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Driver: Valtteri
Bottas Chassis / Engine: FW36-01 / PU106A Hybrid
Location: Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objectives: New component, systems and reliability checks
Weather: Dry and sunny Maximum air & track temps: 17ºC / 21ºC
The first day of
the 2014 Jerez Test would see the Williams F1 team working hard to get their
car ready to show to the waiting public. There was very little running on
the day from either the Williams team or the other teams present. With five
hours of the test completed only three cars had set times with Hamilton
fastest with a 1m:27.820, prior to him crashing having suffered a failure on
his car.
Williams F1 Deputy team Principal Claire Williams would comment on the test
by saying:
"Because of the regulation overhaul, the first test in Jerez is one of the
most important pre-season tests that the sport has had in a number of years.
"This car is a complete revolution; it’s not an evolution from a previous
year so the engineers and drivers are going to be under a considerable
amount of pressure.
"We will be concentrating on systems checks to make sure everything is
functioning as it should and then working towards reliability, which is
going to be a potential game changer, certainly in the early races of the
season.
"It’s going to be fascinating to see where everybody is over the coming
weeks."
Both Williams drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, were at the track
for the 2014 FW36's first run. After a long wait the team would finally roll
the FW36 out of the garage and it would head out with Valtteri behind the
wheel. It would complete one installation lap prior to pitting with just an
hour remaining in the day. The FW36 is the first Williams produced under the
chief technical leadership of Pat Symonds.
Valtteri would take the FW36 out for a second run as the day drew to a
close. With rain starting to fall as the session came to an end the Williams
team would briefly pit their FW36 prior to returning for a two timed laps,
ending
their first day getting to grips with the FW36.
Rod Nelson,
Chief Test & Support Engineer: We had a few electrical issues today
which, combined with needing to replace a sensor critical to the functioning
of the Internal Combustion Engine, delayed our running. Despite this, we
were able to complete a number of installation laps and one timed lap, and I
now feel we are in good shape for tomorrow. The team have worked well to
address the problems we had today and we are now focused on working through
our programme for the remaining days.
Valtteri Bottas: It wasn’t an ideal start to the day but the positive
thing is that the team did a great job to fix the problems we found
overnight and we got the car working well to complete a few laps this
afternoon. The car matched my expectations on track with more torque. It
feels like a very different car compared to last year in the way it handles
as well as the power. After only a few laps we found a few things we can
improve which is also good, so we need to start working on those things
tomorrow.
Williams will be back on track tomorrow, Wednesday 28 January, with Valtteri
Bottas continuing in the FW36 for the second day of the test. |
