Williams F1 Bahrain Test 20:02:2014 Day Two

Driver: Valtteri Bottas
Chassis / Engine: FW36-02 / PU106A Hybrid
Location: Bahrain International Circuit 5.412km
Objectives: Reliability tests, aero evaluations & race simulation
Weather: Dry and sunny all day Maximum air & track temps: 27ºC / 30ºC

After a frustrating opening day of their Bahrain test which saw Felipe Massa only manage five laps the Williams F1 would regroup and commence their second day of testing with Valtteri Bottas taking over the driving duties. It would not be until near the close of the first hour that Valtteri would take to the track with the Williams team saying: "Our day two programme effectively our day one programme as we start to work through yesterday's planned aero runs." After s installation lap Valtteri would pit returning after a short break coming back out with the track to himself. His first timed lap would see him quickest with his next lap seeing him quicker with a time more than a second quicker than the rest.

With two hours completed Valtteri had completed twelve laps with a time of 1m:38.615 to be third behind Alonso and Hulkenberg. With three hours of the session completed Valtteri was still third but he would set a 1m:37.882 to go second. After this time Valtteri would drop back into the 1m:39s. Quickest at this time was Alonso with a 1m:37.700. With nearly four hours completed Valtteri would again pit having completed forty three laps. After a break Valtteri would return to the track and would go quickest with a 1m:37.635 prior to stopping for the teams lunch break.

Gary Anderson from the BBC would comment on the new Williams: "Looking at the time Valtteri Bottas has done in the Williams-Mercedes (1m37.635s) compared to Sebastian Vettel's best in the Red Bull-Renault (1m40.340s), there is a 2.705s gap. The difference between a very low fuel load and a tank that is brimmed with 100kg should be around three seconds. So no matter what the relative loads, it's clear Williams has made a lot of progress over the winter."

Valtteri's quickest time would be beaten by Rosberg with a 1m:37.368, 0.267 quicker. But we would then see Hulkenberg go faster with a 1m:37.215, seeing a 1-2-3 for Mercedes powered cars. Valtteri was now third as Hulkenberg set a 1m:37.211. Quickest of the Renault powered cars was Vettel in sixth. Valtteri would settle into some longer runs lapping early on in the 1m:39s. Hulkenberg would lower the quickest time with a 1m:36.445. As the session progressed drivers would improve seeing Valtteri drop to fifth with a time of 1m:37.328. With the end of the day Valtteri would complete one hundred and fifteen laps, a major improvement over the first day of testing. A very productive day for the Williams team.

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: Having spent yesterday dealing with an apparent fuel system problem we tracked it down to a wiring-loom manufacturing issue late last night. With this repaired the result was the mileage that we achieved today. We are still getting to know the car performance wise, but it’s good to see that we are getting some good reliability out of it. Every time we run the FW36 we are understanding it more and more. We tested some aero components and systems this morning before completing a race simulation this afternoon which, aside from having to stop briefly for a red flag, went to plan. Overall, we have had a good day completing 116 laps in total.

Valtteri Bottas: Today was a good day. After the problems we had yesterday it was great to complete 116 laps. We still have things we are working through but we were able to do the aero work we needed as well as complete a race simulation so we now have lots of data to look at. There is a lot of work still to do so we need to aim to have more days like today.

Williams will be back on track tomorrow, Friday 21 February, with both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa in the FW36 as we move onto pitstop practice for the third day of the test.

Driver 		Team 			Best Time Best / 
						  Total Laps
1  K Magnussen	McLaren Mercedes	1:34.910  25 / 46
2  N Hulkenberg	Sahara Force India	1:36.445  38 / 59
3  F Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari	1:36.516  94 / 97
4  N Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas	1:36.965  48 / 85
5  V Bottas	Williams		1:37.328  110 / 116
6  K Kobayashi	Caterham F1 Team	1:39.855  63 / 66
7  S Vettel	Infiniti Red Bull	1:40.340  36 / 59
8  J E Vergne	Toro Rosso		1:40.609  22 / 58
9  E Gutierrez	Sauber F1 Team		1:40.717  51 / 55
10 R Grosjean	Lotus			1:41.670  4 / 18
11 M Chilton	Marussia		1:42.511  5 / 17