Kevin Magnussen led the times at the end of the first day of the Young Drivers Test at Silverstone.
The McLaren development driver logged 100 laps and set a best lap of 1’33.602 in the latter stages of the test.
With track temperatures well above 40C, Magnussen’s best time was two seconds shy of Jenson Button’s British Grand Prix qualifying time. Similar warm conditions are expected for the rest of the test.
The first day of running saw a dozen different drivers on track with Force India splitting their programme between James Calado and Paul di Resta while Tio Ellinas and Max Chilton did laps for Marussia.
Di Resta and Calado both featured in the top four, separated by Antonio Felix da Costa’s Red Bull. Daniel Juncadella was fifth fastest for Williams after comparing different front wing configurations/
Alexander Rossi’s test for Caterham came to an early end due to a hydraulic problem: “That unfortunately meant I didn’t have a chance to put in a really quick lap,” he said, “but we were still able to complete most of the day’s plan and that’s good, for the team and for me as it means we have both got pretty much everything we could from day one of the test.”
Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Difference | |
1 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28 | 1’33.602 | 100 | |
2 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes VJM06 | 1’33.774 | 58 | 0.172 |
3 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Red Bull-Renault RB9 | 1’33.821 | 82 | 0.219 |
4 | James Calado | Force India-Mercedes VJM06 | 1’33.986 | 27 | 0.384 |
5 | Daniel Juncadella | Williams-Renault FW35 | 1’34.098 | 55 | 0.496 |
6 | Johnny Cecotto Jnr | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8 | 1’34.193 | 75 | 0.591 |
7 | Robin Frijns | Sauber-Ferrari C32 | 1’34.236 | 72 | 0.634 |
8 | Nicolas Prost | Lotus-Renault E21 | 1’34.810 | 72 | 1.208 |
9 | Davide Rigon | Ferrari F138 | 1’34.874 | 76 | 1.272 |
10 | Alexander Rossi | Caterham-Renault CT03 | 1’35.651 | 69 | 2.049 |
11 | Tio Ellinas | Marussia-Cosworth MR02 | 1’36.676 | 36 | 3.074 |
12 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth MR02 | 1’38.347 | 27 | 4.745 |
2013 F1 season
- Mercedes originally favoured Heidfeld for Hamilton’s seat
- Take F1 Fanatic’s new 2013 season quiz
- F1 Fanatic’s new year thanks and credits 2014
- The complete F1 Fanatic 2013 season review
- The drivers, teams and cars of 2013
Browse all 2013 F1 season articles
Image © Force India
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
17th July 2013, 17:14
So was anyone there today? Pretty busy, or fairly quiet?
I’m heading to Silverstone tomorrow and looking forward to a day basking in the glorious July sunshine, watching the fastest cars in the world at the best race track in the world. It doesn’t get much better than that.
James Muscat (@jamesremuscat)
17th July 2013, 19:05
There were a good few people there today (I’ve never been before so have no reference, but the circuit commentator said the numbers were “really good”). There was pretty much non-stop running for all eight hours of the test, so plenty to see.
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
17th July 2013, 19:10
I was there and I’d say it was fairly quiet. No struggle at all to find a seat in a covered stand (which was an absolute godsend on a day like today) although there were a fair few more people in the general admission areas.
Queues to get in and out of the car park were non-existant for me, although I did arrive before 9.
However, if you’re planning to do the pit walk, get there as early as you can! The queue for that was insanely long, I’m grateful I didn’t bother with it today.
Webbo (@webbo82)
17th July 2013, 19:34
I was there and have been very dissappointed. If you’re looking for a chance to see F1 cars at their best, don’t bother going. Nowhere will you find in advance that a third of the track is closed, until you walk to each end of the cordens. You guessed it, Copse, Maggots/Becketts and Stowe all blocked-off. All you get for your money (add a third for buying on the day btw) is a short section of Abbey, then nothing until the end of Brooklands up to before the turn-in of Copse. What a let down.
I tried to get a refund (had to walk another half a mile from the ticket stand) but was refused. Was told that it was only my opinion that those corners are the best places to watch, despite a driver and the track announcer saying just that only an hour before!
Apparently there aren’t enough staff to coverr the track (though there were plenty to block it off and to man the Silverstone merchandise shops, of course).
Unless I get a refund, it will be the last of my money they see, I’d rather go to any other circuit – and I’m told it can be cheaper to travel to Spa for race day!
If you’d like to get a refund, or dispute their treatment of the fans – I have a contact name to write to, though after speaking to her today, I’ll be addressing her manager.
GT_Racer
17th July 2013, 20:18
Always been that way for testing at Silverstone & its the same on most tracks.
Last time I went to a Silverstone test in 2008, We only had from Luffield to Copse & the section from Club-Abbey, Rest of the track was off-limits.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
17th July 2013, 21:34
I’m going tomorrow so today I checked the Silverstone website which has comprehensive details on what to expect – ticket price, parking details, opening and closing times, FAQ and a big downloadable map showing where the admission areas are, which I’ll be taking with me. Shame you didn’t check this before you went but at least you know for next time.
Webbo (@webbo82)
17th July 2013, 22:10
Thanks David. I did check on Tuesday, that whole ‘spectator info’ tab has been added since. None of the driver info was there either. Tickets have gone up since Tuesday online too, they were £15 per day or £35 for all three.
The shame for me is there won’t be a next time.
Ben Everard (@beneverard)
18th July 2013, 9:47
I asked Silverstone on Twitter and they said Copse to Abbey would be open, I asked if that followed the track so we could get to Village… they said yes.
