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The rain was
the main protagonist on the first day of test sessions
at the “Circuito Permanente de Velocidad" in Jerez de la
Frontera in Andalusia yesterday as the second F1 test of
the year got underway. Just before 10.00 AM the rain
started and didn’t stop until the end of the day. The
ten drivers on the track had to be satisfied with the
first minutes on the dry to verify the new cars’ set ups
without water on the track. Naturally it was extremely
busy on the track, considering that there are just 15
days of testing before the race season start. There was
also the F10 amongst the cars with the most kilometres
on the clock. The Ferrari single-seater, yesterday
driven by Fernando Alonso, completed 88 laps, only the
Williams of Nico Hulkenberg drove more (118 laps).
The day kicked
off when the track was opened at 9:00 AM and all the teams,
aware of the weather forecast, went out for a series of laps
on the dry track. Just after 9:30 AM the first rain began to
fall at the track, with heavier, uninterrupted rain soon
following. Alonso went out for his first run on the dry
track with a set of tyres already used in Valencia last
week; later on the team, considering the track conditions,
decided to anticipate some of the work on the gearbox,
originally planned during the lunch break. The Spanish
driver went back on the track at around 11:15 AM, using both
types of tyres for the wet provided by Bridgestone. Alonso’s
best lap time in the morning was 1:22.895 in a run of 34
laps. The fastest lap by the break was driven by the
Mercedes with Rosberg at the wheel in 1:20.927. There was
another interruption, for almost half an hour, caused by a
problem with Webber’s Red Bull, which had to stop in the
middle of the track on the day of its debut. Just after 1:00
PM the new Virgin single-seater went onto the track for the
first time this year with Timo Glock behind the wheel. Rain
continued through the afternoon until the day officially
ended.
Despite the rain
during what was his second day of testing behind the wheel
of the F10, Alonso was satisfied last night: “The work was
influenced by the bad weather, but nevertheless we managed
to drive many kilometres and almost did 90 laps,” Fernando
said. “So we’re satisfied, because we could collect lots of
data, which is important for the reliability. We hope that
the weather is better tomorrow, because it’s important to
drive on a dry track, too. The car went very well on the wet
track though and it’s easy to drive. The feeling is good,
just like on the dry. All in all I had some positive
sensations today.”
"We worked on
the new single-seater’s reliability and we can confirm that
we are very satisfied as far as this front is concerned,”
Chris Dyer, Head of race engineering, said at the end of the
day. "Just like in Valencia we drove with different fuel
loads and the results, even under these track conditions,
were positive regarding the car’s behaviour, driveability
and ease. The performance level, compared to our
competitors, remains a question mark, because we don’t know
under what conditions the other cars are testing. We haven’t
made any steps ahead as far as performance is concerned, but
we did in terms of reliability. We collected lots of data
regarding the rain tyres, because the track conditions
remained pretty vague today as far as intermediates or super
wets were concerned." Dyer was asked what he thinks about
the Spanish driver in his new team: "Fernando has great
experience, in the races and in terms of the car’s
development. His feedbacks are very helpful and really
precise. His indications now won’t have effects on the car’s
project, but he’s extremely important now and in the near
future. He’s not a surprise for us: we knew that he’s a
great driver and his relation with the technicians is
growing very well, day after day.”
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