Formula One 2013

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Testing starts at Jerez today!!

The Mercedes team unveiled on Monday morning the car with which it will compete in during the 2013 season Formula 1 season.

The W04 took to the Jerez circuit for the first time for a few early laps ahead of its official launch in the afternoon.

The team said the aerodynamic design has been optimised around a new five-element front wing and a second-generation Coanda exhaust. The car retains pushrod front suspension and a pullrod rear suspension.

Mercedes had a disappointing 2012 season despite scoring its first win since its return to F1, with Nico Rosberg winning the Chinese Grand Prix.

From then on its season went downhill and it endured a five-race point-less streak near the end of the year.

"2013 marks the start of a second era for our Silver Arrows works team," said team boss Ross Brawn.

"The restructuring we undertook at the team over the past 18 months are now growing in maturity and this is reflected in the F1 W04, which is a clear step forward in design and detail sophistication over its predecessor.

"Many thousands of hours of work have been invested by our technical teams in Brackley and Brixworth to ensure that the new car delivers a step change in performance compared to last season."

Rosberg will be partnered by Lewis Hamilton this season, the Briton joining the Brackley-based squad after spending all his F1 career so far at McLaren.

Hamilton replaces seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who retired from the sport at the end of 2012.

After Monday's maiden run, the W04 will begin proper testing from Tuesday at Jerez.

Lewis Hamilton insists that all he wants from his first year with Mercedes in Formula 1 is to see the team make progress and to settle in with his new squad.

Hamilton has played down expectations ever since announcing that he was quitting long-time backer and employer McLaren and putting his faith in the then-struggling Mercedes works team.

At the launch of the new W04 at Jerez on Monday, Hamilton said as the car was essentially a development of last year's Mercedes, he was not expecting an overnight transformation.

"I have no idea where it is at the moment apart from seeing some aero results, and the guys have made some improvements, but it is still an evolution of last year's car," he said.

"This year is about trying to get settled in the team, get a good working relationship and working to steer this car in the right direction and also next year's car.

"We have to deliver as a team, of course, but I am not a miracle worker. I'm going to work as hard as I can with the team to make steps forward."

He said his initial focus would just be on finishing races, before building towards podiums and wins.

"The target is to improve on last year," said Hamilton. "Last year they didn't have a strong year.

"They got one win, but they didn't have enough podiums, didn't have anywhere near the success they deserved.

"This year is about one step at a time. Finish the first race, getting on the podium, and then trying to win races."

Mercedes won last year's Chinese Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg, but claimed only two podium finishes thereafter - and none at all in the final 12 races of the campaign.

That led to Mercedes slipping back to fifth in the constructors' championship with its lowest season score yet.

Nico Rosberg does not expect Mercedes to repeat its early-season form from 2012 when this year's Formula 1 campaign gets underway in Australia.

Mercedes was one of the form teams at the start of last year, culminating in Rosberg winning the Chinese Grand Prix in April.

But the F1 W03 fell off the pace as the year went on, and the German believes that the size of the gap to the leaders at the end of 2012 makes a strong start to this year unlikely.

"I'm confident, but to start the season as we did last year, being one of the fastest cars? Not so confident," Rosberg told reporters following the launch of the 2013 F1 W04.

"The gap was quite big at the end of last year, and first we need to close that gap.

"That's our main target for the start of the season, and I'm very confident we will manage to achieve that.

"Then the big improvement needs to be in the rate of development, because last year we really flattened off in the middle of the season."

Rosberg got a chance to try the new car on Monday morning when he performed a few laps for filming purposes ahead of the official launch, and he was happy with how it felt.

"It was a great start this morning, everything went to plan," he said. "It was all good and I could push straight away.

"The car was balanced well, so it was a very good start. As a result I look forward to driving a full test day tomorrow.

"We've made a big step over the winter. The team is working better in the factory, everything is improving."

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Ross Brawn says the new W04 car has a number of significant innovative concepts despite its similarities with last year's version.

The Brackley-based squad unveiled its 2013 challenger at Jerez on Monday ahead of Tuesday's opening test.

Although the W04 design looks similar to its predecessor, Brawn hinted as some hidden innovations.

"There are a number of concepts we have looked at, and no doubt when you see all the new cars you revisit some of the concepts, but this car has taken a good step forward in terms of aerodynamic performance," said Brawn.

"I think there are some innovative things on the car and you probably need to look a bit deeper to see them.

"We are comfortable with the designs and solutions we have come up with; but we will see the first signs in the next few weeks and certainly at Melbourne.

"That will be the real test of everyone's concepts and innovations - and that will be the true test.

"We are comfortable with what we have done."

Brawn revealed the front wing design will change later in the week, with more updates to be introduced before the start of the season.

"We have some things that we are quite excited about which will appear in the next few weeks," he said.

Brawn added his team is working on a passive double DRS like the one used by rival Lotus but admitted it was proving hard to get it to work properly.

"It is very difficult to get it to work, because there is historisis, or inertia, with the system, to get it to switch," he said. "That makes it very tricky.

"I wouldn't say that we have found a solution yet but we will doing some work on it in the next few tests and we will see where we are.

"We are keeping it there, we are still interested, we are still doing some work but I would not say we have found the right solution yet.

"I think that seems to be what most other people are experiencing, but we may see somebody find a solution and that will probably accelerate the development of the system."

