Source: autosport.com | live timing commentary
Romain Grosjean made sure Lotus’ return to testing was a positive one by going fastest on day one of the final pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona.
The Frenchman waited until there was less than 30 minutes remaining for the day before he set the benchmark time of 1m23.252s, using a set of Pirelli’s soft tyres to eclipse Jenson Button’s fastest time from the morning’s session.
Faster times were a rarity in the afternoon sessions, with teams opting to use the stable track conditions to go for longer runs. Grosjean was one of only two drivers to improve after lunch, the other being Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber.
However, Webber was only able to shave a tenth off his best morning time, leaving him behind Button and Perez – both with morning times – in fourth for the day.
Behind Webber it was Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes driver the busiest of the day with 128 laps for the day, mostly completed over long stints. Jean-Eric Vergne was sixth fastest, with Toro Rosso dedicating much of the last hour to pitstop practice.
Felipe Massa had a busy afternoon, eventually completing 105 laps for the day, despite a lengthy stay in the pits after lunch. However, his best time was only good enough for eighth.
Vitaly Petrov, subbing for the ill Heikki Kovalainen, was the second busiest man of the day, putting the new Caterham through 123 laps.
His reward was avoiding the bottom of the time sheets, with Petrov ending the day 0.711s clear of Pastor Maldonado, the Williams driver completing the least number of laps for the day with just 58.
Testing resumes tomorrow at Barcelona.
Today's times: Pos--Driver--------Team------------Time-------------Laps 1. Grosjean Lotus 1m23.252s 73 2. Button McLaren 1m23.510s +0.258 64 3. Perez Sauber 1m23.820s +0.568 118 4. Webber Red Bull 1m23.830s +0.578 102 5. Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.992s +0.740 128 6. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m24.216s +0.964 113 7. Di Resta Force India 1m24.305s +1.053 98 8. Massa Ferrari 1m24.318s +1.066 105 9. Petrov Caterham 1m24.876s +1.624 123 10. Maldonado Williams 1m25.587s +2.335 58
13:09 Our man on the ground @NobleF1 brings us some news on Lotus: Good news for Kimi fans. Lotus boss Eric Boullier says front suspension issue is now finished; updates working fine.
(From live commentary)
Morning times: Pos--Driver--------Team------------Time--------------Laps 1. Button McLaren 1m23.510s 27 2. Perez Sauber 1m23.820s +0.310 57 3. Grosjean Lotus 1m23.959s +0.449 36 4. Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.992s +0.482 57 5. Webber Red Bull 1m23.993s +0.483 53 6. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m24.216s +0.706 61 7. Di Resta Force India 1m24.305s +0.795 48 8. Massa Ferrari 1m24.318s +0.808 45 9. Petrov Caterham 1m24.876s +1.366 67 10. Maldonado Williams 1m25.587s +2.077 37
Romain Grosjean will hit the track for the Thursday/Friday sessions, with Kimi Räikkönen taking the wheel on Saturday/Sunday. Both drivers are raring to get out onto the circuit and show their skills, with third driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio in close attendance around the garage picking up on all the details from the drivers and engineers.
As always there are a host of partners and guests flowing in and out of the team motorhome, along with a swarm of media hoping to catch a few moments with the biggest names in world motorsport. It seems it’s not just the drivers who will be going flat out here in Barcelona!
The first priority this morning is to complete a number of aero runs, followed shortly by a return to regular setup work. This is where all the efforts of the team back at Enstone who have worked tirelessly over the past week will come to fruition, and we can’t wait to get started.
Boullier aware Lotus must make the most of final F1 test after chassis problem
Lotus must make the most of its final pre-season test at Barcelona in Spain this week if it is to capitalise on the promising form of its car, reckons team boss Eric Boullier.
With the outfit being forced to pull out of last week’s test at Barcelona because of a front suspension issue, and having plans to make up for that time with a run at Silverstone next week now scuppered, the pressure is on to ensure it has a perfect next few days of running.
“Obviously we want to have the same reliability that we showed in Jerez and do the maximum mileage we can,” Boullier told AUTOSPORT ahead of its revised E20 taking to the track at Barcelona on Thursday.
“We will never catch back these four days we lost, but we need to make the best of these four days coming up in front of us to make sure that we do well.”
Boullier says there is some encouragement from the fact that Lotus showed so well in the first test in Jerez, but he knows that what really matters is how its updated car compares to the opposition.
“In Jerez the reliability was good and the pace was good, but it means nothing too much because it was the first test,” he said. “We have a lot of upgrades coming for the car like the others, for the test and for the first race, so let’s see now.
“But definitely the basis was good, and the drivers were happy with the handling of the car. The car had a good balance so it was a good start.”
Boullier has denied talk that the front suspension issue was the result of the outfit having tried to push too hard to take weight off its design – a theory backed up by the fact that the revised suspension components are 1kg heavier.
“No, no, no, it was nothing like this,” he explained. “There was a small deviation between design simulation and one component we had on the car, and obviously with the fitting of this mount on the front – we were not happy with the results. We decided for many reasons to focus on redesigning it and redoing it, and to get rid of this.”
Boullier also said his team accepted the decision of the FIA not to allow his outfit to test for an extra day next week – because the governing body believed it would be a breach of rules that prevent running in the week ‘preceding’ the first event.
“I think we had a different interpretation [of the rules],” explained Boullier. “The teams agreed that we could go for another day next week, but the FIA came back to us and said we cannot – so that is the end of the story.”
FUCK ISRAEL 