Nico Hulkenberg gave Williams a boost by topping the times on the second day of testing at Barcelona on Friday – pipping Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari by 0.023s.
Alonso set a blistering pace in the morning and remained on top until mid-afternoon, when Hulkenberg uncorked a 1m20.614s on the second flying lap of a two-lap qualifying-style run.
It was an encouraging sign for the Grove-based squad, even if the huge unknown factor of how much fuel other teams were running continues to prevent a meaningful comparison of relative pace at the front of the field.
“We’ve had a good test here,” said Hulkenberg.
“P1 today is nice but means nothing, to be honest. We’re not in Bahrain yet!
“It’s positive for the team, and for me, to know what the car can do though.
“We did a lot of set-up work today and have found some interesting things so I feel ready and confident to go to Bahrain now.”
After an electrical problem delayed him on Thursday, Alonso wasted no time in showing Ferrari’s hand with a sequence of quick laps this morning while trying out a host of new aerodynamic components on the F10, including a shark fin engine cover.
The Spaniard switched his focus to a race simulation in the afternoon and finished with the day’s highest lap tally (133) despite causing a red flag moments before the scheduled end of the session.
Sauber continued to impress, Pedro de la Rosa posting a best time just 0.3s slower than Alonso’s shortly before the lunch break and finishing the day third fastest.
Tonio Liuzzi followed a similar schedule (short runs in the morning followed by a race simulation after lunch) and wound up fourth quickest in the Force India, leaving the Italian cautiously optimistic about the VJM02’s form.
“We can be quite happy about today's programme,” he said.
“We completed everything without any issues and the car showed very good reliability, even when we did the race simulation.
“Again it is responding very well and we are improving day by day so everything is looking positive.
“We still don't know where we are relative to the others, and we will only see in Bahrain, but overall we can be really happy.”
Sebastian Vettel virtually mirrored Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber’s Thursday programme and slightly improved on the Australian’s time (set on a dirtier track).
Vettel’s running was briefly interrupted when the RB6 developed an undisclosed technical problem in the afternoon and he stopped the car as a precaution, but he subsequently completed his race simulation successfully.
“It was good today – we didn’t have any major problems,” he reported.
“We had to stop in the afternoon for a minor issue, but it’s quite normal in testing.
“When you’re testing, you don’t want to risk any damage so it’s best to switch the car off and stop if you don’t have to push when there’s an alert in the background.
“We had a lot of rain in Jerez so we still have a lot to do over the last two days here, such as finding out more about the tyres and doing some set-up work.”
Jaime Alguersuari was sixth quickest for Toro Rosso on his final day of pre-season testing, mixing short runs with pit stop practice in the morning before moving on to a trouble-free race simulation.
Michael Schumacher kept a low profile as he focused on developing the set-up and balance of the W01 over long runs and did not indulge in any qualifying-style forays.
“We had a positive day but it was quite stop-start with some changes on the car and then the red flags towards the end of the day,” he said.
“We are working hard and, even if the programme doesn't run as smoothly as we would have liked, there is much more to come from the team both here and in Bahrain.
“We are working very well together and there is a good atmosphere within the team.”
Another former world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was a similarly low-key eighth in the McLaren ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, whose track time was severely curtailed by a suspension problem in the afternoon.
“It’s frustrating to lose track time this afternoon because of a problem with the suspension, but I’m sure the team will get on top of the issue so that we can have a good weekend,” said the Pole, who completed 53 laps.
“We have some new aero parts coming on Saturday and Sunday, which will help improve the pace of the car.”
At the foot of the timesheet, Lotus got the better of its rival new team Virgin and also completed more laps – even though problems with the T127 (including a power steering failure) twice brought Jarno Trulli to a halt and caused red flags.
For Virgin it was a relief to get 52 laps in after Lucas di Grassi’s Thursday crash at Campsa had forced the mechanics to rebuild the chassis overnight and into the morning session.
Timo Glock finished 0.4s adrift of Trulli and 5.3s shy of Hulkenberg’s benchmark.
Testing times from Barcelona (Friday 26 February)
1 HULKENBERG Williams 1m20.614s (99)
2 ALONSO Ferrari 1m20.637s (133)
3 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m20.973s (114)
4 LIUZZI Force India 1m21.056s (90)
5 VETTEL Red Bull 1m21.258s (125)
6 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m21.571s (104)
7 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m21.689s (85)
8 HAMILTON McLaren 1m22.152s (93)
9 KUBICA Renault 1m24.912s (53)
10 TRULLI Lotus 1m25.524s (70)
11 GLOCK Virgin 1m25.942s (52)
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Showing posts with label Hulkenberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hulkenberg. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Hulkenberg glad he waited for Williams
Nico Hulkenberg says he is glad he waited to make the move to Formula 1 with Williams next year - after revealing he turned down the chance to join Ferrari as Felipe Massa's replacement in the middle of last season.