The Briton, whose team finished in fifth place in last year's championship, said the goal for the year was to simply show continued progress.

"We have go forward. The commitment we have always made is to improve and we haven't always done that," said Brawn.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has declared that his team needs stability most of all at present, despite continuing talk of changes in the technical management.

After Wolff and Niki Lauda arrived to take on major Mercedes roles over the winter, the team also approached McLaren technical chief Paddy Lowe, in a move that prompted reports that boss Ross Brawn would be ousted.

While Brawn has insisted he plans to stay and McLaren is adamant Lowe is not leaving in 2013, the longer-term picture remains unclear.

AUTOSPORT understands that Mercedes has continued to approach technical figures at rival teams during the winter, but while Wolff did not rule future changes, he insisted now was not the time for more tinkering.

"It would be foolish to take assumptions now, or take some things as fact," he said. "I need some time to meet the people, speak to the people and get an overview, but I think what the teams needs utmost is stability.

"We are just ahead of a difficult season, a very important season for the team, so let's keep the ball flat at the moment and see how it develops."

He described the media storm over the Lowe situation as 'unhelpful'.

"All the rumours about new people joining us are not good at this stage, and generally do not help," said Wolff.

"I think Paddy is very well recognised and is one of the top guys in the paddock, and McLaren and many other top teams will be interested in him - but at this stage we cannot tell you more.

"He is at McLaren this year and let's get on with our job and do the best possible in 2013."

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Toro Rosso has revealed its 2013 Formula 1 challenger, the STR8, on the eve of this year's first pre-season test at Jerez.

The Italian squad was a distant ninth in last year's constructors' championship, although it did finish the year strongly with six points finishes in the final nine races.

Red Bull protegees Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have been retained for their second full seasons.

"It's very emotional," said team boss Franz Tost. "The team has worked with a very high level of effort to come up with a great car and met the high expectations for this year.

"The goal is to finish sixth in the constructors' championship. The STR8 is the first car under James Key and Luca Furbatto.

"Both drivers did a really good job last year, and I'm convinced if we supply them with a good car they'll come up with surprise results."

The team has made changes behind the scenes, with former Sauber technical chief James Key arriving in September - a move team principal Franz Tost believes will usher in a 'new chapter' in the team's history.

For the seventh straight year the team will be powered by Ferrari engines.

The unveiling of the STR8 means eight teams have now revealed their 2013 challengers.

Caterham and Marussia will follow suit tomorrow, immediately before the start of Jerez testing, while Williams will take the covers of the FW35 ahead of the second test at Barcelona.

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost believes there is more pressure on his team than his drivers in 2013.

Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have both retained their seats at the Italian squad in what Red Bull's Christian Horner suggested could be a crucial year for their future hopes.

Tost however believes both drivers delivered some 'superb performances' over the 2012 Formula 1 campaign, and that the pressure to improve in the constructors' championship falls more heavily on the team itself.

"The onus to improve is on us," Tost told AUTOSPORT. "Daniel and Jean-Eric are both highly skilled, and they improved throughout 2012.

"OK they have the pressure of having more experience, but both have showed good performance already. It's up to us to provide them with a good car."

Ricciardo, who finished directly behind Vergne in 18th position last year, played down the implied threat of fellow Red Bull protege Antonio Felix da Costa, who tested for Red Bull in last year's young driver test.

"I see a very bright future for him - he has tested the Red Bull car and he's followed a similar path to me and Jean-Eric, and look where we are," Ricciardo said of da Costa.

"I'm sure Portugal can get excited about seeing him in F1 in a few years' time, but he's not a threat to me - he's motivation.

"It's the same as trying to secure sixth, which I believe is realistic. Myself and Jean-Eric have been retained, we will keep improving and hopefully the car will too.

"We have already got a few laps in at Misano and my first impressions were good. I had a smile on my face, which is hopefully telling me I have reasons to be optimistic this year."

The new Toro Rosso STR8 is set for major aerodynamic changes as the year progresses after the team focused on mechanical improvements with its launch-spec car.

Technical director James Key admitted that the major differences between this year's machine and its predecessor are currently on the mechanical side, but that some fundamental concepts are being worked on for introduction later in the season.

Some of these parts will appear during pre-season testing, but major packages are planned once the season is underway.

"We have got some bits coming for the next test and the test after which will visibly change the car," said Key.

"We are working now on the future steps and we will evolve.

"We're already looking at different types of approaches in some areas, fundamentally different approaches that will eventually come to life later in the season."

Despite the relatively conservative aerodynamic step, Key is confident that the major leaps forward on the mechanical side will allow STR to improve at the start of the season.

"Mechanically is probably the best step that we've made even though aerodynamically it's immature," said Key.

"That, combined with the new tyres we've got, we have got pretty good opportunity of getting quite a bit more out of it.

"The suspension packaging and the way the suspension works is very different. It will open up a lot of things that we can do with this car that we couldn't do with STR7."

Key also explained the reasoning behind the team dropping the aggressive 'twin floor' design concept that it has used for the past two years, which is the one major changes to the car aerodynamically.

While the STR8 features an aggressive sidepod undercut, it was decided to follow the design trend favoured by its rival teams in recent years.

