Sebastian Vettel fastest for Ferrari on first day of testing at Jerez (Update 2)
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| Sebastian Vettel was impressed with the number of laps Mercedes were able to do |
Below are quotes from Ferrari' Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes' Toto Wolff after today's test.
#5 Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari
"I think lap times are not that important in the end – it's the amount of laps [that counts],"Surely it's better to be closer to the front rather than a long way behind, but I think in terms of laps there's still a lot of improvement we can do. The reference is still Mercedes, they did 150-200 laps today, so they've proven they start off with a very reliable car – hopefully not as quick as last year.
"I think that's what everyone is hoping for, but you have to give fair credit to them – they're doing a very good job. It will be a surprise if they're not as strong as they were last year.
"It would have been nice to do more laps but overall I think we can be quite happy," he added. "The first impression was quite good. Obviously it's difficult to say at this stage, but for day one I think we can be reasonably happy."
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| Toto Wolff: "It was a good first day." |
Toto Wolff, Executive Director Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team:
"I don't want to sound arrogant or overconfident. We need to stay humble. It was a really good first day. For me it was the best one I've seen in terms of mileage and reliability.
"We didn't push the limits in terms of the car and its systems. But for a first day we were very solid. Nico says it's one of the best first days he's had.
"Does it mean a lot? No. But it's better to have a good first day than a bad one."
02/01/15
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| Marcus Ericsson makes his debut run for Sauber |
Below are select quotes from Formula 1 drivers taking part in today's test at Jerez.
#9 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber F1 Team:
"It was a very good day. First of all it was great to be back in the car after the winter break. I think we have good reasons to be happy. We were able to complete a lot of laps, and we went through quite a few different small tweaks on the set-up and did all the installations needed. There were no major problems with the car, which was really the main thing. Overall it's been a good day, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week. I hope we can continue like this."
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| Daniel Ricciardo debuted a new livery for Red Bull today |
#3 Daniel Ricciardo, Infiniti Red Bull Racing:
"We got going pretty well this morning and I got a few laps under my belt," said Daniel. "So the first impressions are good. We'll get a few more laps over the next few days, but so far everything seems pretty encouraging. I can feel a step forward. I won't go into too much detail but it's there. We didn't do a whole lot of laps but definitely more than at this test last year! In general everything is behaving as it should. Obviously we had a couple of issues, but once the car is running it's all going pretty normally. A good first day, there are some positive signs there."
Commenting on the interim livery Daniel added: "The livery's cool. It's a testing specification for us but I think it looks really good. Maybe I need a matching helmet."
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| Nico Rosberg says today was a good start for the reigning Constructors' Champions |
#6 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes-AMG Petronas:
That was a great start to the winter testing. In the beginning it's all about reliability and we managed to do a lot of mileage today. The guys in the factories built a complete new car and now we come here and it's working great, so the team did a fantastic job over the winter. I was able to do some good long runs on the first day and that's really amazing. We have such a great team and this is what makes me really happy. As a driver, you always want to find out how quick you are compared to the others – but that will have to wait until qualifying in Melbourne. The next testing days are all about making sure we know the car inside out and we've made a good start with that today."
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| Carlos Sainz |
#55 Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault:
"We can take many positives away from today, our first proper run with the STR10, even if we managed a short run during an earlier filming day. We worked well together as a team and managed to complete a reasonable number of laps. That has given us plenty of data to look at tonight to help prepare the car for tomorrow, when Max is driving. I felt good in the car today, I was constantly improving, lap after lap. We did some adjustments and I think we have a good starting baseline."
02/01/15
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| Vettel fastest in new Ferrari |
While Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg easily topped the morning times, he focused on long endurance runs on hard tires in the afternoon allowing the four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel to lead the way for Ferrari when the first day of testing ended at Jerez.
But not to fear Mercedes fans, they have plenty in hand when they are ready to show their hand.
Sauber's Marcus Ericsson closed to within less than a tenth of a second of that benchmark on a soft-tire run late in the afternoon, but Vettel went even quicker in a set of mediums in the final 20 minutes of the day.
Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull was Rosberg's closest challenger in the morning, but his running was curtailed by a battery problem that overheated the rear brakes.
The McLaren-Honda completed just six laps in the hands of Fernando.
SUNDAY'S TEST RESULTS:
Pos Driver Car Time behind Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m22.620s 0.000s 60
2 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m22.777s 0.157s 73
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.106s 0.486s 157
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m23.338s 0.718s 35
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m23.906s 1.286s 73
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso/Renault 1m25.327s 2.707s 46
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m40.738s 18.118s 6