Jenson Button topped the timesheets on day two of winter testing at Jerez, as the McLaren MP4-29 make its on-track debut.
Teams continue to discover and explore the new 2014 machines, following a quiet opening day at the Spanish circuit as the sport's new era officially got underway.
The big story to emerge from Wednesday at the circuit was reliability. As the Mercedes-powered cars thrived and completed a considerable amount of mileage, the teams using the new Renault V6 Turbo power-unit struggled to even make it out of the garage.
In fact, Red Bull Racing was forced to end its day early after a problem with the energy store. ERS and power-unit issues also side-lined Toro Rosso, with the STR9 failing to make it out on track at all.
Overnight storms meant the day was officially dedicated to wet weather tyre testing, with the track being artificially watered early in the morning to make conditions suitable for the full wet Pirelli rubber.
The new 2014 regulations state that at least one of the 12 test days must be used for testing of the wet and intermediate tyres. However, by the sessions end the circuit was bone dry. This enabled teams to add to the slick tyre running that they completed on day one.
Button emerged as the fastest driver of the day, although you really can't read into the times from Jerez. Reliability and system checks continued to dominate the team's schedules and after being forced to watch and wait on the opening day, the 43 laps completed by the Brit were crucial for the team.
It was a relatively trouble-free day for McLaren; as their MP4-29 took to the track for the first time, almost as soon as the green light came on to open the circuit. His best time of 1m24.165 was set mid-way through the afternoon.
Kimi Raikkonen ended the day in second place after another productive session at the wheel of the Ferrari F14 T. The 'Iceman' had a busy morning but lost track time mid-way through the day, before re-emerging later in the afternoon.
The 2007 world champion completed 47 laps on Wednesday, 12 more than countryman Valtteri Bottas. The Finn managed to set the third fastest time of the day, which was largely trouble-free for Williams (other than a suspension problem late in the day).
Nico Rosberg's day started late in the morning after his Mercedes mechanics awaited spare parts and worked throughout the night to repair the damaged W05, following Hamilton's crash on the opening day.
The German driver took over driving duties and had a highly rewarding afternoon, completing 97 laps - with his longest run lasting 24 laps on the hard compound tyre. His tally was more than the whole field managed in total on the previous day. The top four on the timesheets were separated by 1.4 seconds.
"It was a great feeling to put some good miles on the new Silver Arrow and there's a lot of new stuff to clear because it's very different to the old car. It's heavier, you have less downforce and the steering wheel is completely different; it's almost like a smartphone with all the information on it.
Every lap is important to get used to the new systems and it helped a lot that I have worked on this already in the simulator. We don't know yet where we are compared to the other teams, but we can be quite happy after the first two days of testing here in Spain."
Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez were both happy with their morning runs but lost track time towards the end of the day. For the former, it was a mechanical issue that forced him to stop out on track at turn one early in the afternoon.
Smoke emerged from the Mercedes V6 Turbo power-unit, but the marshals were quick to respond with fire extinguishers. It was one of the few issues experienced by the Mercedes-powered runners on the second day.
Today was a lot more productive than yesterday so in that respect we are making progress as we learn about the car," said Perez. "We still have a long way to go with understanding the complexity of all the systems so it’s important that the next two days with Nico and Daniel give us the information we need before we arrive in Bahrain. It will be only then that we can hopefully start to work on performance."
He gained 37 laps of experience driving the VJM07, with Gutierrez completing 53 laps of the circuit with the C33. The Ferrari-powered car disappeared mid-way through the day, after a spin at turn six, but emerged late in the afternoon to complete some running on the slick tyres.
Marcus Ericsson's fastest - and first - lap time was 13 seconds off the pace as the Swedish racer got to grips with Formula 1 machinery. However, Caterham's running was far from straight-forward. It took quite some time for the CT05 to emerge from the team's pit garage and after 11 laps, it ground to a halt while running on track.
Sebastian Vettel could only add eight laps to the three completed on the opening day. The four-time champion's day eventually ended early due to a problem with the Renault power-unit. It was a disappointing end to his running in Spain, and he will hope for a more productive few days of testing in Bahrain next month.
Daniil Kvyat's debut F1 test session failed to get off the ground after his new car, the STR9, was left garage-bound due to mechanical problems.
