Romain Grosjean beat Jenson Button’s benchmark time on the second day of F1 testing at Jerez.
The Lotus driver led the running for much of the day and ended up with a best lap of 1’18.2 to head the times. He will hand over to team mate Kimi Raikkonen tomorrow.
Daniel Ricciardo led the times early on before coming to a stop on the track. This caused the first of three red flags of the day.
The second came as Mercedes’ pre-season preparations suffered a second setback in as many days. Lewis Hamilton had just gone second fastest when he went into barrier at Curva Dry Sack, his tyres locked as he ploughed into the gravel trap.
Mercedes later confirmed the cause of the fault and said they would not be running for the rest of the day. The W04 has completed just 29 laps in the last two days.
The third stoppage of the day was caused by Luiz Razia, who was announced by Marussia as their second driver for 2013 shortly before the test began. Razia’s car came to a stop on the start/finish straight and was quickly cleared away.
Another new face at the test was that of James Rossiter, who took over Paul di Resta’s car for the final hour of running. The team were the first to complete 100 laps in a single day.
Di Resta was second-quickest ahead of Ricciardo and Mark Webber.
The session came to an early end as two drivers stopped on track with three minutes remaining. Nico Hulkenberg and pace setter Grosjean both came to a halt. With so little time remaining the chequered flag brought an end to the second day of running
Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Difference | Tyre | |
1 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault E21 | 1’18.218 | 95 | Soft | |
2 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes VJM06 | 1’19.003 | 95 | 0.785 | Soft |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8 | 1’19.134 | 83 | 0.916 | Medium |
4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault RB9 | 1’19.338 | 101 | 1.120 | Medium |
5 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari C32 | 1’19.502 | 99 | 1.284 | Medium |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes W04 | 1’19.519 | 15 | 1.301 | Medium |
7 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28 | 1’19.572 | 81 | 1.354 | Medium |
8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari F138 | 1’19.914 | 78 | 1.696 | Medium |
9 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault FW34 | 1’20.693 | 71 | 2.475 | Soft |
10 | James Rossiter | Force India-Mercedes VJM06 | 1’21.273 | 19 | 3.055 | Hard |
11 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault CT03 | 1’21.311 | 88 | 3.093 | Soft |
12 | Luiz Razia | Marussia-Cosworth MR02 | 1’23.537 | 31 | 5.319 | Medium |
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Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
6th February 2013, 16:08
I think this confirms beyond any reasonable doubt that Grosjean will cruise to the title this season…
Candice
6th February 2013, 16:13
haha, that lap was set on soft compound. Di resta clocked 1.19.0 on medium i think.
Never cease to amaze me how people draw conclusion quickly based on 1st test session.
Rob Wilson (@rob-wilson)
6th February 2013, 16:20
I think I have seen enough of Magnifficent Geoffrey’s comments so know that he will only be joking, the guy is no fool.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
6th February 2013, 16:32
Never cease to amaze me how people don’t get irony…
Or maybe it’s a really exquisite art.
firstLapNutcaseGrosjean (@)
6th February 2013, 16:21
my nickname says everything
BarnstableD (@barnstabled)
6th February 2013, 16:21
50/1 are good odds. Get your money down!
Retired (@jeff1s)
6th February 2013, 18:33
put my money down @keithcollantine hasn’t eat no tapas these days
AlonsoSpeed
6th February 2013, 21:15
i find it extremely comical that one would even consider Roman as potential title contender he only finished half of his races last year. My favorite picture i saw from F1 Fan on Facebook was Badboys II photoshopped image of Roman Grojean and Pastor Maldanado face instead Will Smith and the other guy with caption ” Bad Boys of F1″.
http://twicsy.com/i/9Bwqyc
Once they overcome this persona
Alexander (@al3xander)
6th February 2013, 16:17
caterham and maurrausia still seem to be at least 1.5s off the pace, i know the times are meaningless but generally it looks that way of course its early days in testing so we’ll se in melbourne there pace
BarnstableD (@barnstabled)
6th February 2013, 16:27
As much as you shouldn’t look into testing times too much, I think everyone says ‘they mean nothing’ so much that they underestimate how much they do mean. For example: 2009 Brawn was immediately 0.5s quicker than the others. That meant something. I can only really remember Williams in the past few years chasing the top time by going all out in a car not good enough to be there on merit.
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
6th February 2013, 19:34
Very true. I ignored the naysayers and put a bet down on Button to win the championship that year at 88-1 and ended up much richer as a result!
Skett (@skett)
6th February 2013, 20:53
When Barichello set those fast times a couple years ago? To be fair if I remember correctly they weren’t going for glory. If my recollection is accurate (and it rarely is tbh) the aerodynamics on that years car only really worked well if it was running too low, something they discovered when the tub broke a lap or so after he set that time
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
6th February 2013, 21:35
@barnstabled Brawn being 0.5 secs faster from lap 1 it’s not something normal, is it?
things like that happen once in a lifetime. That doesn’t mean the times mean something.
BarnstableD (@barnstabled)
6th February 2013, 21:42
Yes true, the Brawn 2009 car was an extreme example. But imagine you had no idea about F1 beyond that the idea is to go fast. If you looked at the times being set, you’d say.. “Well, the Lotus, McLarens and Red Bulls look to be the fastest. The Marussia and Caterham are the worst” just because of the times. I would say that is quite an accurate summary (going on from last year) to say that you’re basing it on no previous knowledge of the sport. So my point being, the testing times do mean something, but of course not everything.
Flying Finn
7th February 2013, 15:00
Well the Brawn thing might be a once in a lifetime happening. How much are you willing to bet that this year’s ferrari is also a dud?.
If you ask me it all depends on the people involved. Webber always drives in the ‘just fast enough for the aero to work’ speed. Williams (like some other midfield teams) are always going for the glory. It might be sponsor related.
Where as Hamilton, Vettel and Alsono will just drive the weels off just to see their name on the top of the list. Might be due to cocky-ness, insecurity, mind-games or it just might be a racer thing. Some of them understand the limitations of the car and others don’t. The just end up in the barrier.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
6th February 2013, 16:29
It’s looking worse for Marussia currently I think but both of the teams have held the bottom two positions. I know it’s ridiculous to take anything from the times, especially after only two days running with two rookies, but the signs aren’t promising for either of them scoring their first points.
Meander (@meander)
6th February 2013, 17:02
Actually, it looks like Caterham are moving substantially ahead of Marussia. So far, of course.
Ben (@scuderia29)
6th February 2013, 16:37
so its Grosjean vs Di resta for the 2013 title…
Luke (@lukes)
6th February 2013, 16:45
Classic LOL
Alan Baldwin @alanbaldwinf1
Lewis was asked about the positives from today. ‘I’m alive,’ he said. Actually the impact wasn’t that great and he sounded pretty relaxed.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th February 2013, 16:57
@lukes I was in that interview, here’s more of what he had to say:
Hamilton: “I hit the brake and the pedal went down”
Luke (@lukes)
6th February 2013, 17:17
Was anyone brave enough to ask him if today’s problem was related yesterdays. I’m sure the brake lines where cooked in the fire and no one noticed! There had better not be any more backend issues tomorrow or Merc will want blood.!
verstappen (@verstappen)
6th February 2013, 17:21
Hm. How did Williams do last year at the tests?
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
6th February 2013, 18:25
you can find the detail here
Beto (@chebeto0)
6th February 2013, 18:34
Completely unrelated to the article, I just came across another webpage about f1 which I thought looked pretty nice. I was kind of glad to see some other layout and another point of view, but then I went to the comment section of the articles. Everybody was fighting and being rude to each other about their opinion/likings/nationality, and I immediately realized how much this page and you guys are worth. Thanks for this community!
Christopher (@twiinzspeed)
6th February 2013, 19:13
I totally agree with ya Beto. Once I found F1 Fanatic, I was so relieved that most people on here adhere to talking about F1 and not attacking each other like children. YallaF1 is the worst for this. The guys doing the articles put up good info, but the regulars that post are really rude. F1Fanatic is a great place. :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th February 2013, 19:17
@chebeto0 @twiinzspeed Glad to hear it!
dodge5847 (@)
6th February 2013, 19:22
+1, nine times out of ten, people’s comments are likeable and educated, unlike such sites as yahoo f1. Thats why I come onto this website at least three times a day.
Gagnon (@johnniewalker)
6th February 2013, 22:36
Since I discovered this site, I dont have any other sources for F1, cuz the poeple there know what theyre talking about, and ( I think ) more than 50% poeple will make a statement even against their fav driver/team for the love of the sport. Thats the big difference with other site, its not a fan site, its a f1 site.
Christopher (@twiinzspeed)
6th February 2013, 19:20
It looks like Force India are pretty reliable this year. Does anyone else think that Nico Hulkenburg will be able to improve on what Perez did in the Sauber?? I think Nico is a pretty solid talent. I hope he fits in well with his new team.
Troy Longstaff (@troylongstaff)
6th February 2013, 21:08
@twiinzspeed I think he can. From all accounts, the new Sauber is a bit different tech-wise compared to last year, so if the reliability is up to scratch then there should be no problem for Hulkenberg getting it up to speed. Can he do better than three podiums, of that I’m not sure, he certainly has the talent to do so.
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
6th February 2013, 19:28
I don’t know if you know this or not @KeithCollantine and hopefully you can confirm/clarify this, but I think Grosjean did those tyres on softer compounds, whether that was the soft, or the medium, I don’t know. However, I read on Autosport that Button did his time on the harder compound yesterday.
If that’s the case, then although times aren’t that important now, it definitely makes the McLaren time quite impressive.
Skett (@skett)
6th February 2013, 21:22
I heard the same thing and it does make the mclaren time more impressive, but I suspect we’ll see substantially faster towards the end of this test once people really start to understand their cars.
Kimi4WDC
7th February 2013, 4:03
During last season harder tyres were faster than soft on several occasions, especially when it was colder than usual. Hard to conclude.
robfff
6th February 2013, 20:41
Ferrari dont look too good. I know its only testing, but we’ve seen decent times from all the other top teams, yet nothing from Ferrari. I’m sure they have at least tried to set a fast lap to gauge performance.
Christopher (@twiinzspeed)
6th February 2013, 22:18
I wouldn’t put too much stock in times at the first test. I doubt they went back to a dog of a car based on where they finished the season in 2012. My guess is that Felipe is doing high fuel runs and not worried about speed. They don’t need speed right now anyway, they want baselines and correlation to their simulations, ie: consistancy. I look for them to kick things off more at the second test, once they have their new bits bolted on. And Alonso in the car. Felipes comments are that the car is solid…
Cosmas (@cosmas)
7th February 2013, 0:06
I think Ferrari did well today.
Massa was very consistent and his times were significant better from the rest on the bigger stints. This was also the case last year where Ferrari struggled in qualify but was very strong in the race.
But anyway , without knowing the fuel load and the tyre they used in each stint they runned, quessing so early the potential of each team is pure luck IMHO.
As I have learned the last couple of years, the safest way to predict how the new season will begin is looking how the last has ended. And since the regulations didn’t altered significantly and the top 4 teams were very close last year I expect them to continue the same way. The only team I am a surprised by the level of development is Sauber which I think may do the extra step or even more.
Hairs (@hairs)
6th February 2013, 20:58
We can say with confidence that Button is going to lead for the first half of the season, then Grosjean will overtake him at the end for the title.
madgerz (@madgerz)
6th February 2013, 21:07
Completely unrelated..
Senna joins Le man and WEC.. so the di resta tweet was just a rumor and no f1 this year for bruno Sena
imamsukoco (@imamsukoco)
7th February 2013, 4:59
Keith it would be nice if you have lap chart on testing like 2012 race. I thinking chart driver times vs lap, so we can see how much fuel they got, time record and mileage. Already search in net for this data, None.