Both Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella failed to score a point after taking over from the Brazilian, who suffered head injuries in a crash during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg, who has been promoted from a testing role to a race seat at Williams, said that his reputation could have taken a huge knock if he had been in the Ferrari rather than staying on to win the GP2 crown.
"Ferrari contacted my manager Willi Weber. They had a bit of interest and there was some contact," Hulkenberg told AUTOSPORT.
"It didn't come out that way, as we know, and I think it worked out for the best because I was able to finish GP2, win it and start F1 clean with Williams, who are a great team.
"It would have been bad for me not only to leave GP2 when I was in a position to win the title, but also for my reputation to be affected by bad results in F1.
"Look what happened to [Romain] Grosjean. A couple of tough races and then someone like [Kamui] Kobayashi turns up for two races and looks really good. It must have been very tough for him."
The 22-year-old German was delighted to break an eight-month lay-off from F1 action by setting the second quickest time during Jerez testing on Wednesday.
"To be honest, I got the feeling back pretty quickly, which surprised me. We had some very consistent running all day and the track conditions were pretty consistent too, so it was all very good.
"It was a lot of prepping for next year, driving with a heavy car and seeing what it's like with the balance and how the tyres behave. These are not next year's tyres, but still we can gather some information. For Thursday, the plan is pretty similar."
Both Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella failed to score a point after taking over from the Brazilian, who suffered head injuries in a crash during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg, who has been promoted from a testing role to a race seat at Williams, said that his reputation could have taken a huge knock if he had been in the Ferrari rather than staying on to win the GP2 crown.
"Ferrari contacted my manager Willi Weber. They had a bit of interest and there was some contact," Hulkenberg told AUTOSPORT.
"It didn't come out that way, as we know, and I think it worked out for the best because I was able to finish GP2, win it and start F1 clean with Williams, who are a great team.
"It would have been bad for me not only to leave GP2 when I was in a position to win the title, but also for my reputation to be affected by bad results in F1.
"Look what happened to [Romain] Grosjean. A couple of tough races and then someone like [Kamui] Kobayashi turns up for two races and looks really good. It must have been very tough for him."
The 22-year-old German was delighted to break an eight-month lay-off from F1 action by setting the second quickest time during Jerez testing on Wednesday.
"To be honest, I got the feeling back pretty quickly, which surprised me. We had some very consistent running all day and the track conditions were pretty consistent too, so it was all very good.
"It was a lot of prepping for next year, driving with a heavy car and seeing what it's like with the balance and how the tyres behave. These are not next year's tyres, but still we can gather some information. For Thursday, the plan is pretty similar."
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Hulkenberg off to a slow start
Nico Hulkenberg began his first test for Williams since securing a race seat in mediocre fashion at Jerez on Wednesday.
Taking part in day two of the young driver's testing in Spain, the German finished the morning session with a time of 1:21.814, the sixth fastest of the session, nearly three seconds off the pace of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
As the only driver at Jerez who has already secured a place on next year's grid, much was expected of the 22-year-old, but it was Ricciardo who stole the limelight during the second morning of testing.
The Australian was the last driver to post a time but was worth the wait, with the 20-year-old consistently breaking the 1:20 mark.
Force India's Paul Di Resta backed up an impressive performance yesterday to once again claim second spot with a time of 1:19.411. Fellow Briton Gary Paffett in a McLaren posted a time of 1:19.535, the only other man to break the 1:20 mark in the morning.
Esteban Gutierrez in a BMW-Sauber and Mirko Bortolotti's Toro Rosso rounded out the top five. Bortolotti caused the session to be halted for a few minutes after coming to a halt between turns 5 and 6, but was able to continue after a brief stint in the pits.
Jules Bianchi, who was enjoying his second day out in a Ferrari propped up the rear end of the time charts with a disappointing 1:23.517, some four seconds off his best on Tuesday.
