Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets on the final day in Jerez, just ahead of Red Bull’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Sebastian Vettel...
The fourth day of testing in Jerez was an up-and-down one for the big players with both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing suffering technical problems. It didn’t stop Fernando Alonso, however, finishing top of the timesheets with a time of 1m18.877s, four-tenths shy of Romain Grosjean’s ultimate 2012 car time 1:18.419 set the previous day.
With Mercedes having concluded their tyre testing yesterday, the field was down to nine cars for the final day in Jerez. Kamui Kobayashi returned for Sauber after two days out of the cockpit and Nico Hulkenberg finally got a chance to drive the new Force India after Jules Bianchi crashed it yesterday. Jarno Trulli got to drive the Caterham for the first time as well, otherwise the field was unchanged. Not that the crowd was particularly interested in anyone other than Alonso.
“This time is worth nothing as is the one I set yesterday and those of the previous days,” said Fernando, combining wisdom, expectation management and a slight ticking off for the doom-mongers in the press room. “Yesterday, we worked mainly with the hard tyres and the others ran the softs and we were seventh. Today, we fitted the softs and maybe the others did not and we are first. That’s all it is. “
It wasn’t a particularly great day for Ferrari, however, as the F2012 went technical just before 11am and stranded Alonso on 39 laps with what was described as an electrical problem. He wouldn’t reappear.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel had similar problems, albeit in reverse. He missed the morning, when, after two installation laps his RB8 was retired to the garage with an engine-related electronic problem, not to reappear until the afternoon whereupon he managed to squeeze in 48 laps.
“Something like this is simply part of testing, this is the reason why we are here,” said Seb. “Of course we would like to get more laps done, but that can't be changed now. So we go back to the factory, look at everything we have learned from this week and prepare for the next test in Barcelona.”
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Considerably happier with their day's work will be Toro Rosso. Jean-Eric Vergne completed 80 laps and finished the day second on the timesheet sandwiched between Alonso and Vettel. “A good second day for me as we worked through everything on our work plan and completed a lot of kilometers,” said the Frenchman. "After making some adjustments, I feel more comfortable in the car and I can also get an understanding of the effect of the set-up changes that we tried and they seem to have moved us forward. A positive day, so now I’m looking forward to the second test session.”
With teams coming to the end of their programmes there were fewer centurions today, only Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg breaking the hundred lap mark – a fate which Senna all but but achieved before lunch as Williams concentrated on long runs. He did, however, cause one of several short red flag periods during the day, stopping out on track at 1302 in what was either a planned fuel-calibration exercise or a cry for help. He caused another stoppage in the last hour of testing, following a stopped Sauber earlier in the afternoon brought about by a hydraulic leak. Earlier in the day, another was caused by an errant piece of bodywork falling off one of the cars – this too tends to happen while testing – but for the most part it was a trouble-free day.
So what does four days in Jerez tell us about F1 2012? Well, 3,380 laps and some 14,949km were covered, with the 192 laps covered by Kimi Räikkönen making him the busiest of the 23 drivers. His consistent pace also suggested that two years mucking about in WRC hasn’t left him short of fitness or appetite. In general terms, everyone agrees that the new regulations have resulted in a loss of downforce, however development over the past 12 months means there’s been a general, if minor, improvement in lap times compared with the Jerez test last February.
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Of course, it’s impossible to say for certain without knowing how heavy and how legal the cars were then and now. And that’s the crux of testing: it doesn’t provide concrete answers, indeed teams work hard to hide their true performance. Alonso went quickest today with a short burst that looked suspiciously like a ‘glamour run’ designed to put Ferrari on top of the pile and stop the awkward question being asked in the Italian press after three lacklustre days – then again it’s entirely possible Ferrari have been sandbagging this whole time, running quickly but with a heavy car. Or maybe Alonso was being completely honest and it’s simply a matter of who was testing what and when.
While pace can be hidden, it’s a little more difficult to disguise unreliability. Red Bull and Ferrari had a tough time of it with several problems, both pointing out that finding problems is why they go testing. McLaren, on the other hand, were low-key on track but rarely troubled in the garage. Toro Rosso and Lotus managed to appear both quick and reliable, while Force India and Sauber both seemed very good in patches. Neither Caterham or Williams set the timing screens on fire, but both got through a great many laps and, a tough first day notwithstanding, did not look out of touch.
If the first race were next weekend, there would be plenty of each-way money on Lotus, Red Bull and Toro Rosso, while the gamblers might like a flutter on Ferrari. But the first race isn’t next week, it’s still over a month away, and we won’t have real answers until the teams get to Melbourne – and that’s the beauty and frustration of the F1 winter testing cycle.
JEREZ TESTING DAY 4 TIMES
1. Alonso Ferrari 1m18.877s 39 laps
2. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.597s +0.720 80 laps
3. Vettel Red Bull 1m19.606s +0.729 50 laps
4. Hamilton McLaren 1m19.640s +0.763 86 laps
5. Grosjean Lotus 1m19.729s +0.852 95 laps
6. Kobayashi Sauber 1m19.834s +0.957 76 laps
7. Hulkenberg Force India 1m19.977s +1.100 90 laps
8. Senna Williams 1m20.132s +1.255 125 laps
9. Trulli Caterham 1m22.198s +3.321 117 laps
Want more?
- Visit the official Formula 1 website
- Day 3 at the Jerez test
- Search for Formula 1 videos on YouTube
- The RB8 Revealed
- The STR7 Is Go!
- F1 New car launches for 2012
- More Red Bull Motor Sports
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