Jerez first 2015 test Test day one
Live Text
Sort by
The first few hours of 2015 testing certainly haven't given Mercedes much to worry about yet.
Rosberg's lap count: 84
All other teams combined: 98
Rosberg's lap count: 84
All other teams combined: 98
Red Bull Ricciardo 2015 Jerez
Sainz heads back out - while we've heard reports that Ricciardo's last run this morning came to a smoky end, and that's probably why we haven't seen the Red Bull for a while.
Sure enough, here's evidence of the Red Bull's plight from earlier.
No sign of let-up from Rosberg. He's up to 76 laps for the day, and his pace has slowed to low 1m25s now.
Having moved the Williams up the order, Bottas is back in the pits. Once again, Rosberg's Mercedes is alone on track.
Carlos Sainz Jr
BEN ANDERSON: "Big support in the grandstands for new Spanish F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr.
"The son of Spain's celebrated World Rally champion received loud cheers every time the Toro Rosso took to the track.
"Sainz managed to perform several practice starts while I was down in the pits.
"It's funny to think that things were so bad for the Renault-powered teams in testing last year that Daniil Kvyat hadn't even attempted a start until his first race in Melbourne..."
Rosberg's latest run has kicked off in the mid-1m24s, which is as quick as any other car has managed to go so far, but 1.5s slower than the best from the Mercedes.
Stopwatch
Bottas improves his best time of the day, moving above Sainz with a 1m25.8s, and leap-frogging Vettel with a 1m25.167s a lap later.
BEN ANDERSON: "It's a bit ominous for the rest to see the Mercedes piling on the laps while others are in and out of the garage.
"The W06 sounds like its running very smoothly and technical chief Paddy Lowe, motorsport boss Toto Wolff, and non-executive chairman Niki Lauda cut relaxed figures on the pitwall.
"Red Bull is a massive 1.5s adrift on raw pace and Daniel Ricciardo hasn't managed any notably long runs - although 22 laps represents a giant leap compared to this time last year...
"I regularly heard the sound of cutting tools behind the closed door of the garage, so perhaps some of the packaging around Renault's updated engine is causing some problems. The engine doesn't sound nearly as refined as the Merc yet.
"By contrast, the Ferrari engine sounds a lot cleaner than it did last year and Sauber's Marcus Ericsson has racked up decent mileage in the interim C34. Not so much for Sebastian Vettel, as the Scuderia has spent most of the morning in the garage.
"So has Williams in actual fact. Valtteri Bottas told me the team planned to head straight out in the morning, but were delayed buy having to perform extra preparatory checks on the FW37.
"The car is at least up and running now."
"The W06 sounds like its running very smoothly and technical chief Paddy Lowe, motorsport boss Toto Wolff, and non-executive chairman Niki Lauda cut relaxed figures on the pitwall.
"Red Bull is a massive 1.5s adrift on raw pace and Daniel Ricciardo hasn't managed any notably long runs - although 22 laps represents a giant leap compared to this time last year...
"I regularly heard the sound of cutting tools behind the closed door of the garage, so perhaps some of the packaging around Renault's updated engine is causing some problems. The engine doesn't sound nearly as refined as the Merc yet.
"By contrast, the Ferrari engine sounds a lot cleaner than it did last year and Sauber's Marcus Ericsson has racked up decent mileage in the interim C34. Not so much for Sebastian Vettel, as the Scuderia has spent most of the morning in the garage.
"So has Williams in actual fact. Valtteri Bottas told me the team planned to head straight out in the morning, but were delayed buy having to perform extra preparatory checks on the FW37.
"The car is at least up and running now."
BEN ANDERSON: "Interesting to spend some time in the pits and see the new cars close up.
"The much-anticipated McLaren-Honda took a while to appear, but the renewed partnership has already completed more mileage than it managed in two days in Abu Dhabi last November.
"The engine sounds as though it is running limited power while Fernando Alonso and the team works through their test programme. The car seems to max out its speed halfway down the main straight and the engine note has a strange, wavy stutter to it."
"The much-anticipated McLaren-Honda took a while to appear, but the renewed partnership has already completed more mileage than it managed in two days in Abu Dhabi last November.
"The engine sounds as though it is running limited power while Fernando Alonso and the team works through their test programme. The car seems to max out its speed halfway down the main straight and the engine note has a strange, wavy stutter to it."
Lunch dealt with - Rosberg is the first to return to the track. Bottas follows shortly after.
Twitter
Nico Rosberg
We said it was probably lunchtime down in the paddock. Judging by this picture on Twitter, Rosberg is obviously so happy with the Mercedes F1 W06 that he doesn't want to leave it even for food!
Our high-res Formula 1 2015 galleries are rapidly getting larger, so head this way to check out the new season's machinery in detail:
2015 F1 car launch gallery
Jerez F1 test gallery
2015 F1 car launch gallery
Jerez F1 test gallery
Quote
With the exception of Mercedes, which has clearly already got down to some serious work with Rosberg clocking 60 laps so far, the majority of teams will have pretty conservative goals for this first test, and particularly the opening day.
Toro Rosso technical director James Key explained last night what his team's first aim would be this morning: "Making sure it doesn’t catch fire, because when you look under the bodywork it’s incredibly tight!
"We will learn a lot about the tyres as well. And the drivers, we’ve got to get them ready for Melbourne so it’s normal. There will be a learning process for them but we want to get them as used to the environment that they are going to face as possible."
Toro Rosso technical director James Key explained last night what his team's first aim would be this morning: "Making sure it doesn’t catch fire, because when you look under the bodywork it’s incredibly tight!
