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- Day one team round-up
Drivers expect to ramp up pace over week
ESPNF1 Staff
February 25, 2010
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The first day of the final test saw Mark Webber set the pace in the Red Bull while others concentrated on routine procedures such as pit stop practice. Scroll down to see what some of the drivers and engineers had to say after the chequered flag fell at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Force India practice a pit stop © Getty Images
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Ferrari
Fernando Alonso: "It wasn't a perfect day, but it was very helpful nevertheless. We had several new things in the car and we collected some data to see how they work. Now we've got to understand how to exploit them. The track wasn't great today. A little dirty and windy. It's always interesting to drive on a circuit, where you'll also have a grand prix, because you start seeing some aspects you'll have to deal with later on. All in all I'd say it was a good day."
Force India
Tonio Liuzzi: Once we realised the track was really green and not good enough to conduct some useful testing, we concentrated on set-up and pit stop practice to get back into the rhythm of a race weekend. Overall it was quite OK but we concentrated a lot on the pit stop practice to get the guys back up to speed. Tomorrow will be where we move to look at performance and long runs so it should be a more representative day regarding the pace of the new car.
Chief race engineer Dominic Harlow: The first day of our final pre-season test was concentrated on race team pit stop practice, with simulations of live race stops and various different race scenarios conducted through the day. The circuit conditions weren't particularly good today, and tomorrow will be used to continue our set-up and development programme.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg: "We had a productive day today and we were able to learn a great deal from doing so many laps. We're making good use of the testing time that we have and I'm feeling quite confident and comfortable in the car. Aerodynamically the car will change quite significantly for the first race in Bahrain so we're not focusing on the details but on general set-up work and seeing how the car behaves over long runs. Working through the race weekend procedures and pit stops is also very useful in our preparations for Bahrain."
Red Bull
Mark Webber: "We had a pretty good day of testing. We did some simulations and performance items in the morning and a race simulation in the afternoon. We had a precautionary stop in the middle of the race simulation because of a gearbox oil alarm, but the guys got the car turned around pretty quickly and we finished the session, so it wasn't too bad."
Head of race engineering Ian Morgan: "Today was always planned as a race weekend simulation day, so we did some testing along with P3 and qualifying in the morning and a race simulation in the afternoon. Everything went very well up until halfway through the race simulation, when something in the data made us decide to stop the car on track. It was nothing major though and we got the car repaired and back out until the end of the session. It went well today, apart from that small reliability issue."
Vitaly Petrov locks a break in the Renault © Sutton Images
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Renault
Vitaly Petrov: "The track conditions were pretty good today and it was nice not to have to drive in the rain. The day went quite well and we did a lot of pit-stop practice to begin with and then some set-up work, which was useful."
Alan Permane, Chief Engineer: "We spent part of the morning doing pit-stop practice with Vitaly, which went very well. This was the first chance for our pit crew to practice with a running car at the circuit without refuelling and there were no procedural problems. Unfortunately we had a hydraulic problem in the early afternoon, which meant we had to change part of the hydraulic system and that limited our running. But we were still able to do some set-up work as we concentrated on getting Vitaly comfortable in the car on this circuit."
Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa: "We did an aero test for Bahrain and were trying to get the car's balance right for the Circuit de Catalunya, which is a demanding track with lots of bumps. I think we learned a lot today and are looking forward to tomorrow."
Technical director Willy Rampf: "Today we have been concentrating on different mechanical set-ups and different downforce levels in preparation for the Bahrain Grand Prix. We are not satisfied with the car's balance yet, but we have recorded a great deal of useful data which will help us further improve it."
Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari: "It was encouraging to have another trouble free day, completing a high mileage. We learned a lot doing long runs on the soft compound tyre and I'm looking forward to tackling a different programme tomorrow."
Virgin
Technical Director Nick With: "We are continuing to debug the car hydraulics and making good progress in our understanding of the issue. Unfortunately when we were running some experimental control settings on the car, which were adversely affecting its handling, this caught Lucas [di Grassi] out on the entry to turn nine resulting in a spin and contact with the barrier. We're going to need to spend the time before tomorrow replacing some broken suspension and wings. We should be back on track tomorrow morning when we hope to really start building up our mileage."
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