"We were the only team that was doing it," said Key. "I looked at it with my previous team and you could see what was going on, but it wasn't an obvious step change.

"We had the capacity to change it on this car, which was designed to allow us to go lower with the coolers and fill in that gap and we decided to go with it.

"What we saw with the STR7 was that it was drying up a bit and getting difficult to find more on the aero side, so making a step changes encourages new development directions."

Former Toro Rosso technical head Giorgio Ascanelli has joined Formula 1 brake supplier Brembo.

Ascanelli will become the firm's new chief technical officer.

The Italian ran Toro Rosso's design team from 2007 to '12, when he parted company with the squad in the summer.

Ex-Sauber man James Key was subsequently announced as Ascanelli's replacement.

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Jules Bianchi and James Rossiter will test for Force India at Jerez this week, despite the team indicating at its launch that Paul di Resta would carry the load alone.

Force India has yet to announce the identity of its second driver this season.

Reserve driver Bianchi is a leading candidate, despite the team having initially wanted him to remain as number three until 2014. Long-time Force India driver Adrian Sutil and Williams man Bruno Senna are among the other contenders.

A statement from Force India said that di Resta would drive for all of Tuesday, Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon, before Bianchi took the wheel on Friday.

The team said Bianchi's outing was due to his 2012 experience, rather than being a race seat audition.

"Having spent 2012 as the team's third driver, Jules will be able to provide the team's engineers with further comparison feedback between last year’s car and the VJM06," said the statement.

British driver Rossiter will drive on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning as part of a deal to carry out simulator work for Force India.

The 29-year-old has previous F1 testing experience with BAR/Honda and Super Aguri, and was part of the Lotus brand's sportscar programme last year.

Jerez test line-up

Team February 5 February 6 February 7 February 8
Red Bull     Webber         Webber              Vettel              Vettel
Ferrari      Massa          Massa               Massa               de la Rosa
McLaren      Button         Perez               Button              Perez
Lotus        Grosjean       Grosjean            Raikkonen           Raikkonen
Mercedes     Rosberg        Hamilton            Rosberg             Hamilton
Sauber       Hulkenberg     Hulkenberg          Gutierrez           Gutierrez
Force India  di Resta       di Resta/Rosssiter  di Resta/Rosssiter  Bianchi
Williams     Maldonado      Maldonado           Bottas              Bottas
Toro Rosso   Ricciardo      Ricciardo           Vergne              Vergne
Caterham     van der Garde  van der Garde       Pic                 Pic
Marussia     Chilton        Chilton             TBA                 TBA

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone visited the construction site of Russia's new Sochi track on Monday and said he was pleased with its progress.

The 3.7-mile circuit is being built within the complex that will be used for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

It scheduled to host the first ever Russian Grand Prix next year.

Ecclestone visited the site alongside Russia's deputy primer minister Dmitry Kozak and members of the organising Formula Sochi team.

"I was here even before building works started and was impressed. Now I'm happy with how things are going on," said Ecclestone.

Ecclestone later met with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Pastor Maldonado's former engineer Xevi Pujolar has been promoted to the role of chief race engineer as part of a technical reshuffle at the Williams Formula 1 team.

The chief race engineer title is a new position at Williams, but the move comes in the wake of former chief operations officer Mark Gillan leaving the team at the end of 2012.

Williams technical director Mike Coughlan said Pujolar deserved a shot at a bigger role.

"2013 will be an important year for Williams and I'm pleased to announce a refreshed technical team that has the talent to help move us further up the grid," said Coughlan.

"Xevi has proven himself to be a highly capable and experienced race engineer and his promotion to chief race engineer was a natural progression."

Andrew Murdoch moves up from within Maldonado's car crew to become his race engineer.

AUTOSPORT live testing page

[Katsuya]

The Mercedes and McLaren both have broken down already.

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Caterham joined arch-rival Marussia in launching its 2013 Formula 1 car in the Jerez pitlane in the hour before winter testing began on Tuesday morning.

The Renault-powered CT03 is an evolution of last year's car.

In its early years, Caterham began most seasons promising steady progress towards the midfield and eventual points.

But 2013 looks more like a campaign of consolidation for the Leafield-based team.

Last season it only just fended Marussia off for the lucrative 10th position in the constructors' championship standings.

And having begun F1 life with a pair of grand prix winners in its cockpits in the shape of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, financial realities have now forced Caterham towards less experienced drivers with financial backing.

Kovalainen followed Trulli out of the door at the end of 2012, and Caterham lines up for '13 with Marussia convert Charles Pic and promoted test driver Giedo van der Garde.

Caterham team principal Cyril Abiteboul said it was more important to improve the team's infrastructure this winter than to revamp its car, after unveiling an evolutionary design at Jerez on Tuesday.

The CT03 features a number of carry-over elements from last year's challenger, but Abiteboul believes Caterham had to get its processes right first before being more aggressive with its design.

He promised a major redesign of the car during the course of 2013.

"We cannot satisfy ourselves anymore from being the best of the new teams," said Abiteboul, who took over the team principal role last September.

"We need to be doing better than that - and we need to say and demonstrate that we can do better than that.

"It is about finding the right balance between what, given the level of resources, we can put on the car for the first test, what will be on track for race one and how we will be able to develop the car for 2013 keeping an eye on 2014.

