• Mugello test - Day 3

Who said what after the final day of testing at Mugello

May 3, 2012

Caterham

Heikki Kovalainen
"A good day's work for the team and good to have completed so many laps. I enjoyed myself out there today - even though a lot of what we were doing was pretty repetitive, it's still a good place to drive an F1 car around and having got through everything we'd planned it's good to leave this test on a positive note. We tried a variety of new parts and it felt like we may have found a couple of things that we can take to the next race. You can never tell just how much of an improvement something has been until you go through all the data, but the fact we've brought new parts that feel like a step forward is good. It shows we're pushing as hard as we can and that's what we need to do to achieve the goals this year."

Jody Egginton, chief engineer
"It's been another solid day for us on the final day of the Mugello test. Heikki took over the car today and ran a program very similar to Vitaly's from day two, completing 139 laps which helped us achieve everything we wanted from this test. We have tried a number of new parts including bodywork, floor, exhausts and some work on the brakes, some of which we expect to see on the race cars next week in Barcelona. This has been a pretty hard week for everyone on track. We've run on all three days without any major mechanical issues, and we've put the hours in to help us keep progressing, so I want to thank everyone for a very good week of hard work. Now we need to take what we've achieved here into the start of the European season and make sure we keep up this level of reliability and focus at the races to come."

Force India

Paul Di Resta
"It was a much better day and good to get a reasonable number of laps in the car in dry conditions. We had a busy programme focussing on aero data collection this morning, aero balance and general performance work. The data we have seems encouraging and I think that we are well prepared for Barcelona."

Nico Hulkenberg
"I think we have learned quite a lot today and it's a good way to end the test with a busy afternoon. There was a lot to get through, but the main priority was on understanding the car we have here and making sure we feel ready for Barcelona. There's a lot of data to go through before we get there and we also have to look at how the different tyre compounds behaved, but overall I'm pleased with the day's work."

Jakob Andreasen, chief engineer
"After a tricky start to the week I'm pleased that we have ended the test with a full day of running. The focus this morning was on aero work and we fitted several devices to the car, which allowed us to collect the most important data to continue our assessment of the latest car developments. Later in the day we moved towards set-up work, running new sets of the medium and hard tyres and extracting performance from the car. Before we leave Mugello I would like to thank everyone in the team for their efforts over the last few days to ensure we were able to complete the main items on our job list. It puts us in a good position as we head to Barcelona for next week's Spanish Grand Prix."

Lotus

Romain Grosjean
"It was another nice day today so I have been lucky with the weather here. We continued to work on the car and have gained more valuable data. We made a big change to the car at lunchtime and everything went according to plan. Mugello puts high demands on the driver so it's been a very good experience for me - and quite a workout! We were conducting a specific programme of evaluating components, so to be quick relative to our opposition even when we were not looking specifically to try to top the times is satisfying. I'm happy at the progress we've made here in Italy and looking forward to seeing how well this translates into lap time when we get to Barcelona."

Alan Permane, trackside operations director
"After looking at the data from yesterday, we ran further back-to-back tests on our suspension configurations. Track conditions were better today as a result of yesterday's running. We stopped early for lunch so that we could change the suspension and be out running straight away in the afternoon session. In the afternoon we also assessed some new floor updates applicable for Barcelona, as well as a rear suspension update fitted late in the day. After the rain on the first day, it's been a valuable two dry days of testing. Mugello is quite hard on the tyres; not in terms of degradation, but through the high speed loadings generating heat. This has taught us some interesting lessons applicable to the rest of the season. Mugello is also an excellent circuit for doing aerodynamic evaluation, so it has been time well spent here."

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg
"It has been a good testing programme for us here in Mugello, and I have been able to complete a lot of mileage in my Silver Arrow around this amazing track. Today, we learned a lot about tyre management, and this should help us at the next race in Barcelona. There is still a lot of work to do of course, and we do need to improve our car in fast corners, but overall I am pleased with the progress that we have made here this week."

Ross Brawn, team principal
"We have had a good week in Mugello, and been able to complete much of our planned test programme despite the loss of some track time on Tuesday due to the poor weather conditions. The first opportunity for in-season testing for some time has proved beneficial, particularly as it has enabled us to test some new development ideas and take a closer look at improving the car from things that we have identified over the first four races. Mugello is a great track and I know that both Nico and Michael have enjoyed the experience of driving there this week."

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel
"It's been a useful couple of days and I've enjoyed the track a lot," said Sebastian. "As usual we now have a lot of data to get through and that will take some time. We tried a few things and the results look encouraging; it's always difficult to tell whether we improved and by how much, but we got some good laps and some good information."

Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo
"A good day with a high mileage, getting through all our programme, which is always your first target at a test. With new parts you always hope they will deliver a big improvement, but the reality is that we must now look at the data to see where we really are. Certainly, from the cockpit I was happy with the feeling I had from the car and I really enjoyed driving this beautiful circuit again."

Laurent Mekies, chief engineer
"Another full day with plenty of running and over a hundred laps completed in ideal conditions. Overall this has been a very productive test for us and we managed to make up for the time lost through bad weather on Tuesday, so we have effectively had two and a half days of testing, during which we got through plenty of work, testing several new components, with both drivers completing a high mileage. The team worked hard here in Mugello, but now that work must continue in the factory, as it is up to us to choose the best configuration and set-up specifications for the upcoming races and the right path to follow in terms of car development. That will involve carrying out a careful study of all the useful data we have gathered here."

Williams

Pastor Maldonado
"We lost some time this morning but we had a good afternoon. The track is amazing so it was good to get a few runs completed this afternoon. We gathered a lot of data and I feel positive heading into the next race."

Mark Gillan, chief operations engineer
"We had a disappointing start to this morning's session with an electrical problem that necessitated stripping the car, thus incurring a large loss in track time. The mechanics worked hard to get the car back out on track in the early afternoon. We modified the run plan accordingly and successfully completed a number of aerodynamic and systems tests."

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