Unofficial Times
01. D. Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:19.243 38 laps
02. P. Di Resta (Force India) 1:19.411 44 laps
03. G. Paffet (McLaren) 1:19.535 34 laps
04. E. Gutiérrez (BMW-Sauber) 1:20.450 26 laps
05. M. Bortolotti (Toro Rosso) 1:21.761 23 laps
06. N. Hulkenberg (Williams) 1:21.814 42 laps
07. H. Tung (Renault) 1:22.003 51 laps
08. M. Conway (BrawnGP) 1:23.049 37 laps
09. J. Bianchi (Ferrari) 1:23.517 37 laps
Taking part in day two of the young driver's testing in Spain, the German finished the morning session with a time of 1:21.814, the sixth fastest of the session, nearly three seconds off the pace of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
As the only driver at Jerez who has already secured a place on next year's grid, much was expected of the 22-year-old, but it was Ricciardo who stole the limelight during the second morning of testing.
The Australian was the last driver to post a time but was worth the wait, with the 20-year-old consistently breaking the 1:20 mark.
Force India's Paul Di Resta backed up an impressive performance yesterday to once again claim second spot with a time of 1:19.411. Fellow Briton Gary Paffett in a McLaren posted a time of 1:19.535, the only other man to break the 1:20 mark in the morning.
Esteban Gutierrez in a BMW-Sauber and Mirko Bortolotti's Toro Rosso rounded out the top five. Bortolotti caused the session to be halted for a few minutes after coming to a halt between turns 5 and 6, but was able to continue after a brief stint in the pits.
Jules Bianchi, who was enjoying his second day out in a Ferrari propped up the rear end of the time charts with a disappointing 1:23.517, some four seconds off his best on Tuesday.
Unofficial Times
01. D. Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:19.243 38 laps
02. P. Di Resta (Force India) 1:19.411 44 laps
03. G. Paffet (McLaren) 1:19.535 34 laps
04. E. Gutiérrez (BMW-Sauber) 1:20.450 26 laps
05. M. Bortolotti (Toro Rosso) 1:21.761 23 laps
06. N. Hulkenberg (Williams) 1:21.814 42 laps
07. H. Tung (Renault) 1:22.003 51 laps
08. M. Conway (BrawnGP) 1:23.049 37 laps
09. J. Bianchi (Ferrari) 1:23.517 37 laps
Monday, 2 November 2009
Nico Hulkenberg lowdown
Williams's new signing Nico Hulkenberg is the latest product of a German junior racing scene determined to churn out potential successors to Michael Schumacher.
He has been earmarked for stardom from an early age, having shone in karting and picked up the patronage of Schumacher's management Willi Weber.
Hulkenberg delivered the German Formula BMW title in his first season in cars, but it was in A1GP in 2006 and 2007 that he really came to the motorsport world's attention, as the then 19-year-old took a victory in his debut weekend in the nation versus nation series and went on to sweep to the championship title for Team Germany.
Williams engineering chief Patrick Head recently remarked that it was this performance that encouraged the team to take a closer look at the rising young talent, who went on to add the Formula 3 Euro Series title in 2008 and then to win GP2 in his rookie season this year, just as Lewis Hamilton had back in 2006.
By this time Hulkenberg was already a Williams test driver, and was entrusted with rather more of the pre-season preparation work than many of his fellow reserves – his promotion to the race squad being a question of 'when' rather than 'if'.
He now joins predecessor Nico Rosberg and 2009 runner-up Sebastian Vettel as a potential future German champion, and with countrymen Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld all likely to stay in Formula 1 and all capable of finishing on the podium at least, Germany's place at the forefront of the sport looks assured for years to come.
Factfile
Date of birth: 19 August 1987
Place of birth: Emmerich, Germany
Nationality: German
Place of residence: Germany
Status: Single
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 70kg
Racing career
2009
One win in GP2 Asia part-season
GP2 Series champion
Williams F1 test driver, signs 2010 race deal
2008
Formula 3 Euro Series champion
Williams F1 test and reserve driver
2007
Third in Formula 3 Euro Series
Winner of Masters of Formula 3 event
Takes Team Germany to A1GP title
2006
Fifth in German Formula 3
2005
German Formula BMW champion
Third in Formula BMW World Finals
2003
German karting champion
2002
German junior karting champion
1997
Starts karting at age of 10
He has been earmarked for stardom from an early age, having shone in karting and picked up the patronage of Schumacher's management Willi Weber.
Hulkenberg delivered the German Formula BMW title in his first season in cars, but it was in A1GP in 2006 and 2007 that he really came to the motorsport world's attention, as the then 19-year-old took a victory in his debut weekend in the nation versus nation series and went on to sweep to the championship title for Team Germany.