"Everything is about efficiency: where are we most efficient using our resources because we are operating on limited resources like everyone.

"The philosophy was to start from something we know and push in the areas where we knew we were a bit week.

"There is a little bit of carry-over, there is no doubt about that, but having said that everything that is there is making a difference.

"From where we are, we will be able to afford something totally new, a new concept, along the course of the year."

Abiteboul believes the benefits of Caterham's windtunnel partnership with Williams, allied to progress on its own simulator development, should help deliver improvements over the course of the campaign.

And although well aware that the team has challenges, especially with the 2014 regulation overhaul on the horizon, he says it is not going to forget about delivering this year.

"Yes, it is a transition year but we are not writing off this year," Abiteboul said.

"You hear some people saying it is a transition year and let's meet next year, but I don't want to have any accountability for this year by saying it is a transition year.

"It is a lot about consolidating the platform. Making sure that we understand what we do, making sure that we have the right people in place, the right processes in places, the right driver line-up to keep building for the future.

"So that is the transition. It is part of a step, part of our growth, and part of our development."

Caterham has no plans to hide the stepped nose on its CT03 with a vanity panel, as the team questions whether other teams will keep with their launch designs.

Teams have been divided so far on whether or not to fit the optional vanity panel over the 'ugly' noses that have become a feature of the current rules.

Caterham has joined teams like Lotus and Red Bull in coming to the conclusion that the vanity panel cover only provides a weight disadvantage, and team principal Cyril Abiteboul says outfits that are running them currently may even ditch them for the start of the season.

"The thing is it is extra weight," said Abiteboul. "Let's face reality: we cannot afford the luxury right now to add extra weight on to the car. We will see later in the season.

"What we would not want to be doing was being the only one who has an ugly nose. So if everyone was to follow that trend then maybe we would do something."

He added: "I have not seen a lot of cars , maybe Ferrari has a nice nose , but I would be interested to see what they run in the race when the weight makes a difference, not just for a car launch.

"We have a car that we will be developing during the season, so we are not ruling out anything , including a different nose."

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Marussia unveiled its latest Formula 1 car, the MR02, on the Jerez pits straight on the morning of the first winter test of the season.

The car is the first true product of the team's revamped technical structure, following its mid-2011 decision to split with Wirth Research and the all-CFD philosophy and to take design in-house using more traditional windtunnel techniques.

Former Benetton/Renault technical chief Pat Symonds also came on board as a consultant.

Those changes, plus the 2012 progress that took Marussia to the brink of beating Caterham to 10th place in the constructors' championship, meant plenty of optimism at the team going into the new campaign.

But on the eve of the first tests the team had to release lead driver Timo Glock for financial reasons. GP2 graduate Max Chilton is the only driver signed so far, with fellow rookie Luiz Razia heading the queue for the currently vacant second seat.

No deal has yet been done, though, and the team remains non-committal about who will drive at the test after Chilton's initial two-day stint.

Marussia's new MR02 Formula 1 car is a "massive" technical step forward, according to team boss John Booth, but the squad is trying to keep its expectations in check.

The 2013 design is the first created completely under Marussia's revised technical structure, under which it has taken its technical programme entirely in-house using the facilities of its former partner Wirth Research.

As part of this change, it also began using windtunnel technology, eschewing its formative all-CFD philosophy.

"I think it is our first real baby," Booth told AUTOSPORT as the MR02 was unveiled.

"In my '400 years' of motorsport I've learned to not have too many expectations.

"Technically it is a massive step forward, performance wise we will just have to wait and see."

Pat Symonds is now able to move fully into the role of Marussia technical chief, having previously served as a consultant during his ban from F1 for his involvement in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix Renault crash scandal.

"We have our technical director at the circuit now which is a good step for us as well," said Booth. "It is three years since Pat has been at a circuit but it is like he has never been away."

Booth admitted that even with its new technical approach, Marussia is still firmly an underdog, but he hopes the team can start progressing up the grid this season.

"We are not kidding ourselves, F1 is pretty tricky and we've turned this car out with 165 people - and we should be really proud of that," he said.

"But we shouldn't put our expectations against Red Bull, who have 500 people and four times the budget.

"It's same as I have said for three years. The target is to get into Q2 on merit, and then you can really start playing from there - and going for points."

He also denied that potentially having an all-rookie driver line-up would be a problem following Timo Glock's departure.

Luiz Razia is favourite to join fellow GP2 graduate Max Chilton, though no deal has been completed so far.

"It is not as it was 10 or 15 years ago," said Booth. "The young drivers start when they are six years old in karting, and [Chilton] has had two years of GP2, three or four years of F3. He is a novice to F1 but not a novice driver."

Marussia boss Graeme Lowdon says his team is financially "more comfortable than ever" ahead of the start of the 2013 Formula 1 season.

Although the Banbury-based outfit lost the crucial 10th position in the constructors' championship to Caterham in the final race of the 2012 season, Lowdon says there are sponsorship deals in place that are making the team's future secure.

Last month, Marussia parted company with Timo Glock despite having a contract for the season ahead, suggesting that commercial factors had forced it to let the German go.

Marussia unveiled its 2013 challenger on Tuesday, and despite the lack of sponsors on the car, Lowdon insisted the team is in good shape.

"The worry would be if it was all filled with the same name," Lowdon told AUTOSPORT regarding the lack of sponsors.

