Formula One: 2013 Jerez Test Recap

Formula One is back in action for another year with the start of pre-season testing. The first of 2013’s tests was at Spain’s Jerez Circuit which doesn’t host a race on the Grand Prix calendar so the teams and drivers weren’t putting much stock in the results. In fact, Fernando Alonso couldn’t even be bothered to show up to this test. That didn’t mean that Ferrari wasn’t fast last week, though.

Day 1 (February 5)

It might not have been a clean day of running but McLaren started testing the best way possible by putting Jenson Button on top. The Brit only completed 37 laps after missing most of the early part of the day with a fuel pump failure. I guess pre-season testing is in place to work out kinks like that before a proper race.

Just to show that some things haven’t really changed, the top three were rounded out by Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Lotus’ Romain Grosjean. I get the distinct feeling that those three cars, along with Ferrari, will be on the podium fairly often this season.

Jenson Button – McLaren-Mercedes – 1:18.861
Mark Webber – Red Bull-Renault – 1:19.709
Romain Grosjean – Lotus-Renault – 1:19.796
Paul di Resta – Force India-Mercedes – 1:20.343
Daniel Ricciardo – Toro Rosso-Ferrari- 1:20.401
Felipe Massa – Ferrari – 1:20.536
Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber-Ferrari – 1:20.699
Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:20.846
Pastor Maldonado – Williams-Renault – 1:20.864
Giedo van der Garde – Caterham-Renault – 1:21.915
Max Chilton – Marussia-Cosworth – 1:24.176

Day 2 (February 6)

He led the time sheets for most of Day One only to lose out in the final half-hour. On Day Two, there was no denying Romain Grosjean top of the pops. He outpaced all other drivers by almost eight-tenths of a second and even outpaced Button’s first day time by six-tenths.

The big story of the day was Lewis Hamilton’s first run with Mercedes. It wasn’t much of a run, though. He nosed his car into the barrier at Dry Sack after 15 laps due to a hydraulic failure in the right-rear brake line. That’s the second day with a problem as Rosberg’s running on Day One was cut short by a fire caused by a wiring fault.

Romain Grosjean – Lotus-Renault – 1:18.218
Paul di Resta – Force India-Mercedes – 1:19.003
Daniel Ricciardo – Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1:19.134
Mark Webber – Red Bull-Renault – 1:19.338
Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber-Ferrari – 1:19.502
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:19.519
Sergio Perez – McLaren-Mercedes – 1:19.572
Felipe Massa – Ferrari – 1:19.914
Pastor Maldonado – Williams-Renault – 1:20.693
James Rossiter – Force India-Mercedes – 1:21.273
Giedo van der Garde – Caterham-Renault – 1:21.311
Luiz Razia – Marussia-Cosworth – 1:23.537

Day 3 (February 7)

It took a couple of days but Ferrari was finally able to get the F138 dialled in on Day Three and were able to set the best time for the test. Massa completed his third day of testing with the fastest recorded time.

Nico Rosberg’s second place might seem like a bit of a surprise but it’s nowhere nearly as interesting as the fact that he completed 148 laps on the day. That’s five times as many laps completed on Thursday as the team had completed in total over the first two days of the session. That’s making up for lost time.

Felipe Massa – Ferrari – 1:17.879
Nico Rosberg – Mercedes – 1:18.766
Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull-Renault – 1:19.052
Kimi Raikkonen – Lotus-Renault – 1:19.200
Jean-Eric Vergne – Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1:19.247
James Rossiter – Force India-Mercedes – 1:19.303
Jenson Button – McLaren-Mercedes – 1:19.603
Esteban Gutierrez – Sauber-Ferrari – 1:19.934
Max Chilton – Marussia-Cosworth – 1:21.269
Valtteri Bottas – Williams-Renault – 1:21.575
Charles Pic – Caterham-Renault – 1:22.352
Paul di Resta – Force India-Mercedes – 1:23.729

Day 4 (February 8)

The final day of test was also the first one in which a team repeated atop the time charts. Kimi Raikkonen made Lotus the first team to win multiple test sessions during this off-season. If you look at last year’s testing results, Lotus pulled the same trick if you omit year-old cars from testing results.

Once again, Force India was surprisingly fast with Bianchi timing in second. That marked the second time that a Force India car finished 2nd with Di Resta finishing in the same position on Day Two. Sebastian Vettel also recorded the third-fastest time for the second-straight day.

Kimi Raikkonen – Lotus-Renault – 1:18.148
Jules Bianchi – Force India-Mercedes – 1:18.175
Sebastian Vettel – Red Bull-Renault – 1:18.565
Esteban Gutierrez – Sauber-Ferrari – 1:18.669
Jean-Eric Vergne – Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1:18.760
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – 1:18.905
Sergio Perez – McLaren-Mercedes – 1:18.944
Valtteri Bottas – Williams-Renault – 1:19.851
Pedro de la Rosa – Ferrari – 1:20.316
Charles Pic – Caterham-Renault – 1:21.105
Luiz Razia – Marussia-Cosworth – 1:21.226
Paul di Resta – Force India-Mercedes – 1:23.435

You’ll likely have noticed that there was a lack of analysis of the results from Jerez. Well that’s because it’s two early to draw any conclusions. The early results say that Vettel should watch out for challenges from Ferrari and Lotus this year but we could have told you that without testing. We haven’t learned anything yet. With the two subsequent tests, some patterns will emerge and we’ll find out who will start 2013 strong.

Best Times of the Test