Romain Grosjean will be the first of Lotus’s drivers to get behind the wheel of the new E22 in an official test session as the team makes a belated start to its pre-season programme.
Grosjean will drive the car on the first two days of the four-day test which starts in Bahrain tomorrow before handing over to Pastor Maldonado.
It will be race drivers only for most teams at the test – with one exception. Caterham with give Robin Frijns another day at the wheel of their CT05 on the first day of the test.
The 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 champion covered ten laps for the team at Jerez but was unable to set a lap time due to teething troubles with the car.
Sebastian Vettel will lead Red Bull’s attempt to get their pre-season preparations back on track as he does the first two days of running in the RB10.
A Williams spokesperson said their driver line-up would be confirmed on the first day of the test.
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Neel Jani (@neelv27)
18th February 2014, 12:36
Do these teams have any program in mind while deciding who will drive on which day?
nnd
18th February 2014, 16:38
I’m wondering the same.
Maybe the personality of driver has a role. For exemple nico rosberg usually does a lot more laps then hamilton.
So maybe nico for reliability testing/ lewis for aero
Diego (@ironcito)
18th February 2014, 19:07
I don’t think so. I would think it’s mostly to split the workload between both drivers, and to give them both a chance to get to know the car. To the engineers, at least at this point, it probably doesn’t make a difference who’s driving.
patriots_fan (@f1007)
18th February 2014, 20:43
not for this test, for first test usually no.2 drivers like kimi :P drive for first 1 -2 days, as there will lots of stoppages and not much of driving or learning.
The Abbinator (@abbinator)
18th February 2014, 21:43
Erm, Alonso is scheduled first two days, so that blows that theory out if the water, unless Vet us the new #2 to Ricciardo?
Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
18th February 2014, 22:08
He wrote “for the first test” which was two weeks ago in Jerez. This one is the second test.
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
18th February 2014, 23:27
@timothykatz
But this is basically the first test for RBR and Vettel is driving for first two days.
Zain Siddiqui (@powerslidepowerslide)
18th February 2014, 23:25
Oh, so that means Sebastian Vettel is a number two driver, then?
matt
19th February 2014, 4:28
hahah of course he is.
patriots_fan (@f1007)
19th February 2014, 16:23
well redbull trying hard to “convince” whole world that there is no no.1 in their team. Also vettel being more experienced, for them him driving first in 1st test gives slight advantage if they had not hit that many issues, but for teams with more experienced drivers like in ferrari, no.1 drivers have the privilege of choosing not to drive first in 1st test, kimi has no choice :)
Diego (@ironcito)
18th February 2014, 23:32
Even then, that’s simply a privilege of the no. 1 driver avoiding the tedious work, not some requirement on the part of the team. At this point, it doesn’t matter who’s driving. I’ll be different once they begin fine-tuning their preferences and setups.
Bounzze (@bounzze)
18th February 2014, 12:40
It’s nice to see that Frijns gets to do some actual miles and not only simwork (for which actual miles are very important of course)
Looks like Caterham really was a good option for him, and he can get some more exposure, not only from Caterham but also the other teams.
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
18th February 2014, 14:39
@bounzze – Frijns appears he has finally found some luck, and if he performs well, and if the figures are good, which they will be, he should be looking good for a drive in 2015. I would suggest that Massa, Sutil and Kobayashi’s drives are under threat from Robin next year if they don’t perform well against there respected teammates – he’s unquestionably good enough and in my opinion a hotter prospect by far than Magnussen. The only problem is that we don’t to see Robin racing until next year…
Wallbreaker (@wallbreaker)
18th February 2014, 14:17
I can’t help but think the Caterham is on fire! Nice illusion by the painted wall :p
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
18th February 2014, 19:13
@wallbreaker It’s just your eyes burning.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
18th February 2014, 23:33
it’s just their finances that are overheated
Ricardo Ferreira (@yes-master)
18th February 2014, 16:04
Looking forward to see Robin Frinjs results.
Neil
18th February 2014, 17:45
Another Frijns comment (pleased I’m not alone in being excited by him)… happy he’s doing a day, but disappointed it’s the first. Hope Caterham can get up and running quickly so he can at least have a decent run in the car.
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
18th February 2014, 23:35
He needs at least a half decent car too.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
18th February 2014, 19:15
I wonder why Williams is delaying the announcement. I can only guess they are in negotiation with someone to have a day at Bahrain, Nasr perhaps, dunno.
Deej92 (@deej92)
18th February 2014, 21:20
That’d be my guess, too. It makes sense.
ForzaAlanRabbit (@jojobudgie)
18th February 2014, 20:00
So there’s no main order then?Think about it, Vettel (with the experience)
is driving for RB first.If the driver with experience drives first, surely the team has the plan:give the car to the experienced one to get the car’s installation laps done and give it to the young driver to bang in the miles.
Maybe it’s just me…
ForzaAlanRabbit (@jojobudgie)
18th February 2014, 21:38
Very pleased that Frijns will get to drive the Caterham.Also pleased that Grosjean is driving the Lotus so it hopefully won’t be crashed until the 3rd day
of testing…
Kimi4WDC
18th February 2014, 23:08
Grosjean not to crash, you trying to be funny? :)
matt
19th February 2014, 4:29
hmm. i reckon that joke died in the second half of last season.. RoGro is the real deal now methinks
Tyler (@tdog)
19th February 2014, 5:46
Massa for Williams on day 1
Tomsk (@tomsk)
19th February 2014, 15:15
Is there any night testing under lights?