Day 1:
Growing pains marked the first day of testing for McLaren Honda at Jerez. Fernando Alonso managed just six laps in the new MP4-30 on its maiden drive logging a best lap time of 1:40.7 which was almost 18 seconds off the the day’s fastest lap of 1:22.6 set by Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari, Alonso’s former team. Issues like this were not unexpected and the team is confident they not only know what caused the issue but that it could be resolved as soon as tomorrow when Jenson Button takes the wheel. Further, they assert that today’s laps are not representative of the car’s true capability and it is at least better than where they ended the 2014 season. For more on the issue affecting the car today, check out this story on motorsport.com and be sure to let us know what you think here on ToV Motorsports.
Day 2:
Day two of Jerez testing was another tough day for McLaren Honda as Jenson Button piloted the MP4-30 for the first time. On their second day of testing Button was only able to get 6 laps and a best time of 1:54.6 out of the MP4-30 amid continued troubleshooting and debugging. McLaren was one of the first on track only to come in and work on the same issue that plagued the car yesterday. After the team thought the problem was fixed rainy conditions delayed running, however, before the session closed for the day Button was sent out for another lap. The best time of the day, 1:20.9, once again belongs to Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari.
Day 3:
McLaren Honda finally saw some meaningful running today as the MP4-30 completed 32 laps with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel. Coming off two days of heavy troubleshooting the car was in much better working order today with the sound of the engine reported to be much healthier. However, running was cut short in the afternoon when a loss of coolant pressure stopped Alonso on an out-lap. The problem was quickly diagnosed and is said to be a relatively easy fix, however the power unit was removed for inspection as a precautionary measure. Today’s fast lap for McLaren Honda was a 1:35.553, 14 seconds off the fastest lap of 1:21.545 set by Felipe Nasr in the Ferrari-powered Sauber (it is worth noting that Alonso’s fast lap was set in the morning on intermediate tires while Nasr’s was set in the afternoon on soft-compound tires).
Day 4:
The final day of Jerez testing included both progress and setbacks for Jenson Button in the McLaren Honda. After getting off to a slow start with an 'oil level issue’ the team managed 35 laps today, their highest lap count of the test; however, that is not a lot of running when compared to Lewis Hamilton who logged 117 laps today in the Mercedes W06. The day was cut short by a fuel pump failure late in the session which they didn’t attempt to fix. The team is said to be optimistic having worked out some bugs, reliability issues, and learned a lot about their new car ahead of Melbourne. Lap times were much improved over the first three days of testing with Jenson Button managing a time of 1:27.660 which was six seconds off of Kimi Raikkonen’s time of 1:20.841, the fastest lap of the entire test, in the Ferrari.
Reply