Day 2 Times:
1. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1m24.165 - 43 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1m24.812 - 47 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1m25.344 - 35 laps
4. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m25.588 - 97 laps
5. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1m28.376 - 37 laps
6. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) 1m33.270 - 53 laps
7. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham) 1m37.975 - 11 laps
8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1m38.320 - 8 laps
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© Octane Photographic
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The big story to emerge from Wednesday at the circuit was reliability. As the Mercedes-powered cars thrived and completed a considerable amount of mileage, the teams using the new Renault V6 Turbo power-unit struggled to even make it out of the garage.
In fact, Red Bull Racing was forced to end its day early after a problem with the energy store. ERS and power-unit issues also side-lined Toro Rosso, with the STR9 failing to make it out on track at all.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Overnight storms meant the day was officially dedicated to wet weather tyre testing, with the track being artificially watered early in the morning to make conditions suitable for the full wet Pirelli rubber.
The new 2014 regulations state that at least one of the 12 test days must be used for testing of the wet and intermediate tyres. However, by the sessions end the circuit was bone dry. This enabled teams to add to the slick tyre running that they completed on day one.
Button emerged as the fastest driver of the day, although you really can't read into the times from Jerez. Reliability and system checks continued to dominate the team's schedules and after being forced to watch and wait on the opening day, the 43 laps completed by the Brit were crucial for the team.
It was a relatively trouble-free day for McLaren; as their MP4-29 took to the track for the first time, almost as soon as the green light came on to open the circuit. His best time of 1m24.165 was set mid-way through the afternoon.
Kimi Raikkonen ended the day in second place after another productive session at the wheel of the Ferrari F14 T. The 'Iceman' had a busy morning but lost track time mid-way through the day, before re-emerging later in the afternoon.
The 2007 world champion completed 47 laps on Wednesday, 12 more than countryman Valtteri Bottas. The Finn managed to set the third fastest time of the day, which was largely trouble-free for Williams (other than a suspension problem late in the day).
Nico Rosberg's day started late in the morning after his Mercedes mechanics awaited spare parts and worked throughout the night to repair the damaged W05, following Hamilton's crash on the opening day.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
The German driver took over driving duties and had a highly rewarding afternoon, completing 97 laps - with his longest run lasting 24 laps on the hard compound tyre. His tally was more than the whole field managed in total on the previous day. The top four on the timesheets were separated by 1.4 seconds.
"It was a great feeling to put some good miles on the new Silver Arrow and there's a lot of new stuff to clear because it's very different to the old car. It's heavier, you have less downforce and the steering wheel is completely different; it's almost like a smartphone with all the information on it.
Every lap is important to get used to the new systems and it helped a lot that I have worked on this already in the simulator. We don't know yet where we are compared to the other teams, but we can be quite happy after the first two days of testing here in Spain."
Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez were both happy with their morning runs but lost track time towards the end of the day. For the former, it was a mechanical issue that forced him to stop out on track at turn one early in the afternoon.
Smoke emerged from the Mercedes V6 Turbo power-unit, but the marshals were quick to respond with fire extinguishers. It was one of the few issues experienced by the Mercedes-powered runners on the second day.
Today was a lot more productive than yesterday so in that respect we are making progress as we learn about the car," said Perez. "We still have a long way to go with understanding the complexity of all the systems so it’s important that the next two days with Nico and Daniel give us the information we need before we arrive in Bahrain. It will be only then that we can hopefully start to work on performance."
He gained 37 laps of experience driving the VJM07, with Gutierrez completing 53 laps of the circuit with the C33. The Ferrari-powered car disappeared mid-way through the day, after a spin at turn six, but emerged late in the afternoon to complete some running on the slick tyres.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Sebastian Vettel could only add eight laps to the three completed on the opening day. The four-time champion's day eventually ended early due to a problem with the Renault power-unit. It was a disappointing end to his running in Spain, and he will hope for a more productive few days of testing in Bahrain next month.
Daniil Kvyat's debut F1 test session failed to get off the ground after his new car, the STR9, was left garage-bound due to mechanical problems.
Day 2 Times:
1. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1m24.165 - 43 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1m24.812 - 47 laps
3. Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1m25.344 - 35 laps
4. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m25.588 - 97 laps
5. Sergio Perez (Force India) 1m28.376 - 37 laps
6. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) 1m33.270 - 53 laps
7. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham) 1m37.975 - 11 laps
8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1m38.320 - 8 laps
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