Jerez Testing – Day 1: Driver Statements

McLaren

Jenson Button (1:18.861, 37 laps): « We finally managed to get out and do some laps. We encountered a problem in the morning, which was disappointing, but that’s what happens when you try something new. The afternoon was good, I had good feelings with the car and immediately felt at home. […] It behaves like in the simulator which is great because it means that to develop the car we can use the simulator and not only the track. It’s better to encounter these problems now rather than later in the tests or when we need to focus on fine-tuning while wanting the car to run well and be reliable. Hopefully, we won’t encounter this issue again and can focus on car development. »

« If I have to be honest, I was surprised when I saw the time on the scoreboard, but it doesn’t mean much. Some may have more fuel than others, who knows? […] Lap times don’t mean anything at the moment: they will only start to matter from the first race. The important thing is that we were able to validate the simulator data today. »

Red Bull

Mark Webber (1:19.709, 73 laps): It was pretty good. As Adrian stated at the launch, there aren’t big changes in the regulations this year and the car is an evolution of the one that finished last season, so there weren’t big surprises. I think most drivers will find the times quite competitive. It’s actually like a Grand Prix Friday in some respects. We’ve started to understand the tires and there’s a lot of positives. […] The car behaves similarly to last year’s and the main difference is in the tires. With these compounds, you’re always on your toes. It was a good thing to have had good temperatures, so we have a lot of information and feedback to analyze, which is all positive. The car seems pretty good, so I’m happy.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean (1:19.796, 54 laps): « The initial sensations with the E21 are good. They are very similar to those provided by the E20, even if the cars look different. Once again, Enstone has produced an F1 that is quick right from its first laps. We spent a little more time than expected in the garage today, but that’s normal during testing. I’m happy to have completed 54 laps, especially since they were fast. We now have a good understanding of the new tires, and they will present us with some challenges. The level of grip is present, but performance declines with graining. That said, Jerez is a very specific circuit from this point of view. We found speed easily today and didn’t want to respond to those who ran faster this afternoon. We should be even better tomorrow. »

Force India

Paul di Resta (1:20.343, 89 laps): It was a positive first day, and we managed to cover a lot of laps, which is the most important thing. I felt comfortable all day, and we managed to complete the program while focusing on collecting aerodynamic data and understanding how the car correlates with our simulation tools back at the factory. We also started trying to learn as much as possible about the tires so that we can continue and optimize the setups. The new compounds are very different with their new construction, and I already felt a difference in the car’s balance between the high and low-speed sections of the track.

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo (1:20.401, 70 laps): It’s good to be back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car. It was a long day to complete 70 laps, however, the main thing is that the car is reliable – which is a positive aspect – and that we completed our program for the day. You can’t dwell on the car’s performance on the first day when reliability and “comfort” are more important. From this perspective, my seat and driving position were good. So it was a day with rather simple but important tasks.

Ferrari

Felipe Massa (1:20.536, 64 laps): « I would say that the difference compared to last year is huge, it’s on another planet. This year, the car is well-balanced and I also felt that the rear responded well. There is still a lot to do and much to understand in terms of the direction to take to get the car ready for the first race. »

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg (1:20.846, 14 laps): « At the beginning of winter testing, you often encounter small problems because the car you are running is brand new. We encountered a problem [in the morning], and as soon as we found the source of the problem, we decided to change the part to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. Of course, at this time of year, all you want is to spend time in the car and get a feel for how it behaves, but these glitches are part of the game. On the laps I completed this morning, I had good sensations with the car, and it seemed solid. »

Williams

Pastor Maldonado (1:20.864, 84 laps): « We didn’t have any problems today and the car seemed very strong, so we were able to learn a lot of things that will be useful for the development of the FW35. We have planned to use the FW34 to allow us to have a reliable car with which to test the new tires and also try some different setups. It’s great to finally get back on track after what seemed like a long winter, and I am confident that we will benefit a lot from this week. »

Caterham

Giedo van der Garde (1:21.915, 64 laps): First of all, it’s great to be back at work and I’m happy with the way this first day on the track went. We completed a good number of laps today without any major problems, and I almost immediately felt at ease in the car. The first day is mainly about ensuring the car works as it’s supposed to, and apart from some issues with the floor, we didn’t have to make many changes to the car. We also evaluated a number of procedures that are new to me, particularly the starts, as we didn’t do many last year [in free practice], but the most important thing for me was the tires. They behave differently from those I used on Fridays in 2012, and this will be one of our concerns during testing, to extract everything possible from them. It’s obviously much too early to make any judgments about the performance level we can expect from our 2013 car, but compared to the car I drove in Brazil, it seems we’ve made good progress over the winter.

Marussia

Max Chilton (1:24.176, 29 laps): Aside from the problem this afternoon, I am very happy with the start we’ve made to our 2013 campaign. With a new car, there’s always the risk of something hampering or interrupting your program, but in the morning everything went as planned, which is what we needed to start. I’m sure the team will solve the suspension issue very quickly so we can pick up where we left off and add more miles to the odometer of what is clearly a very promising car.