After a test season where the Red Bull team resolutely refused to run on low fuel, thereby not showing their true pace, the quality of the car and driver shone through at Bahrain this morning when Sebastian Vettel came through to take pole from the two Ferraris in qualifying. This is his sixth pole position in his short career.
Massa looked very dangerous for the race tomorrow as he had two attempts in Q3 and was only fifteen hundredths off Vettel’s time; this kept him ahead of his team-mate Alonso who was 36 hundredths behind him and will start third on the grid.
Hamilton in a tricky handling McLaren held off the impressive Rosberg for fourth spot and Vettel’s Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber came in sixth. Michael Schumacher rarely looked comfortable in has first race back in the Mercedes but finished in a comfortable seventh on the grid, staying one place ahead of Button in the second McLaren. From onboard pictures of the McLaren, Button was having even more troubles controlling his car than his team-mate Hamilton; he barely scraped into Q3 at the expense of Barrichello in the Williams.
Kubica in the Renault took ninth and Adrian Sutil showed well in tenth with a good drive for Force India.
Of the new teams that took part in the Bahrain grand prix, Virgin’s Glock was one tenth faster than the Lotus of Trulli, finishing 18th and 19th. But award for bravery of the weekend must go to Karun Chandhok for stepping into the HRT for the first time and managing to get it around the testing circuit.
News from Formula One in the Formation Lap.
Showing posts with label Bahrain GP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bahrain GP. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
2010 Bahrain GP, Monday Debrief: Interview with James Allison of Renault
James, what was your assessment of Renault’s weekend in Bahrain?
Overall, I’m disappointed that we’re going home empty handed because it’s not a fair reward for the effort the team has put in over the last few months or the underlying competitiveness of our car. On the flip side, I’m pleased that we’ve met our initial performance expectations, which is the tricky bit. Our basic competitiveness could have put us sixth or seventh in qualifying, and that’s a hugely better position than at the end of last year or at the beginning. It shows that we’ve made a proper step up with the car.
The team brought a major upgrade to Bahrain. How did it perform?
It was very difficult to judge exactly where the teams stacked up in the pre-season, but we had made our own estimates of where we stood. In Bahrain we found that the car has come out at the positive end of our predictions. Our competitive position, coupled with the data we measured on the car give me good confidence that the new package has delivered the performance that we hoped for. Although Bahrain is a slightly unusual circuit, with very few fast corners, I am confident that we should be able to pick up at the same level in Melbourne, or even take a step forward.
The wind tunnel at Enstone was upgraded last November with a new rolling road. Does this mean that it’s delivering what you expected of it?
Since the tunnel shutdown, our rate of development has been encouragingly strong, and we expect to be adding performance to the car at every race this year. However, we cannot forget that we were still a second off the front-running pace in qualifying. We have started the season with a credible level of performance, and we aim to finish the season at what I’d describe as a good level.
How did you feel the drivers performed over the first race weekend?
Robert delivered a peachy lap in Q2 to show the potential of the car. In the race, despite the fact that he got rammed on the first lap and shunted down to the back of the field, he produced a faultless drive. As a driver, he’s exactly what we want: he encourages us, he’s prepared to work every bit as hard as we are, and he has constructive ideas about the areas where we can improve. It’s fantastic to have a driver who sets high standards for himself and for us, and who can play a big part in our recovery.
As for Vitaly, he did everything we asked of him. He’d run only a handful of dry weather laps in the pre-season through bad luck with the weather; in fact, he did more dry laps on Friday than he’d managed during all of testing. Notwithstanding that, he delivered in the sessions that mattered. He got comfortably out of Q1 and, although he was frustrated with his Q2 lap, it was absolutely a good performance for a rookie. With all the pressure of making his debut race he made a great start, then got on with the job and put together a string of consistent laps. He was set fair for a good result – and quite possibly points on his debut.
Vitaly retired with a suspension problem yesterday. Can you explain what happened?
On lap 11, Vitaly reported that the car wasn’t behaving normally and he began losing a lot of lap time to Barrichello. We called him into the pits for a precautionary check and found a problem with the right-front suspension pushrod that forced us to retire the car. Upon further investigation, it transpired that the pushrod had been touching on the chassis when running on very heavy fuel at the start of the race. This damaged the bolt that attaches the pushrod to the car, and meant we lost a shim from the suspension, causing the DNF. Robert preferred a slightly different ride height and was fortunate not to encounter the same problem. We are, of course, disappointed that we did not discover this problem during pre-season testing. The parts in question will be modified for the next race to ensure that it cannot recur.
Finally, the team put in some marathon hours this weekend – mirroring the efforts back at the factory. What can you say about that herculean effort?