This was not the case… extremely annoying too :-(
Twitter convo here –> https://twitter.com/SilverstoneUK/status/357051988023848960
Oli Peacock (@olliekart)
17th July 2013, 17:15
Any news on Chilton or was he just truly shown up here?
Ben (@scuderia29)
17th July 2013, 17:24
yeah it seems unlikely he was really that much slower, he’s not even 1.7 seconds off Bianchi..but i certainly wouldnt be at all surprised if Elinas is actually quicker
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
17th July 2013, 19:15
Just for reference, in Silverstone qualifying last month he did do a 1:35.858. Don’t think today’s lap times were truly representative.
NickF12013 (@nickf12013)
17th July 2013, 17:19
Ellinas 1.7 seconds faster than Chilton. In his first ever outing with an F1 car…
Markos
17th July 2013, 17:24
Unbelievable! Give the boy an F1 car and he will do miracles!
Joshua Mesh (@joshua-mesh)
17th July 2013, 17:27
testing
timi (@timi)
17th July 2013, 19:15
Oh my god, and the McLaren over a second faster than the Ferrari!!
Haha, do people not understand testing times are near impossible for us fans to read into? Even when comparing times between two drivers in the same team?
Tango (@tango)
17th July 2013, 17:30
Rather than doing a whole text on top times, shouldn’t we concentrate on number of laps done, new parts (if seen) and type of runs done ? (just saying this is not a report on a quali session)
mnmracer (@mnmracer)
17th July 2013, 17:32
Frijns closer to di Resta than Hülkenberg was in Silverstone ^_^
KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
17th July 2013, 17:50
I’m confused, did Magnussen do
As it says in the description, or only 33 as it says later on…
Hope it’s the former, as I’m going tomorrow and want to see the cars doing as many laps as they can..
The Blade Runner (@)
18th July 2013, 10:35
@keeleyobsessed The McLaren website says that he did 101 laps
Monosodico (@monosodico)
17th July 2013, 18:41
finally McLaren tops something
rob_surrey (@robspan)
17th July 2013, 18:44
Do the lap times actually tell us anything ?
Wouldn’t a fairer comparison be to pay the poorer teams to run ALL the young drivers ?
e.g.
– poorer teams get to try out 10-15 drivers
– new drivers get to try out 2-3 cars
timi (@timi)
17th July 2013, 19:17
@robspan Testing isn’t there to tell us anything. It’s there for the teams to test new components and get data on them and tyres, not for us to draw comparisons…
Ean (@ean)
18th July 2013, 14:47
Since when ?
FastKing
17th July 2013, 18:49
What’s Max Chilton doing in F1?
BasCB (@bascb)
17th July 2013, 19:44
footing the bill for the team to be there?
GT_Racer
17th July 2013, 20:12
In fairness to Max, You don’t know what program he was running when he was in the car.
This is why testing times are completely irrelevant, Nobody is pushing for lap time, There all just doing there own programs be it gathering tyre data, aero data or doing long runs on full tanks to get race stint data.
Enigma (@enigma)
17th July 2013, 20:23
In fairness, we know what programme he’s on in qualifying and races, and he’s nowhere near Bianchi.
Ben (@x-f1-x)
17th July 2013, 19:27
Does it cost anything to attend the YDT at Silverstone?
James Muscat (@jamesremuscat)
17th July 2013, 19:40
Tickets available on the gate for £20, under-16s go free, and tickets to have a wander in the pit lane for an hour at the end of a day are £10 each.
Poul Winther (@poul)
17th July 2013, 19:35
That was only expected! Way to go Kevin – especially when we know McLaren is not one of the fastest cars at the moment. Excellent display of control and power.
Come on Whitmarsh, it’s time to give Little Mag the seat in the Big Mac! ;-)
sdff1
17th July 2013, 20:03
Kevin Magnusen is now clearly one of the fastest drivers in the world. I think when he gets a race seat we’ll see Vettel making an early retirement. In fact I think most drivers will probably be too scared to challenge him and they’ll all duck out so F1 will simply become a time trial by the soon-to-be legendary Kev
Jimi (@hendrix666)
17th July 2013, 22:14
I see him as an 8 time WDC! All with Marussia!
Todfod (@todfod)
18th July 2013, 9:17
I think legends are born in the young driver test program. Magnussen just showed that he can do a better job than Button and Perez combined!!!
Michael Christensen (@mian)
17th July 2013, 20:40
Only testing, but ahead of Di Resta and Da Costa in a McLaren!, he always tops the charts, shame he is’nt testing anymore.
Enigma (@enigma)
17th July 2013, 20:29
Nice to see some really talented youngsters there. Hopefully Magnussen, da Costa, Calado and Frijns get an F1 seat for 2014.
MagillaGorilla (@magillagorilla)
18th July 2013, 20:45
@Enigma if there is real justice in this world only Frijins will get the seat. It’s a dang YDT I wouldn’t tout them too much.
Rui (@ruicaridade)
18th July 2013, 0:35
Da Costa did that time on hard tires.
Gill (@gill)
18th July 2013, 9:37
Looks like Mclaren have again fitted te car with wrong component a they did in the pre season testing on the very first day..;)
@HoHum (@hohum)
18th July 2013, 14:08
Who do you want to see get the boot @enigma
Enigma (@enigma)
18th July 2013, 14:45
@hohum If it were up to me: Da Costa to go to Toro Rosso (simple if Ricciardo moves to Red Bull, or Vergne to Lotus (which has been rumoured I think)), Calado to replace Sutil. Frijns at Sauber (with both current drivers leaving – Hulk to Lotus, Gutierrez staying without a seat). As for Magnussen, I honestly don’t know where he’d fit in.