Mercedes quickest again as Ferrari end test early

2014 F1 season

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Mercedes topped both days of testing in Bahrain as Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on the last day of the test.

The Bahrain Grand Prix winner spent the day doing tyre development work for Pirelli, as did Williams test driver Felipe Nasr.

Hamilton also completed the most laps of any driver, as team mate Nico Rosberg did yesterday. Between them the Mercedes drivers covered 241 laps in two days – well over four grand prix distances.

At the other end of the spectrum were Ferrari, whose second day came to an end after a dozen laps. The team discovered damage on the chassis Fernando Alonso was using and decided it was too serious for them to be able to continue.

Lotus also had another frustrating day, covering just 16 laps as they did yesterday.

Jean-Eric Vergne was second-fastest for Toro Rosso after “not a completely trouble-free day”. Kevin Magnussen was third-quickest for McLaren, but brought out the red flags at one point when he spon his McLaren following a component failure.

DriverCarBest timeLapsDifference
1Lewis HamiltonMercedes W051’34.136120
2Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault STR91’35.557641.421
3Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-291’36.203262.067
4Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes VJM071’36.586632.450
5Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault RB101’37.310673.174
6Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari MR031’37.316933.180
7Giedo van der GardeSauber-Ferrari C331’37.623773.487
8Fernando AlonsoFerrari F14 T1’37.912123.776
9Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault CT051’39.263665.127
10Felipe NasrWilliams-Mercedes FW361’39.879645.743
11Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault E221’43.732169.596

2014 F1 season


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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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42 comments on “Mercedes quickest again as Ferrari end test early”

  1. What is the purpose to do Bahrain test after Mercedes domination in Bahrain race, better leave now and focus to other circuits.

    1. [addition to @watchkyle post] And the small fact that this test was agreed upon and booked way before the season has started, and nobody even considered abandoning it based on previous race results.

      Even if, moving the test would be incredibly stupid since the teams would lose the benchmark set on the race weekend, and the ability to directly correlate the race and testing data in the same enviroment (car and the track).

    2. The test had nothing to do with improving race pace for Bahrain at all erix. The purpose of the test was mainly to allow teams to better understand what their cars are doing as well as fine tuning how to best use their power units and their brake by wire systems. The added advantage to testing on a track where they just raced, is that they have a good comparison and loads of data to start off from.

      1. Not to mention that the costs of staying on at Bahrain with staff, cars and other infrastructure already in place is considerably cheaper than setting up a bespoke test at another venue.

  2. Aaaa, Ferrari. Goddamn it! Get serious, people. It’s not like there’s 30 testing days during the season. Wasted day. While Mercedes, whom they need to catch up with, has completed more laps than anyone by far, second day in a row.

    1. So Ferrari should test a damaged and unsafe car?

      1. Where’s the other car??Why aren’t they testing the other Ferrari with Kimi, who clearly has more work to do in terms of knowing the car.

        1. :facepalm: they are only allowed to run 1 car in testing.

          1. are we sure the rule doesn’t say 1 car per time?

        2. The other car has probably been packed up to be sent back to the factory for routine maintenance work ahead of the next GP.

        3. The other car is probably long gone and already arrived in Italy even before the test started Chu

    2. Still baffles me as to why they would ask Alonso to use Kimi’s chassis especially when he was in rally mode during the weekend.

      With very limited testing available, they should maximise their opportunities.

      But on the other hand, if they already know all about the current car, then maybe it isn’t a really a wasted opportunity. At least they saved some fuel :)

  3. I read that the chassis that Alonso was using today was the one that Kimi was using during the race weekend and the damage to the chassis came from Kimi jumping over the kerb in turn 4 before it was removed.

    1. The team discovered damage on the chassis Fernando Alonso was using and decided it was too serious for them to be able to continue.

      How on earth they were testing on that chassis ?? Someone need to be fired …and immediately please !!!!

      1. @tifoso1989 Ferrari thought they had mend it well enough, which leads me to suspect that the other chassis was not in top notch condition as well.

      2. Seriously. This sort of blundering is why they’re not making advances.

        1. Sometimes damage only becomes apparent after sufficient stress flexing.

    2. Kimi shouldn’t use the F14T anymore, but the F150 instead…”Built Ford Tough” you know. (…Not a Kimi hater by the way).