A racing team can only judge itself by how quick the car is and whether it is competing in the manner it would wish to. Last year, we took a number of body blows to our self-confidence, and the only way back from that was to produce a decent car and race it with integrity. We wanted to put as much performance into the car as we could for the first race, but we knew that shutting our tunnel in November for the rolling road upgrade would mean that we had to leave a lot of development daringly late. This decision put massive pressure on the design side of the team, on the manufacturing side, and also on the buying department that organizes our subcontractors – plus on the subcontractors themselves. To bring this package to the first race, we had to operate to timescales that we’d never come close to in the past, and it tested the system to its limits. It also meant the race team had to burn the candle at both ends every day at the track, with a burden of expectation on their shoulders, and they delivered. The end result may not have been visible this weekend in terms of points, but the effort that went in was a massive tribute to our determination to recover.
Is the goal for Melbourne to try and transform the potential from this weekend into points?
Absolutely. We have a car that should be capable of bringing home points at every race. If we keep up the pressure on the development side, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing that.
Overall, I’m disappointed that we’re going home empty handed because it’s not a fair reward for the effort the team has put in over the last few months or the underlying competitiveness of our car. On the flip side, I’m pleased that we’ve met our initial performance expectations, which is the tricky bit. Our basic competitiveness could have put us sixth or seventh in qualifying, and that’s a hugely better position than at the end of last year or at the beginning. It shows that we’ve made a proper step up with the car.
The team brought a major upgrade to Bahrain. How did it perform?
It was very difficult to judge exactly where the teams stacked up in the pre-season, but we had made our own estimates of where we stood. In Bahrain we found that the car has come out at the positive end of our predictions. Our competitive position, coupled with the data we measured on the car give me good confidence that the new package has delivered the performance that we hoped for. Although Bahrain is a slightly unusual circuit, with very few fast corners, I am confident that we should be able to pick up at the same level in Melbourne, or even take a step forward.
The wind tunnel at Enstone was upgraded last November with a new rolling road. Does this mean that it’s delivering what you expected of it?
Since the tunnel shutdown, our rate of development has been encouragingly strong, and we expect to be adding performance to the car at every race this year. However, we cannot forget that we were still a second off the front-running pace in qualifying. We have started the season with a credible level of performance, and we aim to finish the season at what I’d describe as a good level.
How did you feel the drivers performed over the first race weekend?
Robert delivered a peachy lap in Q2 to show the potential of the car. In the race, despite the fact that he got rammed on the first lap and shunted down to the back of the field, he produced a faultless drive. As a driver, he’s exactly what we want: he encourages us, he’s prepared to work every bit as hard as we are, and he has constructive ideas about the areas where we can improve. It’s fantastic to have a driver who sets high standards for himself and for us, and who can play a big part in our recovery.
As for Vitaly, he did everything we asked of him. He’d run only a handful of dry weather laps in the pre-season through bad luck with the weather; in fact, he did more dry laps on Friday than he’d managed during all of testing. Notwithstanding that, he delivered in the sessions that mattered. He got comfortably out of Q1 and, although he was frustrated with his Q2 lap, it was absolutely a good performance for a rookie. With all the pressure of making his debut race he made a great start, then got on with the job and put together a string of consistent laps. He was set fair for a good result – and quite possibly points on his debut.
Vitaly retired with a suspension problem yesterday. Can you explain what happened?
On lap 11, Vitaly reported that the car wasn’t behaving normally and he began losing a lot of lap time to Barrichello. We called him into the pits for a precautionary check and found a problem with the right-front suspension pushrod that forced us to retire the car. Upon further investigation, it transpired that the pushrod had been touching on the chassis when running on very heavy fuel at the start of the race. This damaged the bolt that attaches the pushrod to the car, and meant we lost a shim from the suspension, causing the DNF. Robert preferred a slightly different ride height and was fortunate not to encounter the same problem. We are, of course, disappointed that we did not discover this problem during pre-season testing. The parts in question will be modified for the next race to ensure that it cannot recur.
Finally, the team put in some marathon hours this weekend – mirroring the efforts back at the factory. What can you say about that herculean effort?
A racing team can only judge itself by how quick the car is and whether it is competing in the manner it would wish to. Last year, we took a number of body blows to our self-confidence, and the only way back from that was to produce a decent car and race it with integrity. We wanted to put as much performance into the car as we could for the first race, but we knew that shutting our tunnel in November for the rolling road upgrade would mean that we had to leave a lot of development daringly late. This decision put massive pressure on the design side of the team, on the manufacturing side, and also on the buying department that organizes our subcontractors – plus on the subcontractors themselves. To bring this package to the first race, we had to operate to timescales that we’d never come close to in the past, and it tested the system to its limits. It also meant the race team had to burn the candle at both ends every day at the track, with a burden of expectation on their shoulders, and they delivered. The end result may not have been visible this weekend in terms of points, but the effort that went in was a massive tribute to our determination to recover.
Is the goal for Melbourne to try and transform the potential from this weekend into points?