"Certainly you'll see some names coming on the car over the next few weeks and onto the season as well.

"We are more comfortable now than we have ever been, both on the technical side and the commercial side.

"If you remember, we didn't do pre-season testing with the new car last year, so it's quite nice to be a bit further ahead this year."

Lowdon also suggested that losing 10th place in the standings has not have a huge impact on the team.

"If you look at the revenue mix for our team it has always been dominated by sponsorship, and the percentage we get from the commercial rights holder is relatively small," he said.

"There's no Concorde [Agreement] at the moment so we don't know what the commercial terms are going to be. It's a smaller part of the stream. We are yet to see what will unfold this year."

The Marussia boss confirmed his team is also yet to receive an offer for a new Concorde Agreement, but said it was still in discussions that could lead to one.

"We don't have a bilateral agreement in place. I understand the other teams do. We currently don't have one, but we are in discussions about the new commercial agreement.

"We are in a discussion with the commercial rights holder, and my guess is it could end up in a Concorde Agreement as opposed to a bilateral agreement. It wouldn't make too much difference to how we proceed in pre-season testing or anything like that."

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Jenson Button shrugged off early reliability woes to set the pace on the opening day of Formula 1's first pre-season test of 2013 at Jerez.

The Briton's morning ground to a halt after just three exploratory laps due to a fuel-pump failure on his McLaren, and he remained sidelined until the midway point.

A similar problem led to Lewis Hamilton's retirement from the lead of last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Button was eventually able to resume and in the final minutes of the session clocked a 1m18.861s on Pirelli's new hard compound tyres, putting him more than eight tenths clear of the field.

Second was claimed by Mark Webber, after the Australian staged his own late rally following a modest morning in the title-defending Red Bull RB9.

Webber jumped ahead of Romain Grosjean's Lotus with a 1m19.709s, only for Button to trump that almost immediately.

That left morning pacesetter Grosjean in third, Force India's Paul di Resta fourth and Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo fifth, the trio all having set their fastest times in the morning.

Di Resta clocked up more laps than any other driver, his final tally standing at 89.

Felipe Massa managed to improve in the Ferrari F138 and ended the day sixth fastest, albeit 1.6s down on Button.

On his first day testing for Sauber, Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest, just ahead of Nico Rosberg and the stricken Mercedes camp.

Rosberg had been setting the pace in the morning but his run - and his day - came to a premature end due to an electrical fault.

Mercedes eventually had to abandon the rest of the day as it waits for new parts. Hamilton is set to test for the first time tomorrow.

Pastor Maldonado, driving the old-spec FW34 Williams, finished just ahead of F1 rookies Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton.

Chilton went off at Dry Sack shortly after setting his fastest time in the afternoon, with Marussia later identifying a fault with the rear suspension.

TODAY'S TIMES: Pos Driver Team Time Laps
 1.  Jenson Button        McLaren      1m18.861s            37
 2.  Mark Webber          Red Bull     1m19.709s  + 0.848s  73
 3.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus        1m19.796s  + 0.935s  54
 4.  Paul di Resta        Force India  1m20.343s  + 1.482s  89
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso   1m20.401s  + 1.540s  70
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari      1m20.536s  + 1.675s  64
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber       1m20.699s  + 1.838s  79
 8.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes     1m20.846s  + 1.985s  14
 9.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams     1m20.864s  + 2.003s  84
10.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham     1m21.915s  + 3.054s  64
11.  Max Chilton          Marussia     1m24.176s  + 5.315s  29

Autosport photo gallery

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Luiz Razia has secured the Marussia Formula 1 seat left vacant by Timo Glock's pre-season departure from the team.

Brazilian 23-year-old Razia joins fellow GP2 graduate Max Chilton in an all-rookie line-up at the squad.

Razia will drive the new Marussia in Wednesday's Jerez test session, although the team will start the day late following Chilton's crash due to suspension failure on Tuesday.

"The past two seasons in GP2 have been all about proving that I have what it takes and that I'm ready," said Razia.

"This coming season will be all about rewarding the faith the team have shown in me.

"This is an important year for the Marussia F1 team in terms of maintaining the momentum from a very positive 2012 season. I look forward to making a valuable contribution to that."

Razia became a GP2 title contender last year in his fourth season in the series, eventually finishing runner-up to Davide Valsecchi.

Team boss John Booth said he had always expected Razia to blossom after initially hiring him as reserve driver for the then Virgin branded F1 team in 2010.

"We had every expectation that he would progress to the extent that he has," said Booth.

"He is a very quick and tenacious driver who battled hard to the runner-up spot last year.

"Together with Max, we are fielding a young but incredibly ambitious pairing and we look forward to seeing what they can achieve."

Marussia's announcement means that the only vacancy remaining on the 2013 F1 grid is the second Force India seat.

In addition to his 2010 run with Virgin/Marussia, Razia has also tested F1 cars with Toro Rosso, Force India and Caterham.

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Formula 1 will stick to 19 races this season after failing to find a replacement for New Jersey, supremo Bernie Ecclestone says.

Ecclestone and the FIA had reshuffled the calendar in a bid to slot in a 20th race on July 21, but despite talks with Turkey, Austria and Portugal no deal could be reached.

