belt as it's important that he gets up to speed quickly so he can help us with the development of the car. He had a very sensible measured approach so we are happy with what we have seen so far. He gives good feedback, works well with his engineers and is also quick, and so we couldn't ask for more and are also looking forward to running him at some races this season.”

Lotus completed their first test of the year (having missed the Jerez opener) with Pastor Maldonado fifth fastest after a day described by the team as their ‘most productive so far’.

“We gained a lot more laps today and it was good for me to get time in the car,” said Maldonado. “There was a lot of work with different settings, aero runs and similar which meant there was quite a lot to think about, but I think it all went well. The car was much more reliable which has helped with our work and hopefully it’s a good sign for next week.”

Sixth place went to Force India’s Sergio Perez, despite his day ending just before lunch with a drivetrain issue, while Red Bull had yet another frustrating session, as first a software problem, then a mechanical issue and some car damage meant Daniel Ricciardo was able to complete only 15 laps en route to seventh place overall in his Renault-powered RB10.

"In all honesty it wasn't a great day today," said Ricciardo. "I guess we still need more time. We have four more days coming up and hopefully we can maximise those. I have to say that on the run we did today the car did feel better. But unfortunately another problem arose and we couldn't exploit that potential. I hope we can do more running next week. I'm happy I'm doing the first two days. At this stage we just need laps and I'm just hanging to get back in the car."

It was a similar story at Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso, where more teething problems with their identically powered STR9 limited Jean-Eric Vergne to 19 laps and eighth on the timesheet

“There’s no point in making negative comments, because everyone knows we are facing major problems and we are not alone in that,” commented Vergne. “We knew when we came to Bahrain that there had not been enough time since the previous test to have solved all our issues.

“On the positive side, we have managed to fix some of them now. Also, even if I have not done so many laps, it’s clear from those I have managed to complete, that Toro Rosso has done a good job to give me a car that feels nice to drive, if we talk about the elements that used to be the main topics before this year, such as the aero and mechanical side of the package.

“It’s frustrating, but we need to keep calm and not get stressed as there are still a few weeks before Melbourne. We will try again here in Bahrain starting on Thursday. Clearly, in Melbourne, just finishing the race will mean you have a good chance of scoring points.”

The final Renault-powered team, Caterham, had both Kamui Kobayashi and team mate Marcus Ericsson on track during the day, though an electrical problem on the CT05 meant they racked up just 21 laps between them as they ended the day ninth and tenth respectively.

“Overall this has been a positive test for us and Renault who have made good progress from where we were in Jerez,” said Jody Egginton, Caterham’s deputy technical director. “The multiple red flags throughout the four days hurt us and all the teams but we’ve run more laps than any of the other Renault powered cars and have made substantial progress on understanding how to operate the 2014 package, as well as completing significant long run mileage that has given us a lot of useful data on the car, power unit and the 2014 tyres.

“It’s obviously disappointing that we had limited running today due to an electrical issue with the Power Unit but we worked hard throughout the day to rectify that problem with Renault and add more mileage for the last hour, so it wasn’t a wasted day by any means.

“Pace-wise, Kamui’s time on day two was the first time we started really pushing overall performance and we know there is a lot more to come, from the Power Unit and the car in general, so we have plenty of reasons to be positive ahead of the final test here in Bahrain.”

At the bottom of the timesheet, neither Sauber’s Adrian Sutil nor Marussia’s Jules Bianchi recorded a time. Sutil’s running was limited to seven laps by a problem with an interior part of the C33’s monocoque, which required a chassis change, while Bianchi ran just five laps at the end of day due to continuing component reliability issues on the MR03.

The final pre-season test, again in Bahrain, takes place over four days next week from February 27-March 2.

Unofficial Saturday test times from Bahrain
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 33.283s, 89 laps
2. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 34.957s, 66 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 36.718s, 82 laps
4. Felipe Nasr, Williams, 1m 37.569s, 87 laps
5. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 38.707s, 59 laps
6. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 39.258s, 19 laps
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 39.837s, 15 laps
8. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 40.472s, 19 laps
9. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m 43.027s, 17 laps
10. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 45.094s, 4 laps
11. Adrian Sutil, Sauber, no time, 7 laps
12. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, no time, 5 laps

(source: f1.com)

Hamilton on top for Mercedes on day three in Bahrain

Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest lap of the week as he sent Mercedes to the top of the timesheets on the third day of pre-season testing at Sakhir.

The 2008 world champion leapt to the head of the field during Friday’s morning session, with McLaren’s Jenson Button the only driver to come close to matching Hamilton’s furious pace.

“It was nice to be able to put together a good lap today because generally speaking there seems to be less grip available than last year,” said a pleased Hamilton. 