"We will learn a lot about the tyres as well. And the drivers, we’ve got to get them ready for Melbourne so it’s normal. There will be a learning process for them but we want to get them as used to the environment that they are going to face as possible."
Twitter
A slightly mournful tweet from a man who was here this time last year, Max Chilton:
"I have woken up feeling like something is missing, it's a F1 car in motion with the crisp morning air rushing under my visor. #stillhoping"
Stay chipper Max, you may well have a Carlin IndyCar to play with soon.
"I have woken up feeling like something is missing, it's a F1 car in motion with the crisp morning air rushing under my visor. #stillhoping"
Stay chipper Max, you may well have a Carlin IndyCar to play with soon.
There's no official lunchbreak during testing at Jerez, but we've seen in previous years that a lot of the teams tend to stop for a break around the same time. Things are pretty quiet at the moment, so that could be what's going on right now.
Nothing on track at the moment, but the McLaren-Honda is being given another rev in the garage beneath our media centre at the moment.
Sauber is happy so far, declaring on Twitter that its 30 laps have been "encouraging".
Valtteri Bottas
Bottas returns to the pits after that single timed effort.
The Williams is up to four laps for the day, two behind the McLaren.
Throughout the pre-season build-up, our technical writer CRAIG SCARBOROUGH will be analysing the latest designs and upgrades.
You can read his thoughts on the Mercedes W06 and Red Bull RB11 later today and tomorrow, but in the meantime, he's already provided the low-down on the McLaren MP4-30 and Ferrari SF15-T.
McLaren technical analysis - Clear signs of change
Ferrari technical analysis - A first recovery step
You can read his thoughts on the Mercedes W06 and Red Bull RB11 later today and tomorrow, but in the meantime, he's already provided the low-down on the McLaren MP4-30 and Ferrari SF15-T.
McLaren technical analysis - Clear signs of change
Ferrari technical analysis - A first recovery step
Stopwatch
Bottas opens his account with a 1m28.479s in the Williams, which slots him into sixth place between Sainz and Alonso.
Bottas stays out, so we could be on course to see a first timed lap from the Williams FW37.
Rosberg is back in the pits now, with 60 laps already chalked up for the Mercedes today.
Bottas heads back out for a second lap in the Williams.
BEN ANDERSON: "Toto Wolff is hobbling around on crutches due to a bad knee. I can't remember the last time I saw him at an F1 event without an injury of some kind!"
With Rosberg continuing to charge around - still in the 1m26s - Ericsson rejoins the action.
Niki Lauda joins fellow Mercedes chief Toto Wolff on the pitwall, and he waves in response to cheers from the crowd in the grandstands opposite the pits.
McLaren garage
Whatever Alonso has spotted in the McLaren garage is amusing Jenson Button, Jonathan Neale and Eric Boullier greatly.
BEN ANDERSON can hear power tools being put to work behind closed doors in the Red Bull garage.
Twitter
@WilliamsRacing: "Valtteri remains in the car as we get ready for some more laps."
Ericsson pits, so Rosberg is alone on track again as he clocks up his 50th lap of the day in the Mercedes.
Rosberg and Ericsson are busy at the moment, both lapping in the 1m26s. It's fair to speculate that they are probably running different fuel loads, wouldn't you say?
BEN ANDERSON: "I've just been chatting to Paddy Lowe of Mercedes. All seems to be going smoothly there.
"He also says that the busy grandstands here at Jerez are a good indication that Formula 1 is not in the crisis that some people say it is."
"He also says that the busy grandstands here at Jerez are a good indication that Formula 1 is not in the crisis that some people say it is."
Ericsson was very lairy through the Turn 4 left-hander on that lap, the rear of his Sauber moving around significantly.
With the new Lotus still on its way to Jerez, Williams starting late and McLaren getting to grips with the new Honda engine, it's been left to just five teams to do the bulk of the running so far. Here's the lap count just after midday at Jerez:
Rosberg (Mercedes) 43
Ericsson (Sauber) 24
Ricciardo (Red Bull) 22
Sainz (Toro Rosso) 19
Vettel (Ferrari) 9
Alonso (McLaren) 6
Bottas (Williams) 1
Rosberg (Mercedes) 43
Ericsson (Sauber) 24
Ricciardo (Red Bull) 22
Sainz (Toro Rosso) 19
Vettel (Ferrari) 9
Alonso (McLaren) 6
Bottas (Williams) 1
Ericsson and Sainz head out, giving us a rare moment (so far) with three cars on track.
Still Rosberg rumbles round on his own out there. He's lapping in the mid 1m25s as Mercedes picks up where it left off in 2014 and gets down to some proper work before everyone else.
Daniel Ricciardo
One of the fun parts of this early stage of pre-season is hearing what teams make of their rivals' cars. One team has speculated to BEN ANDERSON that Red Bull might not be running many 2015 parts today - aside from what is clearly a different nose to the RB10.
Rosberg has the track to himself for what is shaping up to be a second long run of the day already. He's kicked this stint off in the 1m24s, and has just slipped to a 1m25.0s.
Williams kicks its 2015 test programme off with a single installation lap for Bottas - he's back in the pits.
More McLaren-Honda observations from BEN ANDERSON in the pits:
"It sounds as though the McLaren is running limited power - the engine note has a strange stutter on full throttle at the end of the straight."
"It sounds as though the McLaren is running limited power - the engine note has a strange stutter on full throttle at the end of the straight."
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Ben Anderson, Andrew van Leeuwen, Jonathan Noble, Jamie Klein
Published:
Page:
