Grosjean Logs 96 Laps in Day 1 of In-Season Testing
May 17, 2016
Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean logged a total of 96 laps in the first round of in-season testing Tuesday at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. Grosjean’s fastest lap (1:23.882) came on his 82nd tour around the 4.655-kilometer (2.892-mile), 16-turn circuit. It was the fourth-best time overall among the 10 drivers participating in the test.
Grosjean’s fast time was set on the Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tire, which came during his last run of the day. Pirelli will debut the ultrasofts in race conditions at the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix. Prior to running the ultrasofts, Grosjean ran a stint on the Pirelli P Zero Red supersoft tires.
Grosjean used the Pirelli P Zero White medium tires throughout the morning, where he and the team concentrated on aero mapping and chassis setup. By midday, Grosjean had toured the track 35 times with a best lap of 1:26:669.
The afternoon session brought a switch to the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires as further development work on the VF-16 continued. And with the switch from softs to supersofts to ultrasofts, Grosjean’s lap times quickened with the increased grip brought by each tire compound.
Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari set the day’s quick time (1:23.220), while Nico Rosberg of Mercedes ran the most laps (119).
Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Haas F1 Team
“Plenty of laps for us today, which was great. We had a long list of things we wanted to do, mainly on aero in the morning and then getting a feel of the ultrasoft ahead of the Monaco GP. We completed all of the program, which was a great effort from the team. There’s plenty of data to look at now, so that will help us get ready for the next race. We changed the chassis and we tried everything we could, so let’s see what we get in Monaco.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team
“It was a good day for us. We did almost a hundred laps, which has enabled us to gather a lot of data. I think we’re still in a learning phase. After the last few races we had to understand the tires a bit better. We’ve made great progress and we’ll continue that tomorrow with Esteban (Gutiérrez) to see that we can get the tires to work in the window they’re supposed to work. All in all, a good day for the whole team. Everyone worked hard and did a great job.”
Next Up
Esteban Gutiérrez takes the wheel of the VF-16 on Wednesday for the final day of testing at Barcelona.