Although there remains time to sort out an extra event, Ecclestone said on Tuesday that he was now resigned to not holding a 20th race.

"The calendar has been formed already, it's too late," he told Dubai's The Nationalnewspaper at an announcement for a new five-year global sponsorship deal between F1 and Emirates airline.

He added: "[i am] disappointed that it didn't happen before; we can't suddenly slot it in."

F1's tie-up with Emirates has prompted talk that Dubai could be in the running to hold a race, but Ecclestone has ruled that out because the Middle East is already well represented with Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

"We support races that we think are good for F1, wherever they may be," he said.

"We have a restriction for 20 races and we already have two in this area, so it would be difficult to pop another one in."

Jenson Button admitted that his pacesetting time on the opening day of 2013 Formula 1 testing at Jerez took him aback.

After Ferrari's Felipe Massa labelled Button's 1m18.861s an "incredible" time, the McLaren driver agreed that the lap had surprised him.

"To be fair I was surprised when I saw the dash, but it doesn't mean anything," Button insisted.

"Some people run less fuel than others, and some people run a lot less fuel than others. Who knows? For a first day it felt good.

"I don't know how I did that time. Last year's car was a great car, but rules have changed. They are small, but there are changes.

"And also the tyres are different, not just in compound but in construction."

Button lost mileage with a fuel pump failure in the morning, but was otherwise encouraged by his day.

"Nothing stands out as a big issue.

"Possibly this morning's could be," he said, "but in terms of the way the car feels there's nothing that stands out as something we need to work on.

"Who knows whether it's a championship-winning car, but the important thing is that it has a nice feeling.

"Lap times mean nothing right now, they don't even at the last test, but at the first race that's when you need to show how quick you are.

"The important thing is the car really does relate to the simulator. That's something that is good."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh admitted the return of fuel pump issues made for a 'frustrating' start to the 2013 Formula 1 campaign in testing at Jerez.

Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead of last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with a fuel pump failure.

In a bid to rectify the problem McLaren opted for a brand new design and pump on this year's MP4-28, only for it to fail after just three installation laps.

"Unfortunately it was a fuel pump failure, the same as we had in Abu Dhabi," Whitmarsh confirmed.

"It was frustrating but it's what tests are for.

"The irony is it's a totally new design and a brand new pump to resolve the problem we had in Abu Dhabi.

"That's what tests are for. I'd rather it happen here on day one rather than later in the testing sequence or in the race."

After losing the morning's running, Button returned in the afternoon and ended the day 0.8 seconds faster than the rest of the field. He managed 37 laps in total.

Mark Webber believes Red Bull will have to work on reducing understeer on its RB9 after the first day of pre-season Formula 1 testing at Jerez.

The Australian said that the new car felt similar to the 2012 RB8 that won both the drivers' and constructors' championships, but he added that the team had areas to work on before testing resumes on Wednesday morning.

"The car was very understeery today, so we need to improve that tonight and get it a little more responsive," Webber told reporters at Jerez.

"Obviously this was the first day at school. We're not having a grand prix tomorrow, thank God, so we'll work hard, as will everybody else.

"The car's not massively different. The last few years we've had regulation changes, but this year it feels pretty similar.

"We've got some front wing stuff going on, but I felt pretty comfortable pretty quickly."

Webber added that the combination of the new 2013-spec Pirelli tyres and the rough Jerez track surface could be exaggerating any car traits.

"The tyres are going away quite a bit," he said. "If you see a car on fresh tyres the performance is quite nice, if you see one on older tyres it doesn't look very nice.

"The naked eye can even see the problems. The tyres are struggling to do quite a few laps, and you see the times in the 1m22s and 1m23s.

"But this track is always hard on tyres. You can always scare yourself here and then get to other places and it's OK."

Romain Grosjean claims Lotus had a better than expected start to 2013 Formula 1 testing at Jerez on Tuesday, as he ended the day third fastest.

The Frenchman was the first man to try out the new Lotus E21, which the team hopes will be enough to lift it into top three contention this year.

And although Grosjean ended up nine tenths of a second behind pacesetter Jenson Button, he was hugely encouraged by what he discovered.

When asked if he had got what he had hoped to from the car, Grosjean said: "Yes, but I would say even better to be honest.

"The first feelings were very, very good. It's been a long time since we drove last time, but it has also been a short time at the same time.

"Honestly, three laps in and the car was already on the pace and the car was good without any set-up work."

The new Lotus E21 is an evolutionary design from last year's car, but Grosjean says he already feels progress has been made.

"I think it's a good step forward, compared to where we were last year - which was already a good starting point," he said.

"There was no issue with the car today; we could do 55 laps which were all pretty quick, and that's a good point."

Felipe Massa says Ferrari is on a 'different planet' compared to the difficult situation it found itself in during pre-season Formula 1 testing last year, after getting his first impressions of the new F138 at Jerez on Tuesday.

The Brazilian ended the day sixth on the timesheets, but was not too worried about the lap times, because most importantly Ferrari had banished the prospect of a repeat of 2012's opening test nightmare.

"I think if you compare to last year it is a completely different planet," said Massa, when asked by AUTOSPORT about how his first day's running with the new car compared to 12 months ago.

"Last year I remember we were struggling a lot to drive the car. It was tricky to keep the car on the track, so this year the base on the car is completely different to last year.

