The second pre-season test of the 2015 season has concluded. This is the first of two tests that will take place on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain, the same track where the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix will be held on the weekend of May 10. We will see the drivers back in the cars next weekend for the second Barcelona test. The weather for the test was fair. The first two days of the test were held in sunny, but cool conditions. On the third day, teams were greeted with patches of rain through the entire day. We returned to dry conditions for the final day of the test, but the sunny conditions were matched with winds. After missing the first day of the Jerez test, Lotus spent three of the four days in Barcelona topping the time charts.
The Lotus F1 Team spent their first day of testing with Pastor Maldonado behind the wheel of the E23 hybrid. The team planned to log some miles on the car and evaluate the car’s setup, however, two red flags put a kink in their plans. The first was when the car suffered a sensor issues which forced Maldonado to abandon his lap and park the car at the side of the track. The second was caused when the team stopped the car for an unknown mechanical failure. Despite these issues, the team was still able to log the top time of the day during their 69 laps for testing. The team used their second day to run their test driver, Jolyon Palmer, in the car. The team used this day to modify their setups and collection aerodynamic and tyre data. They completed 77 laps, but were only able to score eighth on the time sheets, after spending a lot of time in the garage to fit data harvesting equipment and take various component measurements for designing new pieces. Maldonado got back into the car for the third day of the test, to run various race simulations, despite the wet track conditions. The team also made various setup changes to the car during the 104 laps. Lotus began the final day of the Barcelona test, after setting the fastest times in the first and third day. They sat Romain Grosjean in the car, managing to set fastest time for the third time in the weekend, running 111 laps. Not only was Grosjean’s performance the fastest of the day, but it was also the fastest of the test, with a time of 1: 24.067. The team spent the day to focus on performance simulations and aerodynamic and tyre testing.
Mercedes struggled in the test, but not because of issues with the car, but rather health issues with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton ran 11 laps during the first two hours of the opening day, but returned to the garage because of a fever. Mercedes pulled Pascal Wehrlein from Force India to replace the ill Hamilton. He ran an additional 48 laps for the team, during which the car experienced some fuel system malfunctions. Nico Rosberg hopped in the car for day two of testing, running 66 laps before parking the car in the garage because of neck pain caused by his new seating position. Hamilton filled in for the remainder of the test, running an additional 89 laps and finishing in fifth on the time sheets, just above Rosberg’s sixth. Day two was spent running race simulations, shifting to short stints near the end of the day. The third day of the test was better for Mercedes, putting Hamilton in the car for the entire day. They spent the day focusing on setup tweaks, aerodynamic and suspension testing, not pace. Still, the team was able to get the third fastest time of the day, with 101 laps. For the final day of the test, Rosberg took to the track for setup tweaks and pit stop practice. Despite bringing out the red flag early in the session after spinning off the track, Rosberg was still able to log 129 laps for second of the day.
Red Bull started their first day of testing slowly. They spent much of the morning tweaking setups and repairing sensor issues. In the end, Daniel Ricciardo was able to run 59 laps of short stints and get third position of the day. His second day of testing on day two of testing was much better, as he topped the time sheets on that day. His team ran pit stop practices during their 143 laps. However, their day was not trouble free, as they suffered a software glitch that halted the car at the end of the pit lane to bring out the red flag. The car was rolled back to the garage and the issue was repaired easily. Daniil Kvyat spent the final half of the test in the car. The third day of testing was spent running more pit stop practices and going through some race simulations. He earned sixth position with 111 laps in the day. The final day of the test was relatively the same, running 102 laps to get third on the time charts. The team ran a combination of long and short stints, focusing on collecting aerodynamic data in the morning and setup information in the afternoon.
Although Ferrari didn’t have as much success as they had in Jerez, they did perform fairly well. Kimi Raikkonen spent the first two days of the test in the car, coming runner up on the time sheets both days, losing to Red Bull by only 0.010 seconds in day two. Both days were spent testing the pace of the new car, with no issues. Raikkonen ran 74 laps on the first day and 90 on the second day. The car was handed over to Sebastian Vettel for the final two days of testing. Vettel started day three with some embarrassment after spinning off into the gravel during the opening minutes of the test and bringing out the red flag. Once the car was cleaned up and ready to head back out onto the track, Vettel was able to complete 105 laps, focusing on long runs to test the car’s reliability. His performance wasn’t as impressive as his teammate’s, only scoring fifth position on the third day and seventh on the final day. He ran 74 laps on the final day of the testing; focusing on setup tweaks and tyre assessment, while driving long runs.
