Objectives• Aero evaluations• Tyre runs and set-up work
Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: We had a good day today and tested a number of new development items in addition to working on the car set-up and tyre management. All three drivers performed well with Pastor being particularly strong throughout the first session. Having been out of the car for a couple of races Valtteri quickly got up to speed and gave us good feedback on his test programme during this morning's session. Bruno then completed a good second session with the race drivers working on both low and high fuel balances on the medium and soft tyres. We have collected a lot of data which we now need to dissect, and make decisions on ahead of both qualifying and the race.
Bruno Senna: It was a good day and we managed to fulfil our test programme. It would have been useful to have done a few more miles but we have still gathered a lot of valuable data. We’re getting closer to where we need to be so I’m happy with how today went.
Pastor Maldonado: We completed our full test programme today. The track was so green at the start of the day, as expected, but the grip level has been increasing throughout each session. The car was consistent but we lost a bit of time on our shorter runs this afternoon. We need to understand the set-up of the car a bit better and to anticipate how the track conditions will change tomorrow. The car is working well but we still need to improve.
Valtteri Bottas: It was pretty difficult this morning as the track was still quite dusty and the last time I drove the car was Barcelona so I had to get back into the rhythm. I was building up all the time and we got all the data from the new aero parts we were testing which is the main thing. The wind made it a bit trickier so it wasn’t the easiest of conditions, especially when the walls are so close. The main positive thing was how we managed our tyres, as my times in the third stint were still good in comparison to my first two runs.
1. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m40.890s laps222. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m40.973s + 0.083 213. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m40.984s + 0.094 194. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.994s + 0.104 195. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m41.065s + 0.175 266. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m41.105s + 0.215 157. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m41.117s + 0.227 228. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m41.158s + 0.268 189. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.182s + 0.292 2110 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m41.620s + 0.730 2111 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m41.784s + 0.894 1512 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.838s + 0.948 1913 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.861s + 0.971 1614 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m42.109s + 1.219 2015 Jules Bianchi Force India-Mercedes 1m42.175s + 1.285 2116 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m42.299s + 1.409 2417 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m42.442s + 1.552 2618 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m42.758s + 1.868 2619 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m42.777s + 1.887 2820 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1m43.209s + 2.319 1921 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1m44.173s + 3.283 1822 Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m44.996s + 4.106 1523 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m45.120s + 4.230 2324 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1m45.338s + 4.448 7
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