Absolutely. We have a car that should be capable of bringing home points at every race. If we keep up the pressure on the development side, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing that.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
McLaren report on preparations for the Bahrain GP
Jenson Button, McLaren
“I’m really looking forward to getting into my car on Friday morning in Bahrain and knowing that I’m the world champion. It’s a responsibility and an honour - but it’s something I’m going to enjoy for as long as I can. I don’t want to lose that number from my car! My winter has been an incredible learning experience - joining McLaren has provided me with exactly the sort of challenge I needed. I have put every effort into working with the team, my engineers and learning about my car to ensure that we start the season in Bahrain in the best possible shape. Even after four weeks of testing, it’s incredibly difficult to predict the order ahead of the new season. There are a number of teams and drivers who appear to be in the hunt, and, as with the start of every new season, it will be fascinating to see who emerges as the team to beat. I’ve never known a team work as hard as we have done over the winter - I’ve spent more time with my engineers this winter than I have before any other season, and I feel very comfortable about my preparations.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
“I can’t believe the winter is over already - it seems like only yesterday when I was racing in Abu Dhabi. It’s been a winter of two halves for me: before Christmas, I really focused on my fitness and training, working away to be as ready as possible for the new season. Since January, I’ve been fully focused on working with the team, testing the car and improving our package ahead of the opening race of the year. There’s been a huge workload, but it’s been fantastic to work with Jenson and the engineers to improve MP4-25, and we’re all extremely pleased with the progress we’ve made and the direction we’ve taken. I think we have a very promising car beneath us: it’s a real change of direction for us, and I think the possibilities with this car are very exciting. Now, though, it’s all about the racing - once I put my crash helmet on and pull the visor down, I know more than anything that I’m ready to go racing.”
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“I can’t remember the start of a Formula One season where there’s been so much interest, excitement and anticipation. The closeness of the winter tests, our double-champion line-up, the return of a Formula One legend and the presence of four world champions on the grid mean that 2010 is already shaping up to be a classic season. From our side, we’ve been engaged in one of the most painstakingly diligent pre-season programmes that we’ve ever undertaken. We’ve amassed an enormous amount of data and we’ve learnt a considerable amount about MP4-25 in just four brief tests. We’ve been encouraged by our progress, we’ve been delighted with the input of both Jenson and Lewis and, finally, we feel ready. Make no mistake: we’re a team of racers. We’ve been waiting impatiently for the first race to arrive for many months. We feel we’ve risen to the challenge and we can’t wait to get started - Bahrain is a demanding track for both the team and the drivers and we’re looking forward enormously to racing in the home of one of our primary shareholders. It promises to be a fantastic Grand Prix.”
“I’m really looking forward to getting into my car on Friday morning in Bahrain and knowing that I’m the world champion. It’s a responsibility and an honour - but it’s something I’m going to enjoy for as long as I can. I don’t want to lose that number from my car! My winter has been an incredible learning experience - joining McLaren has provided me with exactly the sort of challenge I needed. I have put every effort into working with the team, my engineers and learning about my car to ensure that we start the season in Bahrain in the best possible shape. Even after four weeks of testing, it’s incredibly difficult to predict the order ahead of the new season. There are a number of teams and drivers who appear to be in the hunt, and, as with the start of every new season, it will be fascinating to see who emerges as the team to beat. I’ve never known a team work as hard as we have done over the winter - I’ve spent more time with my engineers this winter than I have before any other season, and I feel very comfortable about my preparations.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
“I can’t believe the winter is over already - it seems like only yesterday when I was racing in Abu Dhabi. It’s been a winter of two halves for me: before Christmas, I really focused on my fitness and training, working away to be as ready as possible for the new season. Since January, I’ve been fully focused on working with the team, testing the car and improving our package ahead of the opening race of the year. There’s been a huge workload, but it’s been fantastic to work with Jenson and the engineers to improve MP4-25, and we’re all extremely pleased with the progress we’ve made and the direction we’ve taken. I think we have a very promising car beneath us: it’s a real change of direction for us, and I think the possibilities with this car are very exciting. Now, though, it’s all about the racing - once I put my crash helmet on and pull the visor down, I know more than anything that I’m ready to go racing.”
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“I can’t remember the start of a Formula One season where there’s been so much interest, excitement and anticipation. The closeness of the winter tests, our double-champion line-up, the return of a Formula One legend and the presence of four world champions on the grid mean that 2010 is already shaping up to be a classic season. From our side, we’ve been engaged in one of the most painstakingly diligent pre-season programmes that we’ve ever undertaken. We’ve amassed an enormous amount of data and we’ve learnt a considerable amount about MP4-25 in just four brief tests. We’ve been encouraged by our progress, we’ve been delighted with the input of both Jenson and Lewis and, finally, we feel ready. Make no mistake: we’re a team of racers. We’ve been waiting impatiently for the first race to arrive for many months. We feel we’ve risen to the challenge and we can’t wait to get started - Bahrain is a demanding track for both the team and the drivers and we’re looking forward enormously to racing in the home of one of our primary shareholders. It promises to be a fantastic Grand Prix.”
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