Nico Hülkenberg heads to the top as Bahrain testing begins - Lotus make their 2014 debut as Renault teams remain quiet
Published by Christine
The second week of testing got underway at Bahrain today, and all eyes were fixed upon the Renault powered teams. After a tricky start to the pre-season testing in Jerez, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Caterham were all behind in their schedules, whilst Lotus had yet to make an appearance. Some of those facts changed today, as Caterham managed to haul 66 laps out of their day's running, with Robin Frijns driving for the team.
Lotus made their track debut for 2014, bringing that multi-pronged nose to Bahrain and completing just eight laps. Romain Grosjean admitted to being a little disappointed he couldn't spend more time behind the wheel, but as Alan Permane describes, getting a new car up and running isn't easy.
The power units contain a lot of new technology and certainly we had issues with the energy store unit today. We changed this unit during the course of the day, which is not the work of a moment. Certainly we hope for a better day tomorrow.
- Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director, Lotus F1
Red Bull were also having a tricky day, with Sebastian Vettel tucked up inside the garage until lunchtime as the team finished building the car. When the defending champion did emerge, he wasn't too bad on pace but did suffer a brake problem that brought out a red flag. Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat had limited running due to an oil leak, and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari suffered a similar problem, bringing out the first red flag of the day.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N Hülkenberg | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:36.880 | 78 |
| 2 | F Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:37.879 | 64 |
| 3 | L Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:37.908 | 74 |
| 4 | K Magnussen | McLaren Mercedes | 1:38.295 | 81 |
| 5 | S Vettel | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:40.224 | 14 |
| 6 | A Sutil | Sauber F1 Team | 1:40.443 | 82 |
| 7 | R Frijns | Caterham F1 Team | 1:42.534 | 68 |
| 8 | D Kvyat | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:44.346 | 5 |
| 9 | R Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team | 1:44.832 | 8 |
| 10 | F Massa | Williams F1 Team | No time | 5 |
| 11 | J Bianchi | Marussia F1 Team | No time | 3 |
Felipe Massa was in the car for Williams but could only set a handful of installation laps after the car developed a fuel system issue that meant the entire machinery had to be taken apart to get a closer look. Massa wasn't too worried about things though, despite having a wasted day inside the garage and having to hand over to his teammate for tomorrow.
@MassaFelipe19 'We know the most important thing is to get mileage on the car, we hope to do that and get everything we want from tomorrow'
WilliamsF1Team
Not many laps today but i know my team is doing the best and i believe in them !! Many laps ahead of us with @Marussia_F1Team #alwayspush
At the moment we are aiming for reliability and not necessarily topping the timesheets. The team can be really proud of what we've achieved!
That was a good day's testing. After an interrupted start we did some solid long runs, 81 laps in all, and 4 live pitstops at the end.
Tomorrow's schedule sees Vettel remain in the Red Bull and he'll be hoping for more laps under his belt on day two. Nico Rosberg takes over driving duties from Lewis Hamilton, whilst Max Chilton and Kamui Kobayashi also get their working week started.
