Welcome to my take on the first pre-season test in Jerez! We got our first glimpses of the cars that will make our lives so much more interesting come mid March! Bare in mind that no matter what my opinion, I am still very adamant that there is no existing correlation between test pace and actual race pace.
Final Standings
- Jenson Button (McLaren) 1m.18.861s
- Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1m.19.709s
- Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 1m.19.796s
- Paul di Resta (Force India) 1m.20.343s
- Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1m.20.401s
- Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1m.20.536s
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1m.20.699s
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m.20.846s
- Pastor Maldonado (Williams) 1m.20.864s
- Giedo van der Garde (Caterham) 1m.21.915s
- Max Chilton (Marussia) 1m.24.176s
Rosberg had managed to set the fastest time at one point but his running was ended whenever his Mercedes F1W04 hit mechanical issues. A fault in the car produced mass flames from the rear. This was the second time the session was red flagged. The first came whenever Button's McLaren MP4-28 showed it's consistency early on. Consistency that is in the form of reliability issues. The disappointment ended there, whenever the team managed to get the car going again he posted the quickest lap of the session.
Romain Grosjean managed to keep Lotus's brand new E21 out of the gravel and out of other cars as he produced a wonderful set of laps placing his car in third behind Mark Webber's RB9. Paul di Resta was the quickest of the midfield teams pipping Ferrari's Felipe Massa, a feat also achieved by Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo.
Giedo van der Garde started off his new career on a high after going two seconds quicker than fellow back marker Max Chilton in the Marussia.
A great crop of drivers kicked off testing, day one (like the majority of pre-season tests) is usually the day when niggles like seating issues are addressed and if things didn't go wrong, then that's when people should start getting worried. McLaren and Mercedes will have questioned why both their respective cars developed faults and how to prevent them happening again in the future. This is why for me there were no real disappoints for day one.
No comments:
Post a Comment