Spoiler:
World Champion Jenson Button believes that Ferrari is in best shape to grab most points from the start of the season, judging by performances in Jerez testing this week. The Englishman also explained that he has been surveying his rivals' cars when following closely in testing.
With Button making the switch from Brawn (now Mercedes) to McLaren, the Frome man admits that it is the red cars which appear to be on top. "I think the Ferrari is very strong," the 30-year-old told reports in Jerez.
"If you look at their runs today, they're very consistent and I think they have better consistency than anyone else at the moment."
Having taken over at the wheel of McLaren's MP4-25 on Friday from team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Jenson reported his on-track findings. "It's always interesting to observe what they're up to," the current title holder continued. "I think our pace is good but there's still areas we need to work on for me to be happy with the car.
"I followed a few drivers today - Fernando (Alonso, Ferrari), Michael (Schumacher, Mercedes); it's always interesting to see what's happening - the Mercedes seems like it's a little bit twitchy at the rear and locking the rears under breaking, but if they're on 150 kilos (of fuel) it's understandable. The Ferrari looks good on the circuit, good consistency.
"Over one lap, our car is getting there; we're improving step-by-step and on the long runs we're improving with every one we do. There's so much information we've got from today - more than any other test day so far, for me anyway; we're going to go through all of that this evening and hopefully have another good day tomorrow."
With Button making the switch from Brawn (now Mercedes) to McLaren, the Frome man admits that it is the red cars which appear to be on top. "I think the Ferrari is very strong," the 30-year-old told reports in Jerez.
"If you look at their runs today, they're very consistent and I think they have better consistency than anyone else at the moment."
Having taken over at the wheel of McLaren's MP4-25 on Friday from team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Jenson reported his on-track findings. "It's always interesting to observe what they're up to," the current title holder continued. "I think our pace is good but there's still areas we need to work on for me to be happy with the car.
"I followed a few drivers today - Fernando (Alonso, Ferrari), Michael (Schumacher, Mercedes); it's always interesting to see what's happening - the Mercedes seems like it's a little bit twitchy at the rear and locking the rears under breaking, but if they're on 150 kilos (of fuel) it's understandable. The Ferrari looks good on the circuit, good consistency.
"Over one lap, our car is getting there; we're improving step-by-step and on the long runs we're improving with every one we do. There's so much information we've got from today - more than any other test day so far, for me anyway; we're going to go through all of that this evening and hopefully have another good day tomorrow."
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http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/228563/button-ferrari-is-the-strongest/Spoiler:
Heikki Kovalainen has admitted that Lotus' first Formula 1 car in sixteen years carries a fundamental downforce problem, as he completed his Jerez test slowest on the timesheets and 3.2 seconds down on leader Mark Webber's Red Bull on Friday.
As the famous Lotus name returns to the sport with the 1Malaysia team behind it, Kovalainen drove the car for the first time on Thursday after test driver Fairuz Fauzy began the team's programme on Thursday. With Jarno Trulli set to take over for tomorrow, Kovalainen understands the key problems.
"I think the main issue is the downforce," the former Renault and McLaren driver explained to reporters. "We have not been able to develop the aero package as we should have; we had five months to build the car and everything's been a bit conservative. Before they started to design the car, they had no information about the engine, so cooling and everything is quite conservative.
"For sure, we can improve - just by looking at the car I could probably improve a few things; I'm sure we will be able to do this but it'll just take a little time." With the team's Norfolk-based crew being able to collect more information before the season starts, in Barcelona next week, Heikki knows that time will be the best healer.
"Once everybody in the UK - the design and manufacturing teams - begin working, we'll be able to make big improvements," continued Kovalainen, who crashed at Jerez on Thursday.
"I think it's quite clear that we're lacking downforce compared to the quickest cars. It's not surprising, we expected it - but just looking at the numbers we knew where we were going to be."
As the famous Lotus name returns to the sport with the 1Malaysia team behind it, Kovalainen drove the car for the first time on Thursday after test driver Fairuz Fauzy began the team's programme on Thursday. With Jarno Trulli set to take over for tomorrow, Kovalainen understands the key problems.
"I think the main issue is the downforce," the former Renault and McLaren driver explained to reporters. "We have not been able to develop the aero package as we should have; we had five months to build the car and everything's been a bit conservative. Before they started to design the car, they had no information about the engine, so cooling and everything is quite conservative.
"For sure, we can improve - just by looking at the car I could probably improve a few things; I'm sure we will be able to do this but it'll just take a little time." With the team's Norfolk-based crew being able to collect more information before the season starts, in Barcelona next week, Heikki knows that time will be the best healer.
"Once everybody in the UK - the design and manufacturing teams - begin working, we'll be able to make big improvements," continued Kovalainen, who crashed at Jerez on Thursday.
"I think it's quite clear that we're lacking downforce compared to the quickest cars. It's not surprising, we expected it - but just looking at the numbers we knew where we were going to be."
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http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/228557/we-are-lacking-downforce-admits-kovalainen/