Williams test driver, Susie Wolff, ran the car for the first day of testing. The team took this time to run reliability tests. The day was cut short after she collided with the Sauber of Felipe Nasr. She still managed to run 86 laps in the day. On the second day of the test, Felipe Massa took his place inside of the car for a trouble-free 88 lap test, earning the team third fastest of the day. The team focused on running race simulations with long runs, but near the end their focus shifted to testing the car’s pace. For the third day, Felipe Massa got back into the car, swapping with Valtteri Bottas later in the day. The team used this day to run pit stop practices, running a total of 103 laps in day three. Valtteri Bottas closed out the test by running 127 laps to get fifth fastest of the day. The team had originally planned to test the aerodynamics of the car’s chassis, but strong winds prevent them from doing so. The only issue for the team in the final day of the test was when Bottas stopped the car on the track, bringing out the red flag with a little less than two hours left in the test. However, it was a quick fix for the team and the car was back out on the track shortly after arriving at the garage.
Force India ran the 2014 car for the test, selling their seat for the first day of testing to the Mercedes test driver, Pascal Wehrlein. He ran 32 laps before being called back to Mercedes to substitute for the ill Lewis Hamilton. Sergio Perez was called up to drive the car for the rest of the day, running 33 laps to get fourth on the charts. Perez was back in the car for the second day of testing, focusing on stretching the stints of the super-soft tyres. He repeated his fourth place performance again. He was replaced by Wehrlein for day three of the Barcelona test. He spent his testing day collecting data on the different tyre compounds for 81 laps. Nico Hulkenberg spent the final day of testing, and his first time behind the wheel in 2015, running 36 laps. His day was cut short by an engine failure.
Max Verstappen spent the first day of Toro Rosso’s test learning the race procedures and running pit stop practices. During this time, he was able to run a trouble-free 94 laps to get sixth on the time charts. Carlo Sainz Jr. got into the car to day two of testing, having some minor issues in the morning, including spinning off the track to bring out the red flag. Despite this, the team was able to run 100 laps. The day was ended after the car’s power unit caught fire. Verstappen continued his learning on the third day of testing, including performing more pit stop practices. The day was not as trouble-free as his first, after a clutch failure brought out the red flag. Prior to this, he was able to run an impressive 129 laps to set the second fastest time. For the final day, Sainz had a fairly uneventful test. His day of testing was ended about two hours short, after he struck a barrier and damaged the car.
Sauber’s test in Barcelona was not quite as successful as their test in Jerez. Felipe Nasr spent the first day in the car, but lost roughly three hours of track time after colliding with Susie Wolff in the Williams and damaging both cars badly. This brought out the red flag. The team did work fast to get the car back onto the track for the end of the session, only to stop on the track near the end of the session for an undisclosed mechanical issue and bring out the red flag again. Prior to his accident in the afternoon, Nasr was able to complete the team’s testing objective of aerodynamic testing and setup tweaking. He completed a total of 79 laps in the day to get fifth on the time charts. Marcus Ericsson took over for the next two days of testing. He ran 113 laps in the second day to get ninth position. The team focused on a variety of different tasks. In the morning, the team took aerodynamic measurements. The team then focused on tweaking their car’s setup for the rest of the day, running long stints just after lunch and shorter stints in the afternoon. Their day came to a premature end when the car stopped on the start-finish line near the end of the session because of a gearbox failure, bringing out the red flag. The third day went a bit better for Ericsson, despite missing the morning part of the test as a result of the gearbox issue from day two. Once the team got the car out onto the track, the team’s 53 laps were trouble-free. They spent this time to run setup and reliability checks. The team hopped up to fourth on the time records for the day. Nasr finished the test in the car, repeating the team’s fourth place finish. They were stuck in the garage for a lot of the morning with various issues. The only other major issue was when the car stopped on the track and brought out the red flag because of a fuel system check. The team originally planned to run more aerodynamic testing, however, strong winds put an end to that plan. The team ended up spending the final day of the test adjusting the car setup again for the 73 laps that they ran.
The McLaren story of struggling continued here in Barcelona. In the first day, the team only ran 21 laps as a result of an issue with an engine seal, forcing Jenson Button to retire to the garage for the rest of the day. Day two was a little bit better, allowing the team to run 59 laps. The team did spend a lot of time in the garage, but during the time spent on the track, the team decided to run aerodynamic testing with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel. Button had more issues when he spent the third day in the car. A component that was redesigned in order to prevent future seal failures, failed early in the session. The team spent the rest of their day running without the ERS. Their third day of testing came to an end early when the car stopped on the track to bring out the red flag. After spending the third day at the bottom of the time sheets, Alonso got back into the car for the final day of testing. Button was set to take the car after lunch, but an unfortunate accident put an end to that plan. While driving the car, Alonso ran off the track and into a barrier, badly damaging the car. According to reports, Alonso spent a few minutes unresponsive in the ca, before getting out lying down next to it. Alonso was taking to the hospital where it was announced that he was uninjured, but would remain under the hospital’s observation for 24 hours, as per procedure. That was all that we saw of the McLaren car, as it was too badly damaged to continue the test.