      1. Comes in red too…

    3. lotus forgets to fasten Kimis seat, and ferrari keeps driving with a busted chassi that is later deemed “unsafe” to even drive… ok both misstakes, but weird ones to slip by the engineers/mechanics

    4. @metallion if this is true, it’s just unbelievable. Spare Alonso’s car? Fair enough, but don’t take a known hit chassis for development mule.
      Even less laps than Lotus …

      1. @spoutnik
        The source for the article that I read was crash.net, I don’t usually go there so I don’t know how trustworthy the site is.

        Here’s the link to the article
        http://www.crash.net/f1/news/201918/1/ferrari-ends-testing-early-in-bahrain.html

        According to the Finnish article that used this article as their source, Alonso has been testing with both cars. I guess his own yesterday and Kimi’s today.

        1. @metallion thanks for the link, I wonder if Alonso’s car is not already under repair to find what went wrong in qualifications though …

    5. Alonso might think “no way I gonna drive this oversteery car with rear steering”..

  4. Mark in Florida
    9th April 2014, 19:56

    The days of Ross Brawn, Jean Todt , Pat Frye etc are truly over for Ferrari. It’s very sad t see them in this kind of condition. The days of the bumbling Italians are here to stay. Stefano is apparently clueless about what to do to rectify the situation. LDM just looks disgusted all the time. They are right back to where they were before Schumacher,Brawn etc came over from Benneton to save the tiffosi pride and joy. It’s must be karma for LDM forcing Schumacher to leave early.when he was still on top of his game and probably would have won one or two more championships. Ironically the team that Schumacher went to is crushing Ferrari flat and they have no answer.

    1. LDM forcing Schumacher to leave early.

      And Spa’s most famous corner is Varianti Ascari.

      1. @raceprouk there is no definite proof but there are quite a few hints that they forced him out.
        Also Ferrari’s tactics with forcing Kimi out to sign Alonso wasn’t really helping to mute suspicions. And that MSC was so eager to return in 09 resp. then in 10 for Mercedes suggested that it was either not his decision or a bad one to leave F1. We’ll never know so either way it’s just speculation.

        1. @tmf42, @raceprouk

          I didn’t even realise that there was speculation on this matter any more, wasn’t it pretty much accepted as a fact that LDM wanted Shumacher out to make way for Kimi? It certainly didn’t appear like Schumacher wanted to leave and he was said to have had discussions with other teams about staying in F1 for 2007.

          1. @jerseyf1 there are many who think so but you can’t say something is fact if there is no way to proof it – but in my mind that’s what happened when Kimi was signed.

    2. But very fittingly their fans have named it: FIAT
      Still makes me laugh, especially when I read that some of their misery comes from actually supplying their drivers with FIAT level quality checked machinery.
      The risk is this season may go down in Ferrari history as the season with the best drivers and the worst results, poor tifosi. But somehow I don’t feel pity for LDM.

    3. Pat Fry is at Ferrari now. Perhaps you meant Rory Byrne?

      1. Mark in Florida
        10th April 2014, 2:27

        Exactly,thanks for the correction. The point is that Ferrari had a real international team of people. Now the flavor is more nationalistic and LDM is damned and determined to run things his way. Ross I don’t think allowed that kind of interference hence the levels of success that they enjoyed.

  5. 2X as many laps as the rest and 1.4s up. Everyone else better pray for biblical downpours at the remaining races with the race stopping at half-distance.

    1. @dmw – First quarter point races in history?

      1. I see what you did there. Hopefully the double-points thing gets’ quashed soon, despite the source of comedy it has become.

  6. So.. Kimi used the damaged chassis all weekend without notice from Ferrari…

    1. Sometimes damage only becomes apparent after sufficient stress flexing.

  7. With this kind of tempo Mercedes may going to dominate for a long time. I’m not refering for this season only. It’s scary how much potential that car has and racking laps like that?! It will be even more frustrating for the others after this test knowing what kind of monster they are fighting against.

  8. whats the deal with engine allocation in these tests? they are not part of the season’s allocation right?

  9. Feel bad for Alonso. He might end his career at such a rubbish team…

  10. If this continues for Ferrari, I am guessing by mid season you will see a LDM vs Alonso part 2 (first one being last year).
    And Alonso finally leaving at the end fo the year, he will not stay with the team if they don’t have a competitive car.
    Remember Ferrari/Alonso will not except anything but 1st, so expect fireworks at Ferrari if this doesn’t get better soon.

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