BAHRAIN – Sebastian Vettel today posted 77 laps of the Sakhir Circuit to bring INFINITI Red Bull Racing's pre-season test program to an end in Bahrain and afterwards the Champion admitted that it had been a positive end to a difficult time for the team.
"We did a lot of laps today so that was useful," said Sebastian. "We tried to do a race distance today; for one reason or another that didn't work out, but in two week's time things should look a little bit different. Obviously it's difficult to know where the car is. It's not just the number of laps you do, but also the type. There are so many different running options, not just with tires and high or low fuel, there are engine options as well - full power, low power etc, so it's impossible to say where we are. We know we have to catch up in a lot of areas, but that said, I'm happy today, we did a lot of laps, we learned a lot and it was a positive end to a tough week here."
Race Engineering Coordinator Andy Damerum added: "Our final day here was a mix of good and bad. It's positive that we managed to get in as many laps as we did, however, we did have a few problems. On top of that the amount of red flags didn't help, even with the extension to running in the evening. We were in good shape first thing this morning and got in 44 laps. Then we had a front-end mechanical problem, so we had to fix that. In the afternoon we were focusing on doing longer runs – race preparation – and that initially went well. We did a 17-lap stint and came in to change tires, but a red flag on track halted our progress. And that was the shape of the afternoon really, with a lot of disruptions. Obviously we have had a lot of problems during testing, but we understand the problems and hope to have fixes in place for Australia. We know the pace is in the car, as we saw from Daniel's performance here; what we have to do now is put all the pieces together and establish reliability for the race in Melbourne. There is plenty of motivation in the team and we'll keep working hard over the next two weeks."
DAY 3 UPDATE
After a positive second day at this week's final test in Bahrain, The Team suffered another setback today, with Seb restricted to the garage for the bulk of the day.
"At the moment we obviously have lots of different problems we are curing," said Sebastian. "It's not the best situation to be in but we can't change it. Everybody is extremely motivated to fix it, but it doesn't happen overnight. We can just hope for a better day tomorrow and then to have a decent start to the season in Melbourne, but at this stage obviously reliability is still a big question mark. It's difficult to say how long it will take to remedy. I think some things will just come down to the fact that in two weeks' time we'll have lots of new parts on the car. We've had some damage because of the problems we've had here and the parts aren't available overnight, so from that side I think things will get better over the next couple of weeks. We obviously haven't done much running but from the little we have done has been quite promising, so I think once we get going the speed should be OK."
Commenting on the day's issues, Race Engineering Coordinator Andy Damerum said: "Given how well the car behaved yesterday we were anticipating a solid run for Seb today but almost as soon as he went out there was an electrical problem, which meant stopped him on track. We brought the car back, identified the issue, which is one other teams have had but which hadn't affected us so far, and set about fixing it. We got ready for another run but this time the car stopped in pit lane. We brought it back again and discovered a leak, which we thought we could fix but it turned out that it had caused enough damage that we weren't able to go out again. Having run so well yesterday it is frustrating to have had these problems today, but all we can do is keep solving the issues."
Day Two Update
The second day of the final pre-season test saw INFINITI Red Bull Racing make significant progress, with Daniel Ricciardo recording 66 largely trouble-free laps of the Bahrain International Circuit in the RB10. The team was also able to get in some pit stop practice and conduct a number of background tests and aerodynamic evaluations on the way to the day's third-fastest time.
"It went a lot better today," said Daniel. "This morning it was important to have the race crew here to do the pit stops, as they haven't had the chance to get to grips with the car yet, so we didn't do that many laps in the morning. However, in the afternoon we did some good stuff. We had a go on the soft tire, which was nice, to see how the car responds with a bit more grip. We also did one long run at the end, which was very important, just to see how the car is behaving with the tires. A big improvement everywhere over yesterday and a much more optimistic outlook now I think. We still have a lot to learn and understand, but we're making progress and the past two days have been a big step in the right direction."
