Times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m42.651s 40 2. Antonio Felix da Costa Red Bull-Renault 1m42.717s + 0.066s 79 3. Gary Paffett McLaren-Mercedes 1m43.407s + 0.756s 44 4. Robin Frijns Sauber-Ferrari 1m43.775s + 1.124s 78 5. Nicolas Prost Lotus-Renault 1m44.194s + 1.543s 55 6. Luiz Razia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m44.691s + 2.040s 67 7. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m45.936s + 3.285s 57
Quotes:
Antonio Felix da Costa (Red Bull): "This was my first time driving an RB8 at a proper test, with proper tyres on a real circuit, and… wow! I was perhaps a little anxious beforehand, but ultimately the pedals and the steering wheel are in the usual places. There’s a lot to learn, particularly with the buttons on the steering wheel, and it took one or two runs to get completely comfortable with all of that – but I think we had a good day".
Robin Frijns (Sauber): "Gosh this was hard work! Not in the beginning but then suddenly I felt it, especially from the brakes. I am really tired now and know I have to go and exercise more. In the morning we started with installation laps so that I could get used to the car and the steering wheel, which isn’t that easy. In the afternoon I found it hard to understand the tyre compounds. I had only driven on Michelin tyres before, and with the Pirelli medium and soft compounds it was difficult for me after only one lap. I had the feeling the more careful I handled them the worse it became. There is obviously a lot to learn. On my fastest lap with the soft tyres I made a mistake, so there was more to come. The team did a great job during the day and I want to thank them for that".
Nicolas Prost (Lotus): "Today was my first real experience of a Formula 1 car. I had driven the R30 before, however it’s now two years old and uses different tyres so it’s quite different to my experience today. I’m obviously very happy and I’m impressed by the car; it’s a massive step up even from the R30. For me it was like a real test driver’s day and we trialled a lot of parts. We only worked on the hard tyres, so were obviously not looking for pace, but we have been analysing the data and I have been comparing myself with Kimi and Romain’s telemetry. Obviously I’m missing a bit in some corners, but others are quite good. For my first day I think it’s very positive and I did the job the team asked of me, so it’s been a very good day".
Luiz Razia: "I enjoyed my first experience working with Toro Rosso today, on a track I know well, having driven here in 2010 and ’11. In the morning, the team had various test items it wanted to work through and in the afternoon, we looked a bit more at establishing a base line on the car. As far as the tyres are concerned, I found it relatively straightforward as they seemed quite similar to those supplied by Pirelli in GP2. As for all the buttons on the steering wheel, I had some time before driving the car to get used to them, so I soon got the hang of it. Overall, it was a good day as the car ran trouble free and I was able to do a lot of laps".
Giedo van der Garde: "I’m pleased with how today went. We were mainly working on aero performance, running sensors and different mechanical configurations on the car in the morning and afternoon sessions and to get the most out of them I had to drive consistently, carefully and not go for outright speed. I think the team’s happy with what I’ve done today and physically I feel great after running a good number of laps. After my FP1 session here in Abu Dhabi was cut short it was good to get some really decent time on track and the key thing for me is to keep developing my relationship with the team. There’s still a few tweaks we could make to the setup to suit my driving style a bit more but we have tomorrow to work on a few more setup options, as well as continuing to test parts and aero programs".
