Paul Hembery says they are pleased with performance and degradation levels at the Circuit de Catalunya, but admits they will only get a clearer picture in the final test, which also takes place in Barcelona.
Paul Hembery said: “It was an extremely productive four days, and we were helped by temperatures that – at least in the afternoons – were more representative of what we will expect to see during the season. The teams all completed the most amount of running that we have seen so far this year, 17,207 kilometres as opposed to 14,949 kilometres in Jerez. “
“This allowed them to gather plenty of data on all four slick tyres that we can now analyse in order to come up with a few different scenarios for the first races related to strategy options and crossover points. As we expected, most teams chose to concentrate on the medium tyre, with the emphasis often on aerodynamic set-up work rather than tyre evaluation. However, we got plenty of work done and we’re satisfied with the levels of degradation and performance seen so far, as we head now into the final test again at Barcelona next week. It’s only then that we will see a more accurate picture of the relative performance of the teams, but from our point of view we are meeting our objectives.”
TESTING FACTS
* Both the hardest and the softest slick tyres in Pirelli’s range set fastest times in Barcelona.
* Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets for Red Bull Racing on day one, setting a time of 1m23.265s with the P Zero Silver hard.
* The fastest time on the third day of the test was set by Williams driver Pastor Maldonado using the P Zero Red supersoft: 1m22.391s.
* The fastest time on the final day of the test was set by Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi using the P Zero Yellow soft: 1m22.312s. This was the fastest time of the whole four-day test.
* The driver to complete the most laps at Barcelona was also Kobayashi who did 243 laps (the equivalent of 1131 kilometres).
* The fastest race lap at Barcelona last year was 1m26.727s while the pole lap was 1m20.981s – but with so many parameters being tested on the new cars, it is still hard to draw many firm conclusions.
TESTING NUMBERS
* Total number of sets brought to Barcelona: 367 sets which equals 1468 tyres
- Of which Supersoft tyres: 34 sets
- Of which Soft tyres: 82 sets
- Of which Medium tyres: 110 sets
- Of which Hard tyres: 69 sets
- Of which Intermediate tyres:36 sets
- Of which Wet tyres: 36 sets
* Total amount of sets used: 257
- Of which Supersoft tyres: 16 sets
- Of which Soft tyres: 81 sets
- Of which Medium tyres: 95 sets
- Of which Hard tyres: 65 sets
- Of which Intermediate tyres: 0 sets
- Of which Wet tyres: 0 sets
* Longest run: 22 laps on the Hard compound
20 laps on the Medium compound
24 laps on the Soft compound10 laps on the Supersoft compound
* Highest / lowest ambient temperature over four days: 5 °C / 22 °C
* Highest / lowest track temperature over four days: 7 °C / 31 °C
TYRE SUMMARY
Day 1
1. Vettel 1’23″265 on Hard New
2. Hülkenberg 1’23″440 on Medium New
3. Hamilton 1’23″590 on Soft New
Day 2
1. Hülkenberg 1’22’’608 on Supersoft New
2. Perez 1’22’’648 on Supersoft New
3. Vettel 1’22’’891 on Soft New
Day 3
1. Maldonado 1’22’’391 on Supersoft New
2. Schumacher 1’23’’384 on Soft New
3. Kobayashi 1’23’’582 on Soft New
Day 4
1. Kobayashi 1’22″312 on Soft New
2. Maldonado 1’22″561 on Supersoft New
3. Di Resta 1’23″119 on Supersoft New
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