F1 winter testing: Bahrain I day 1

Nico Hulkenberg set the fastest time on the opening day of F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain overnight. It’s the first of two four-day blocks of testing at the Sakhir circuit and Mercedes-powered cars continued to dominate proceedings, following on from last month’s testing in Jerez.

Hulkenberg registered 78 timed laps in the Force India VJM07, his fastest was 1:36.880. That was one second quicker than Fernando Alonso (1:37.879) who completed 64 laps in the Ferrari F14 T. Lewis Hamilton (1:37.908) did 74 laps in the Mercedes AMG W05, while new boy Kevin Magnussen (1:38.295) racked up 81 laps in the McLaren MP4-29.

Sebastian Vettel (1:40.224) was fifth fastest overnight and will be elated that he managed to complete a timed lap in the Red Bull RB10. Yet the world champion team has new struggles after its woeful performance in Jerez. Vettel only managed 14 laps and said shared his thoughts afterwards.

“We sorted out the issues from Jerez and we were able to do some laps today,” Vettel said. “However, very often you fix one problem and another pops up, which is what happened. That’s testing. We all knew this year was a massive challenge and we knew it would be difficult. We obviously didn’t want this, but it is what it is and we are working flat out to solve the problems.”

Andy Damerum, Red Bull’s Race Engineering Co-ordinator tried to remain positive. “It’s been a very long two weeks for everyone back at the factory and I have to say that while it might not appear so on the surface there has been a big improvement since Jerez,” he explained. “We are obviously playing catch-up and for us this was very much like a first test, so we were sending the car out to do one lap, then two and trying to build from there.

“In that regard the laps completed were good. However, we were sidelined by a mechanical gremlin but one unrelated to the issues in Jerez.”

Sixth fastest was Adrian Sutil (1:40.443), who ran for 82 laps in the Ferrari-powered Sauber C33. The most laps completed by a Renault-powered driver was Robert Frijns (1:42.534) in the Caterham CT05 who notched up 64 laps.

However, the other Renault-powered cars didn’t fare quite so well. Daniil Kvyat (1:44.346) could only manage five laps in the Toro Rosso STR9, while Romain Grosjean (1:44.832) did just eight laps in the first outing for the Lotus E22.

Meanwhile, the Williams FW36 could not repeat its strong form from Jerez with Felipe Massa failing to record a lap time in any of his five laps. Similarly, Marussia driver Jules Bianchi completed only three laps and failed to record a time.

Unofficial test times from Bahrain I (Day 1):

1. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India – 1:36.880 (78 laps)
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari – 1:37.879 (64 laps)
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 1:37.908 (74 laps)
4. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren – 1:38.295 (81 laps)
5. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull – 1:40.224 (14 laps)
6. Adrian Sutil, Sauber – 1:40.443 (82 laps)
7. Robin Frijns, Caterham – 1:42.534 (68 laps)
8. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso – 1:44.346 (5 laps)
9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus – 1:44.832 (8 laps)
10. Felipe Massa, Williams – no time (5 laps)
11. Jules Bianchi, Marussia – no time (3 laps)
[Source: Formula1.com]