The first test of the 2015 season has been completed. The Circuito de Jerez opened at about 8 A.M. (GMT) today for teams to test their cars out on the track for the first time. Both Ferrari engines dominated the day to claim the top two positions of the day. Today we saw Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari, Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber, Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes, Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull, Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, Carlos Sainz Jr. in the Toro Rosso and Fernando Alonso in the McLaren. As expected, Force India will be skipping out of the Jerez test to spend more time in the wind tunnel to develop the car. The team feels that the track just isn’t vital to their performance in the season and could not provide them with any valuable data. Lotus also missed the first day of testing unexpectedly. The car is still in transit to the track and has not yet arrived.
The Ferrari team took with the top time of the day, despite some early telemetry issues that kept the car stuck in the garage for the start of the test. Eventually they got the car functioning properly, to complete 60 laps in the test and get a time of 1:22.620. The team’s focus of this day in testing was to test their new car’s performance when it is being pushed to the limit. Vettel tested in short stints and was able to complete the test without any mechanical breakdowns, aside from the start of the event. Vettel will be back in the car for day two of testing.
Sauber was the surprise of the day. With a brand new car which should be better than the team’s car last year, the team appears to have bounced back from their worst ever season. They set the second fastest time which a time of 1:22.777 after 73 laps of driving. The former Caterham driver, Marcus Ericsson, spent his time behind the wheel of the new Sauber C34. His teammate, the rookie, Nasr will spend time in the car in day two of testing. The biggest negative of the team’s first day of testing was when Ericsson spun the car on the track, bringing out the first red flag of the test. Overall, a brilliant performance from the team, showing that the Ferrari engine should perform much nicer than last season.
Mercedes completed an astonishing 157 laps in day one of testing. The original focus of their test day was to ensure that the car will be good in long stints. As the day moved on, the team shifted their focus to aerodynamic testing, using the aero paint to collect data. The car was on the top of the time chart for most of the session, but dropped down to third with a time of 1:23.106. The defending World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, will get behind the wheel of the car tomorrow for the second day of the Jerez test.
Red Bull put Ricciardo in the car for their testing day. They debuted a new sample livery, but haven’t confirmed what livery they will be running in the race. The entered the test to detect and fix any mechanical or technical issues with the car that the team rushed to build in order to make the test deadline. The team’s lack of building time was reflected by their horrific performance in the test. Indeed, they did set the fourth fastest time on the charts with a 1:23.338, which isn’t a bad time. However, they were only able to complete 35 laps in the first day of testing because of two mechanical failures. First, the car suffered from a brake failure which was caused by a battery issue. Secondly, the car experienced some sort of engine issue. This led to lots of time in the garage and very little time on the track.
We also saw Valtteri Bottas take to the track in the new Williams car. There appeared to be some trouble for the team early in the test, as the car was parked in the team’s garage for nearly the first four hours of the day. Eventually the team got the car ready to go out on the track and tested for 73 laps. Bottas got fifth on the time chart with a time of 1:23.906 by the end of the day. He will be back in the car tomorrow, for the second day of testing.
For the first time, we got to see the new Toro Rosso car. The rookie, Carlos Sainz Jr, spent some time testing the car. Toro Rosso’s purpose of the first day was to give the car a complete shakedown and to give their new lineup of rookies some experience in Formula One. The team’s lap times were less than impressive and were only able to get them second to last of the day with a time of 1:25.327 after 46 laps of testing. The team was also responsible for the second of two red flags, after Sainz Jr stopped the car on the track in the final hour of the day.
The first day of testing was supposed to help the team to perfect their new Honda power unit, but it did not go as planned. The team spent most of the day in the garage, completing six laps that were way off of the day’s pace. Alonso was the driver that got behind the wheel for those six laps, but Jenson Button will try his luck tomorrow with the struggling car.
