• Day two team round-up

A day of race simulations

Michael Schumacher believes that there is more to come from the Mercedes © Getty Images

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Test Report | Gallery

The second day of the final test in Barcelona ended with Nico Hulkenberg's Williams at the top of the table. While many teams spent the afternoon concentrated on race simulations, Hulkenberg took the chance to put in a couple of fast laps to knock Alonso off the top spot. See what the drivers and teams thought of their day below.

Force India
Tonio Liuzzi: "We can be quite happy about today's programme. 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. We now have two more days of testing to try and get as much information as possible."

Chief race engineer Dominic Harlow: "Tonio covered more than 400km today with some performance work in the morning and long run evaluations in the afternoon. Good conditions today mean that the testing has proven very useful for data collection and analysis of the performance of the car in a race situation. Other test items today included some suspension components, fuel system and control systems testing.

Lotus
Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne: "It was a productive day in terms of set up direction with Jarno. We were able to identify some problems with the set up in the car and establish clear direction to improve it. We still have a long way to go, and a lot of time to come from the car. We had a couple of minor hydraulics issues which stopped the car on track, but nothing major, so all in all it was a productive day and we're aiming to continue in the same vein tomorrow."

Mercedes
Michael Schumacher: "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. 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."

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel "It was good today - we didn't have any major problems. 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."

Head of Race Engineering Ian Morgan: "Today was almost a repeat of the race simulations we did with Mark yesterday and it all went pretty much to plan. We stopped the car again during the race simulation, which was precautionary to check a couple of things, but it was only a minor problem and we quickly got running again. Sebastian finished the race simulation completely before the end of the session; we did a lot of laps and we're pretty happy with the car."

Renault
Robert Kubica: "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. We have some new aero parts coming for the car on Saturday and Sunday, which will help improve the pace of the car."

Toro Rosso practices a pit stop during its race simulation © Sutton Images

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Chief engineer Alan Permane: "Robert was in the car today for his first laps at Barcelona in the R30. We spent the morning doing some set-up work, but in the afternoon we had a problem with the suspension, which limited our running. We're still looking into the issue and will have the car fixed and ready for tomorrow morning."

Sauber
Pedro de la Rosa: "Today was a very good preparation for the season's start in Bahrain. The reliability of the car was perfect and I think the performance was also good, especially in the race simulation. It was a very good exercise and I feel we have now done everything possible to get ready for the first Grand Prix. It was also a big day for me because it has been a while since I last completed a race distance. I feel very well and also really confident now."

Technical Director Willy Rampf: "Overall it was a good test day for us. We improved the car's balance significantly compared to yesterday by doing some set-up changes. We then simulated an entire race weekend with free practice, qualifying and a full race distance without any technical problems. We are quite happy with the overall pace and reliability."

Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari: "Today was very useful in that it is a good confidence boost to have completed a race simulation on my last day of testing before the start of the season. It is still too early to talk about where we are in performance terms, but with a good mileage achieved over these four test sessions, I feel much better prepared than when I made my debut in the middle of last year."

Williams
Nico Hülkenberg: "We've had a good test here. 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."

Technical director Sam Michael: "Nico finished his last day of winter testing today with a good run of laps. Our programme included the evaluation of a new sidepod, practice starts and some additional work on the set-up of the FW32. We're making progress, but there's still plenty to do."

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