Williams F1 - Young Drivers Test Day One

Driver: Daniel Juncadella
Chassis / engine: FW35-04 / RS27-5329/3
Location: Silverstone International Circuit, 5.891kms/ 3.66 miles
Objectives: Aero evaluations, tyre testing and driver evaluation.
Weather: Dry and sunny,
Air & track temps: 20-28ºC / 28-46ºC

The Williams F1 team would commence the first day of their Young Drivers Test at the Silverstone circuit. day one would see Spaniard Daniel Juncadella in the car. The following two days will see Pastor Maldonado and Susie Wolff each completing one day of testing. Dani would complete his installation lap and would return to the pits with the team aiming to complete aerodynamic evaluations in the morning. Having returned to the track Dani would be forced to return to his pit to allow the team repair some damage to the engine cover after air found its way under the sidepod. Just prior to midday Dani had only being able to complete five laps and was slowest with a time of 1m:43.425, not that the times had any real bearing.

The Williams team would also take time out to make other changes to Dani's car prior to his run in the afternoon. Having completed their lunch break Dai would return to the track to start some front wing comparisons. Like may of the other teams the FW35 would be fitted with various monitoring devices fitted to the car. On his next run Dani would set a 1m:40.026 after nine laps, improving to a 1m:39.643 after eleven laps. On his first proper run in the car Dani would set a 1m:35.674 prior to pitting again.

He would return to the track after taking time to check his laps against Pastor's from the recent British Grand Prix. His next run would see him set a 1m:35.233 to be fifth amongst the drivers. Dani would return to the pits and would spend time with his engineer. He would shortly after return to the track this time running on the medium tyre rather than the hard. Joining the other drivers would be Pastor Maldonado who would run in the second day of the test. Dani would be able to improve his lap time with a best of 1m:34.953 having now completed thirty eight laps, but this would only see him eighth as other drivers went faster late in the day. He would pit again and with an hour remaining would return to the track and would improve his time with a 1m:34.098 to be fifth. At this stage he had completed forty six laps with only thirty minutes remaining.

Dani would again pit and would return to the track shortly after running on the medium tyre. The opening day of the test would come to an end with the Williams F1 team having a productive day. This is despite the initial difficulties in regard to repairs on the car early in the day. Fastest on the day would be Kevin Magnussen driving for McLaren with a 1m:33.602.

Xevi Pujolar, Chief Engineer: We are really pleased with Dani today. He adapted to the team and the car very quickly, and was straight up to speed with all the procedures. In terms of consistency, Dani drove clean laps and made no mistakes so we’re really happy with him. We were doing some aero development work this morning running lots of sensors on the car but we had a few problems getting everything to work together which meant we didn’t complete all the runs we wanted to. We now plan to do some more laps with him tomorrow afternoon to complete the programme including some longer runs to see how he can adapt.

Daniel Juncadella: From the first lap I could feel the speed of the car and it was a great experience today. I’m really happy with the chance the team gave me. In the end, we couldn’t complete our full programme but I think we had some good runs this afternoon. I was happy with the balance of the car and it was good to try the new tyres. Physically I feel good, it was just quite warm today but as I’m used to closed cars in DTM I can’t complain really! I get on well with the engineers and team and we worked well together. The team has given me all the support I needed which has been really nice so I’m looking forward to getting another chance tomorrow.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Thursday 18 July, with Pastor Maldonado driving for the second day of the test and Daniel Juncadella also getting behind the wheel during the afternoon.