Test report – Jerez day two Date Wednesday January 29 2014 Driver Jenson Button Location Circuito de Jerez Track length 4.428km Laps 43 Km covered 190 Best laptime 1m 24.165s at 15:57 After yesterday’s lack of running, it was satisfying to get 43 laps under MP4-29’s belt during the course of a productive day. Overnight rain, coupled with the decision to douse the track with sprinklers in order to enable Pirelli to evaluate its 2014-spec wet-weather rubber, meant that the team spent the morning conducting installation checks on a damp track, using both Inter and Full-Wet tyres. By lunchtime, the track had dried completely, which coincided with the team ramping up the mileage, beginning a steadily lengthening series of runs to monitor power-unit behaviour. While the tone of the day was still exploratory, the team were satisfied with the respectable amount of mileage achieved today, and the solid and predictable platform provided by the MP4-29. Jenson said: “For our first day of actual running, we were able to get a good understanding of the car, and the way the engine and turbo behaves. It’s tricky, and very different to what we’re used to, but I could feel that these cars will be enjoyable to drive. “Of course, it’s still early days, and there’s a lot of work ahead of us. We need to work on both braking and traction; but that excites me, because there’s a lot of potential to adjust those parameters. The new braking system is very complicated, and getting it right will be tough. “But these are all things we can work on: there’s nothing about the car that unsettles me, and there’s plenty of scope to explore the set-up. It will just take time. “Our main aim this winter was to field a reliable car that would give us a good baseline. These cars will develop so much over the next few months, so it’s essential to have a solid base to build upon; and I think we have that good base.” Jerez testing times – Wednesday January 29 1 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 1m 24.165s 43 laps 2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m 24.812s 47 laps 3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m 25.344s 35 laps 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG 1m 25.588s 97 laps 5 Sergio Perez Force India 1m 28.376s 37 laps 6 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m 33.270s 53 laps 7 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 1m 37.975s 11 laps 8 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1m 38.320s 8 laps In a change to the schedule, Jenson will extend his running into tomorrow morning, passing driving duties on to Kevin at the most convenient break in the programme. Tomorrow’s session will once again be about conducting initial evaluations into the behaviour and reliability of the MP4-29 and its power-unit.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:42:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015