FORMULA 1 TESTING: HIGHS AND LOWS FOR THE NEW KIDS Day three of Formula 1 testing at Jerez in Spain was once again a reversed contrast for McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull Racing. Yesterday, ‘old’ hands Jenson Button topped the times for McLaren, while for the second day running, Vettel barely completed a lap. Today it was time for the Young Guns to get a go – and the situations were identical. Magnussen topped the timesheets on his first day behind the wheel of the new car, setting the quickest time so far in Spain. The Dane was keeping his natural excitement under control as he explained his performance at the end of the day. This was a big day for me. I had butterflies in my stomach and had trouble sleeping last night – I’m a rookie, and I was just excited to get in the car. Equally, this doesn’t feel like my first day at work: I know everybody at McLaren, so I really felt at home. Happily, everything worked as it should, and the car felt good. I’m pretty pleased with our reliability – to have done as many laps as I did in just half a day (52) was pretty positive.I’m not taking too much from the fact that I set the fastest time – I was pushing,” he added, “but it wasn’t a balls-to-the-wall lap. We wanted to get good data and learn about the car, but nobody really knows what the teams are doing. The important thing is we have a good idea of which direction to go and where to improve. Red Bull was experiencing the opposite emotions. In two days the team has managed just 14 laps, struck by various problems. Team boss Christian Horner and technical chief Adrian Newey had seen enough to leave the circuit and plan the next move. New driver Ricciardo still hopes to run on Friday as the team tries temporary fixed on site, but hes aware that it’s a frustrating time for the champions: For nearly 36 hours they have worked on the car to try to get it running. We are a bit unsure right now,” said the Australian. These guys know how to win, that is important,” he concluded. “I am sure sooner rather than later we will get it all together. It is still really early days. Photos: LAT Photographic POS. DRIVER, TEAM, TIME, GAP, LAPS 1. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m23.276s, 52 2. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1m23.700s, +0.424s, 47 3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m23.952s, +0.676s, 62 4. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m25.030s, +1.754s, 40 5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m25.495s, +2.219s, 58 6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1m26.096s, +2.820s, 17 7. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Renault, 1m29.915s, +6.639s, 30 8. Adrian Sutil, Sauber-Ferrari, 1m30.161s, +6.885s, 34 9. Robin Frijns, Caterham-Renault, No time, -, 10 10. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, No time, -, 3 11. Max Chilton, Marussia-Ferrari, No time, -, 5
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 20:53:29 +0000