“I'm looking forward to completing a race simulation next week as we didn't quite get to finish it today. We're trying to find any issues we can now to prevent them happening during a race situation, so from that perspective it's a positive that we were able to find and fix something again today. 

“The car seems to be responding well to my style of driving and the power unit is looking promising, with all of the Mercedes-powered team completing good mileage. We won't know where we are for definite until we get to Melbourne so we're just continuing to focus on our run programmes, keep positive and look forward; the team has done a great job to get where we are today so we just need to keep that going.”

Button was a long way off Hamilton’s pace at lunch, but edged closer to his former team mate during a busy afternoon period. The Briton completed 103 laps in total in the Mercedes-powered MP4-29 - more than anyone else managed on the day.

Felipe Massa took over the FW36 from Williams team mate Valtteri Bottas in the afternoon and set the third fastest time of the day. The Brazilian and the Finn spent much of their sessions working on pitstop practice, with Bottas failing to register a time as a result. 

“We ended up doing 43 live pitstops and went through our race start procedures,” confirmed Rod Nelson, Williams’ chief test and support engineer. 

“We then did some chassis work at the end of the day with Felipe to try and make up for some of the time he lost on day one. We are happy with how it has gone today. The car is proving to be solid and we are getting a good handle on things including starts performance and all the practical homework we need to do before we go racing in Melbourne. Overall, we are making good progress.”

Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez saw off compatriot Sergio Perez in the Force India for the fourth best time, although Perez admitted that he was still coming to terms with driving the VJM07.

“Although I did two days of testing in Jerez, today was my first proper experience of the car with everything working as planned,” he said. 

“There was a small delay this morning, but the rest of the day was interesting and we were able to do some good work in preparation for Melbourne. The first time I drove the car in Jerez it felt very different, but after today I am already getting used to the feeling. There’s less dowforce this year and lots of power so it’s an interesting challenge.”

The sixth fastest time went to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who endured a interrupted session. The Finn’s day began with some aerodynamic and set-up work, but after 12 laps the team encountered a problem with the data connection to the telemetry which required the system to be recalibrated and reactivated.

“We didn’t do as many kilometres as we had been hoping for because even though the problem was a minor one, it still took a while to fix,” explained Raikkonen. 

“It shows how complicated these new systems are, but in the afternoon we managed to run consistently. It was useful in terms of getting used to the environment inside the cockpit after the Jerez test and to check some settings relating to the balance of the car.”

Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat was pleased to have got 57 laps under his belt after limited running on previous days, but Pastor Maldonado was less fortunate, completing only 26 laps and bringing out the red flags twice as Lotus’s teething troubles with the E22 continued.

Sharing Lotus’s frustration were fellow Renault runners Red Bull, who were forced to halt Daniel Ricciardo’s running before the end of the session because of a mechanical problem. 

“After yesterday’s good work we had another positive period overnight with the car build, which we’re getting quite good at, and it looked good this morning,” explained Red Bull’s race engineering co-ordinator, Andy Damerum. 

“We were focused on short runs for Daniel, as the car feels very different to the one we had in Jerez and we wanted to build things up gradually for him. We made more changes over lunch and in doing so we came across a mechanical issue that we hadn’t encountered before and because of its nature it means we have to take the car apart. 

“As everyone in the pit lane is finding out this is a long process, so we decided to suspend running in the afternoon so that we can be ready for the final day. These issues are of course frustrating but this was unrelated to the others so it’s just a case of tackling each issue as it appears. A tough night in prospect but we hope to get a good day in tomorrow.”

Caterham completed the most laps of any of the four Renault-powered cars, with Marcus Ericsson’s tally of 98 laps taking him over the 300km threshold required for an F1 superlicence. 

“The boys have worked really hard today and we’ve pretty much had no issues which meant I could just get on with the program, and that was the main goal for today,” the Swedish rookie said.

“Performance-wise there’s still a lot more to come, both from the car and the engine. The times today didn’t really mean anything, and although it’s always nice to put in a quicker time, we’ve been doing pretty long runs all day and just working through the plan. Now I can’t wait to get back in the car again and hopefully our reliability record so far will hold up.”

The final driver to set a time was Marussia’s Max Chilton, although the Briton was only able to complete four laps before stopping out on track because of a problem with the MR03’s Ferrari engine.

The second test concludes in Bahrain on Saturday.

Unofficial Thursday test times from Bahrain
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m34.263s, 67 laps
2. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m34.976s, 103 laps
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m37.066s, 60 laps
4. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, 1m37.180s, 96 laps
5. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m37.367s, 57 laps
6. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m37.476s, 44 laps
7. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m38.974s, 57 laps
8. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m39.642s, 26 laps
9. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m40.781s, 28 laps
10. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m42.130s, 98 laps
11. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m46.672s, 4 laps
12. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, no time, 55 laps

(source: f1.com)