Williams engineering chief Patrick Head recently remarked that it was this performance that encouraged the team to take a closer look at the rising young talent, who went on to add the Formula 3 Euro Series title in 2008 and then to win GP2 in his rookie season this year, just as Lewis Hamilton had back in 2006.
By this time Hulkenberg was already a Williams test driver, and was entrusted with rather more of the pre-season preparation work than many of his fellow reserves – his promotion to the race squad being a question of 'when' rather than 'if'.
He now joins predecessor Nico Rosberg and 2009 runner-up Sebastian Vettel as a potential future German champion, and with countrymen Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Nick Heidfeld all likely to stay in Formula 1 and all capable of finishing on the podium at least, Germany's place at the forefront of the sport looks assured for years to come.
Factfile
Date of birth: 19 August 1987
Place of birth: Emmerich, Germany
Nationality: German
Place of residence: Germany
Status: Single
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 70kg
Racing career
2009
One win in GP2 Asia part-season
GP2 Series champion
Williams F1 test driver, signs 2010 race deal
2008
Formula 3 Euro Series champion
Williams F1 test and reserve driver
2007
Third in Formula 3 Euro Series
Winner of Masters of Formula 3 event
Takes Team Germany to A1GP title
2006
Fifth in German Formula 3
2005
German Formula BMW champion
Third in Formula BMW World Finals
2003
German karting champion
2002
German junior karting champion
1997
Starts karting at age of 10
Williams signs Barrichello, Hulkenberg
Williams has confirmed that Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg will be its two drivers next season, as AUTOSPORT predicted.
The signing of the duo means the team will have an all-new pairing for 2010, as it also makes the switch from Toyota to Cosworth power.
Barrichello arrives at the team after a strong season for Brawn GP, where he fought team mate Jenson Button for the championship - taking two victories on the way.
AUTOSPORT revealed ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix that Barrichello was closing in on a deal to join Williams for 2010 - although a contract is only believed to have been finalised in the last few weeks.
Hulkenberg has been signed up on the back of an impressive season in GP2, where he took the championship in dominant fashion. The German has been Williams's test driver since 2008.
Williams believes that the mixture of experience and youth will provide the kind of combination it needs to make the push back to the front of the grid. The team is chasing its first victory in Formula 1 since the end of the 2004 season.
Team principal Frank Williams said: "Rubens needs no introduction. He is not only the most experienced driver in Formula 1, but a passionate and talented driver who fought hard for the drivers' championship this year.
"Nico Hulkenberg won the GP2 Championship this season as a rookie and has previously won the F3 Euro Series, A1 GP and Formula BMW Germany."
The future of Williams' 2009 drivers has yet to be confirmed. Nico Rosberg is understood to have signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz to race for Brawn GP next year - but this will not be announced until the German car manufacturer's future F1 plans have been settled.
Kazuki Nakajima has a troubled campaign with Williams, failing to score a single point all year, and he is not expected to find a berth elsewhere despite being part of Toyota's young driver programme.
The signing of the duo means the team will have an all-new pairing for 2010, as it also makes the switch from Toyota to Cosworth power.
Barrichello arrives at the team after a strong season for Brawn GP, where he fought team mate Jenson Button for the championship - taking two victories on the way.
AUTOSPORT revealed ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix that Barrichello was closing in on a deal to join Williams for 2010 - although a contract is only believed to have been finalised in the last few weeks.
Hulkenberg has been signed up on the back of an impressive season in GP2, where he took the championship in dominant fashion. The German has been Williams's test driver since 2008.
Williams believes that the mixture of experience and youth will provide the kind of combination it needs to make the push back to the front of the grid. The team is chasing its first victory in Formula 1 since the end of the 2004 season.
Team principal Frank Williams said: "Rubens needs no introduction. He is not only the most experienced driver in Formula 1, but a passionate and talented driver who fought hard for the drivers' championship this year.
"Nico Hulkenberg won the GP2 Championship this season as a rookie and has previously won the F3 Euro Series, A1 GP and Formula BMW Germany."
The future of Williams' 2009 drivers has yet to be confirmed. Nico Rosberg is understood to have signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz to race for Brawn GP next year - but this will not be announced until the German car manufacturer's future F1 plans have been settled.
Kazuki Nakajima has a troubled campaign with Williams, failing to score a single point all year, and he is not expected to find a berth elsewhere despite being part of Toyota's young driver programme.
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