BARCELONA TEST SPECIAL
DUNBAR/LAT
Q&A
WorldMags.net
Force India turned up late
to test with its new car. Nico
Hulkenberg was impressed…
16
You have a lot of problems on
the Honda engine side, but what
about the chassis?
It is true we have some reliability
issues around some ancilliaries on
the engine, and because we have
not done the mileage we cannot say
we have discovered all the issues
we can face on the chassis. So, you
have a running order unfortunately,
and until the power unit is working
we cannot develop the car as well.
Have you solved the MGU-K problem
from the previous test?
When we have signed off all the
reliability plan I will tell you yes
– that is not the case now. You can
see we did 101 laps [on Friday]
with no issues, so there was a huge
improvement in reliability. But we
have some process to sign off that
needs more miles. In terms of
performance, we went through and
we are very happy with everything
as per design – we just need to
make the car last on track longer.
Is McLaren-Honda unlikely to be
fully prepared for Melbourne?
Yes, that is a fair assessment. We
will not be as ready as we would
like but we do our best. Reliability
is still a concern and I don’t know
how long it is going to take. We
have some plan in place now, which
has been drastically improved in
both our organisations working
together, and I think it will take a
few races, but we should be ready
by Europe to be more competitive.
Ben Anderson
16 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015
SAUBER PACE TAILS OFF
Sauber made headlines at Jerez as it
topped the times once and finished
second on the remaining three days.
Marcus Ericsson denied the team
was doing low-fuel ‘glory runs’
,
adding that Sauber had “quite a
bit of margin,” but its form has
tailed off since then. Felipe Nasr had
his clumsy incident with Wolff,
while mechanical gremlins crept in
that robbed the team of precious
track time. But a smooth final test,
which was littered with race
simulations, ensured its lap count
was healthy, ending the pre-season
fewer than 100 laps shy of Mercedes.
Both Ericsson and Nasr believe
progress has been made, which is
encouraging considering the Swiss
team encountered its first pointless
season last year, although the car
still looks to tough to drive,
particularly on corner entry.
FORCE INDIA FINALLY RUNS
The fact that Force India even made
it to the final test is impressive. That
the car ran reliably all the way
through the three days of testing
it was restricted to is remarkable.
The team had a troubled winter
where cashflow issues with
suppliers, delays with the
manufacture of the chassis and a
hold-up in gaining access to its
chosen windtunnel held it up.
On arrival at Barcelona the car was
super-reliable, completing 365 laps,
“We took a big
hit, but we
believe strongly
in the team that
they can recover”
BOB FERNLEY, FORCE INDIA
just 15 shy of McLaren’s tally recorded
across all 12 days of testing. But
deputy team principal Bob Fernley
admitted that the delay will make a
“significant” impact on the team’s
form. “We are behind on the
development programme,” he told
AUTOSPORT. “The key thing for us
is damage limitation. We took a big
hit, but we believe strongly in the
team that they can recover from it.”
While Nico Hulkenberg was
“surprised” by the team’s successful
run, Sergio Perez admitted the team
is “two steps behind” and “on the
back foot” going to Melbourne.
McLAREN IN THE MIRE
And that leaves just McLaren, which
is arguably bottom of the pile in
terms of performance because the car
Magnussen deputised for
Alonso at the final test
WorldMags.net
XPB IMAGES
How difficult and disappointing has
pre-season testing been for you?
I would not be so negative. We were
not expecting to cover 100 laps
every day. We tend to forget that
last year it was the same situation
for many teams. It is true we didn’t
do as many laps as we wanted; it
is true it is going to hurt the car on
the performance side, but we will
recover. It’s just a delay, if I may
say this. There are many areas on
the car where we know all the
systems on the engine are working.
Cooling is working, and the more
mileage we do in the future the
more problems we will discover,
but the base is exactly as per plan.
So that is a positive.
DUNBAR/LAT
McLAREN-HONDA
RACING DIRECTOR
THOMPSON/GETTY
ERIC BOULLIER
…although Sergio
Perez said the team is
“two steps behind”
didn’t run long enough to test
whether it has any. Not the ideal start
to a new partnership with Honda.
The MP4-30 spent most of the
Jerez test in the garage, with a faulty
seal on the MGU-K proving a
particular headache, while returnee
Fernando Alonso sidelined himself
from the final test when he crashed
heavily at Barcelona. Jenson Button
delivered some hope by clocking 101
laps on day two of the final test –
just over a quarter of the team’s total
tally – but that was a rare highlight.
Kevin Magnussen, who has
experience of last year’s car and
tested the new machine for a day,
was hopeful, suggesting the chassis
definitely addresses the weakness of
the 2014 car. “Last year’s car was a
bit more unpredictable. The
direction we wanted to go has
proved to be right for this car.”
There is a feeling among the team
that the car has serious potential,
but a lack of mileage has stopped it
from having the chance to unlock
it. Button highlighted the gulf
between his team and the current
pacesetters when he said: “Mercedes
are unbelievably quick and we are
obviously a long way off.”
But the killer line came from
world champion Hamilton himself,
when asked to describe the W06.
“It feels good - similar to last year,
but better,” he said, ominously.