Race Engineering Coordinator Andy Damerum added:
"A very much better day's work for us today. We were a bit late out in the morning, but that was simply due to the repairs we had to make overnight because of the damage we had yesterday. That was pretty much a 'fix in the field.' When we did send Daniel out this morning, we again put him on short runs just to test everything, as obviously you don't want to push too hard, have a problem and then wreck the rest of the day. That cautious approach also allowed us to do some pit stop practice, which we haven't done as yet and also to do some aero work on the car. That sort of thing is always going on in the background, but I suppose today was the first time it has been visible. We were back in the garage over lunch to make some changes, though nothing drastic, and then in the afternoon we were very much better again. Daniel was able to do a longer run of 20 timed laps, our longest so far. The car is still difficult to drive for Daniel but we'll tune that out. We have more parts to fit overnight and hopefully we'll be able to get some more decent runs in with Sebastian over the next two days and also give him the opportunity to do some performance runs. Overall a good day today and very encouraging."
DAY ONE UPDATE
After a productive morning in which he logged 32 laps, the afternoon session was more difficult, leading to the team spending most of the second period in the garage. Daniel did, however, return to the track to post a further seven laps just before the end of running.
"The morning was much better for us with a few longer runs," said Daniel afterwards. "Behind the wheel, that's the best I've felt so far. The package seems to be coming together better. We still had a few issues today, but at least when the car was on track it was much more useful running, and we made progress in the morning. It's getting there. I'd love to keep going, but at least Seb has two days after me in the car, so I think we'll be looking pretty good for the next three days."
Race Engineering Coordinator Andy Damerum added:
"We started really well this morning and put in some very useful laps straight away, which was good. We were able to run consistently and without issue and the plan was to increase the duration of the runs incrementally. That was all going according to plan. We sent Daniel out for a long-ish run, but we had to abort about five laps in, as we noticed some issues on the sensors. We brought him in, had a look at the car and discovered that we had a problem with the exhaust. So we had a long afternoon in the garage, but we did manage to get Daniel back out at the end of the session, which was good. We have some work to do overnight, but hopefully tomorrow we'll able to run in a similar style to this morning."
About INFINITI
INFINITI Motor Company Ltd. is headquartered in Hong Kong with sales operations in approximately 50 countries. The INFINITI brand was launched in 1989. Its range of premium automobiles is currently built in manufacturing facilities in Japan and the United States. Production in China and Europe will start soon along with the expansion of the brand's portfolio.
As the Title Partner and Vehicle Performance Partner of INFINITI Red Bull Racing, INFINITI has a far-reaching technical collaboration with the Formula One team, and Sebastian Vettel, its four-time World Champion driver, serves as INFINITI's Director of Performance.
More information about INFINITI, its Total Ownership Experience® and its industry leading technologies can be found at www.infiniti.com. For the latest news on INFINITI, visit INFINITINews.com, "like" INFINITI on Facebook or follow the brand on Twitter @INFINITIUSA. For interesting content on INFINITI in Formula One visit: www.infiniti-gp.com, www.youtube.com/INFINITIGP or follow on Twitter @INFINITIGP.
About INFINITI in Formula One
INFINITI, the premium automotive brand, starts the 2013 season as Title Partner and Vehicle Performance Partner of INFINITI Red Bull Racing. With a deepened technical collaboration across people, process and technologies, an 'open door' approach is enabling both sides to access a pool of innovation, new technologies and R&D resources in the shared pursuit of precision and performance.
Since the partnership's inception in 2011 it has already seen the launch of the INFINITI FX Vettel Edition and product development input from Sebastian Vettel and test driver Sebastien Buemi for the all-new INFINITI Q50 premium sports saloon. INFINITI continues to be the most visible automotive brand in Formula One, and the deepened partnership will ensure closer alignment on an increasing number of future team collaborations.
For interesting content on INFINITI in Formula One visit: www.infiniti-gp.com, www.youtube.com/INFINITIGP or follow on Twitter @INFINITIGP.
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