"The car is much more balanced. I felt a good direction on the rear of the car as well, with traction. This is a track that is very difficult on the rear, degradation is very high. I would say that the difference to last year is huge."

Massa said early issues with the F138 have cropped up - like the need to improve cooling in the cockpit - but there were no alarm bells ringing about significant performance problems.

"I don't think it is a difficult thing to fix," he said. "I am not disappointed definitely.

"The 1m18.8s [lap time of Jenson Button] is an incredible time definitely, but the 1m19.7s [of second fastest Mark Webber] I don't think is.

"If you look at the first day, looking at how we ran, how we drove and the direction we had for the first day, I am not really disappointed.

"There is a lot to do, a lot to work on, a lot to develop on the car for the first race. That is clear. But I am not disappointed."

Nico Rosberg has faith that Mercedes has delivered a step forward with its new W04, despite his running being cut short on the opening day of Formula 1 pre-season testing.

The Brackley-based team was forced to abandon its efforts for the day after just 14 laps on Tuesday, because modifications to its wiring loom are needed overnight after an electrical problem stopped the car out on track.

But although the reliability issue was a setback for Mercedes, Rosberg says early impressions of the car are encouraging.

"Very good, very positive," he explained. "I can't say if it was quick or not, but feeling wise I was comfortable. I could push, the balance was OK and it was very enjoyable to drive."

Despite feeling upbeat about the car, however, Rosberg was equally well aware that Mercedes' task was not just to improve, but to leapfrog other teams.

"I can guarantee you it [the car] will be a big step forward, but everybody else is also moving forward," he said. "We are hoping that we have closed the gap.

"Last year [the gap] was nearly more than one second at the end of the season, and we have to get closer for sure. And we will, we will get closer.

"I think they have given us a good base and now it is up to us to make the most of it now, find out the problems and also improve it.

"We also need to give feedback to the factory - what are the main things holding us back? What are the main things that we need to keep on? That is what it is about, but it is going in the right direction."

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has played down fears that the current financial difficulties Formula 1 is facing are a sign of impending crisis.

With HRT having closed down, more teams needing to take pay drivers, and Bernie Ecclestone having failed to find a 20th race to replace New Jersey, some have suggested that F1 is heading towards a period of trouble.

But speaking ahead of the first pre-season test at Jerez in Spain, Brawn believes that while F1 is not immune to cost concerns, the situation is no worse that it has experienced in recent history.

"I think we are affected by the cycles of the economy of the world," he said. "We cannot ignore that.

"There is a lot of positive and proactive work to try and contain the costs within F1. There is constant debate/discussion within F1 to see better ways of doing that, but I think we are seeing a lot of positive signs.

"We have had Blackberry join us as partners and there are other people joining F1 because they can see the value of it. It is a constant battle.

"We can never rest and say that it is okay. We've always got to be working to contain costs and improve the quality of F1 and make it more appealing to our partners and sponsors. And it is a constant battle.

"In the 30 or more years that I have been involved in F1 it has never been very different to be honest. There are always one or two teams at the bottom who are perhaps struggling to meet their budgets. It is cyclic - but there is still a very strong core to F1."

Caterham team boss Cyril Abiteboul, on the other hand, said he believed Formula 1's economic situation was the worst the sport has witnessed.

"I think the economic situation is worse than it has ever been for everyone," he said. "I think there is one single team that has been able to do an amazing job both on track and from a commercial perspective, and that is Red Bull.

"But they have had the luxury of a shareholder who was helping at the start with no great sponsors. I think everyone else is suffering."

The financial difficulties back of the grid teams are facing was thrust into the spotlight recently when Marussia was forced to part ways with Timo Glock for money reasons.

And it is the absence of highly-rated experienced drivers like Glock and Heikki Kovalainen, who have been replaced by pay drivers, that has been noted by drivers including Lewis Hamilton.

Speaking about his former team-mate Kovalainen, Hamilton said: "The other day when I was coming here I was thinking it's such a shame that Heikki's not here.

"Definitely some other people who now have seats... I think whoever gave them the seats are crazy to think they are better than Heikki."

Nico Hulkenberg believes that Sauber's new Formula 1 car has maintained the high-speed strengths of its predecessor.

The German had his first experience of the new C32 at Jerez on Tuesday, and said that first impressions had been encouraging.

"It has been a positive day to be honest," said Hulkenberg, who ended the day seventh overall.

"It was pretty constructive. There were no issues on the reliability side - which is the most important on the first day, especially with the aggressive design of the car - so it has been a solid day."

Hulkenberg said that he had had few problems getting himself comfortable enough in the cockpit, despite his tall frame.

And, although still getting used to his new surroundings, he said that some characteristics of his new challenger had left him happy.

"Roughly, from what I have seen, when I raced against the Sauber as well, their car looked pretty good on high-speed stuff," said the German when asked for initial comparisons with last year's Force India.

"And that is what I think today. I felt pretty happy with it as well, the high-speed corners, and that was basically it. It is still a different car.

"You have to get used to a new look out of the cockpit, new steering wheel, new feeling, but it has gone well."

Paul di Resta says the first day of 2013 Formula 1 testing threw up no surprises at Force India, based on what the team was expecting from its car at Jerez.

