The Jerez test has officially concluded, as the fourth and final day of testing comes to a close at the Circuito de Jerez. Ferrari took back the top spot of the day from Sauber, who had claimed the top at the end of day three. Today was saw Kimi Raikkonen driving the Ferrari, Marcus Ericsson driving the Sauber, Lewis Hamilton driving the Mercedes, Max Verstappen driving the Toro Rosso, Felipe Massa driving the Williams, Romain Grosjean driving the Lotus, Daniil Kvyat driving the Red Bull and Jenson Button driving the McLaren. The next test does not until Feb. 19 in Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain.
Ferrari had a trouble-free day with Kimi Raikkonen on track today. He had the opportunity to show just how much more improved the 2015 car is from last year’s car, setting the fastest lap time of the entire four day of testing, with a lap time of 1:20.841. He did 105 laps on the track, giving the team a grand total of 346 laps during the entire Jerez test.
Sauber lost out on the top spot of the day, posting a time of 1:22.019, which was approximately 1.2 seconds slower than the pace set by Ferrari. Marcus Ericsson got to spend his last day in Jerez behind the wheel of the car. The team had no issues, except when Ericsson ran out of fuel in the closing minutes of the session. This brought out the fourth red flag of the day, only minutes after the third red flag for a cardboard box blowing around the track. He logged 111 laps, adding to the team’s total, giving them 381 total laps. Today’s time was Ericsson’s best in the test, but Felipe Nasr managed to log the best lap time for the team, with a time of 1:22.019 that was set on the third day of testing.
Lewis Hamilton, the defending World Champion, took the Mercedes out for a spin today. The team had a cooling issue around lunch time and had to spend some time in the garage repairing the issue. Hamilton was responsible for the second red flag of the day, after spinning his car on the track. Despite the lost time, he still managed to complete 116 laps and get a time of 1:22.172 to claim third on the day’s time sheet. The team’s Jerez focus was to get some miles on the engine and they succeeded, getting a record 516 laps (2 275 kilometers) of testing. Nico Rosberg set the fastest time for the team in the Jerez test, with a time of 1:21.982 on day three.
Max Verstappen had his second chance in the Toro Rosso today for the final day of testing in Jerez. The team was the most reliable of the teams that are running the Renault engines. The team achieved their testing objective of giving their rookie lineup some laps in the car. Verstappen logged 97 laps today, but the team logged 353 laps throughout the entire test. With a lap time of 1:22.553 today, Verstappen claimed the fastest lap for the team in the 2015 Jerez test.
In the Williams car, we saw Felipe Massa complete 73 laps. The team spent the day collecting aerodynamic data and testing various setups on the car. The main goal of the test was to scope out any reliability issues with the car, but there weren’t many to be detected. Massa got a time of 1:23.116, which was neither his nor the team’s fastest lap in Jerez. With a time of 1:22.319 that was set on the second day of testing by Valtteri Bottas.
Lotus put Romain Grosjean in the car for the day, managing to get sixth position of the day. Despite missing out on the first day of testing while they waited for the car to arrive, the team logged 190 laps after adding Grosjean’s 53 laps for today. The team’s session was shortened, after the sensors detected a power unit problem developing. Despite this, Grosjean was able to set the team’s fastest Jerez time of 2015 today, with a lap time of 1:23.802.
The Red Bull team focused on running long stints, with Daniil Kvyat in the car. Kvyat had a difficult session on the second day of testing, after damaging the team’s only front wing in his opening lap. Today was not much better for the team. They set 65 laps for the day, but were only able to get seventh on the time charts with a time of 1:23.975. The team missed out on most of the morning part of the day, after an ERS failure brought out the first red flag of the day and grounded the car in the garage. The first day of testing proved to be the most successful for the team, with Daniel Ricciardo setting a time of 1:23.338.
The struggles at McLaren continue for the final day of testing, with Jenson Button back for attempt number two. Button spent the morning trapped in the garage when the team found some engine issues that needed to be solved before the car could be released to the track. After running 35 laps, McLaren was forced to end their test early when they needed to replace the fuel pump, with only an hour left in the day. This put an end to the team’s nightmare test in Jerez, only managing to set 80 uncompetitive laps. Button recorded the first lap time for the team today with a time of 1:27.660, but that time was well off the pace of the other cars.