The Briton completed the most laps of the day with 89, as he set the fourth fastest time at the Spanish circuit.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the day, di Resta said the team had achieved all it had hoped on the opening day of running for the VJM06.

"Forgetting what anyone else is doing, I would say we have carried on as we thought we would," di Resta said of the 2013 car.

"Today was quite positive. We got through the programme, got the data collection.

"This test is about correlation with the factory and understanding the car. That's our focus.

"It's nice to get the car out on track in anger, and there's nothing thrown up that we didn't think was there."

While uncertainty surrounds the identity of di Resta's team-mate for this year, he will share the driving duties with the team's simulator driver James Rossiter and 2012 test driver Jules Bianchi.

"James is very inexperienced in Formula 1 at the moment, but he's doing our simulator work so it's important for him to understand the correlation from the simulator to the track," he said.

"Jules has obviously done a lot with Ferrari in the past and a lot with us, and the team has decided to put him in the car.

"Ultimately it will be another opinion on the car, and that's useful for the engineers to work with.

"But it's not hampering my preparations at all. I've got my programme and that's what I'm focusing on."

Daniel Ricciardo is confident that Toro Rosso has achieved its target of producing a car with a wider set-up window compared to last year.

The Australian completed 70 laps on the first day of running for the new Ferrari-engined STR8 at Jerez, setting the fifth fastest time of the day, and was cautiously optimistic about its handling characteristics.

After being faced with limited set-up options last year, Ricciardo has warned that the team's priority is now to ensure that it understands how changes affect the car.

"We have definitely got a bigger window to work with," said Ricciardo when asked by AUTOSPORT about whether the set-up window is wider.

"Whether it's going to be easier or more confusing, we'll soon find out, but we definitely have got more options this year and that will help us.

"But we've got to understand them first because the car is more complex and hopefully we can use this test and Barcelona to understand it all, otherwise it will be a bit of a gamble going for it on the race weekend.

"Today, we got through a bit of the programme of exploring the measure of the car but we have still got a long way to go."

Ricciardo admitted that his initial feeling about the car was positive after a constructive first day of testing.

But he was wary of getting drawn into believing that it was a major stride forward in case things get more difficult.

"The first impressions were positive," he said.

"Trying to recall this position last year, I do believe we've made progress, but it's always the case.

"Maybe this year I won't get too excited because it leaves more for disappointment, but the initial impression was good.

"There's still a lot of work to do and with this circuit you have to take it with a pinch of salt because the surface is very abrasive and the conditions are unique.

"Until we get to Barcelona, the picture won't be so clear but for the first day, we've got to be happy."

Toro Rosso is planning to make the switch to Renault engines next season, although it has not signed a deal with the French car manufacturer yet.

The Faenza-based squad has stayed silent up until now on its engine plans despite being linked with Renault for many weeks, but at Jerez on Tuesday its team principal Franz Tost finally revealed its intention to make the switch from Ferrari.

"It is our target to have the same engine as Red Bull Racing is using, to use the synergies that are possible from the regulations side, that is the reason why," he said about the change of supplier.

"We are in negotiations with Renault and then we will see. No contract has been signed so far."

Toro Rosso believes the move to Renault will help it make competitive gains because it will be able to work more closely with its sister team, as well as be able to use Red Bull's gearbox rather than have to make its own.

"For sure it will be an advantage because if we are racing with the same engine, we will have the same gearbox as Red Bull, because this is possible from the regulation side," he said. "We will use the synergies of what the regulations will allow us to do."

Tost said that there was no deadline to sort the matter out - after suggesting that the outfit already had initial data to start working on its 2014 design – but was keen to get the matter finalised as soon as possible.

"Next year's drive train package is very complicated, not so much from the engine side but much more from the turbo because of the heat, for the ERS, and the gearbox," he said.

"This complete package has to become one unit and you need to know as early as possible who your partners are."

Giedo van der Garde believes that Caterham still has some work to do with finding rear grip with its new car despite a positive first day of 2013 Formula 1 testing.

The Dutchman, who will make his F1 debut for Caterham this year was entrusted with the new CT03 for its first day of running.

He completed 64 laps in the new car, lapping 3.054 seconds off pacesetter Mark Webber's Red Bull.

Asked by AUTOSPORT about the overall impression of the car, he replied: "I think positive.

"The front end is a bit stronger than last year, which suits me better, and this was also a target that [ex-Caterham driver] Heikki [Kovalainen] was working on a lot.

"The rear is a little issue at the moment. It's a little loose, but for the first day, I was quite happy."

Van der Garde is scheduled to continue in the car on Wednesday before handing over to team-mate Charles Pic for the final two days of the Jerez test.

He accepts that the team still has some way to go with understanding the 2013 Pirelli tyres and that this will be an area to focus on during Wednesday's track time.

"It's responding quite well but the biggest thing is that we still need to get a handle on the tyres because it's quite different from last year," he said.

"We'll see what we can do tomorrow, but the feeling with the car is quite positive."

Marussia will be able to continue its pre-season testing programme at Jerez on Wednesday despite suffering a suspension failure that caused Max Chilton's crash.

The Formula 1 rookie encountered the failure when flat out on the approach to Dry Sack corner during the afternoon.

The team confirmed to AUTOSPORT that it will run on Wednesday after some modifications are made to the rear suspension overnight to prevent a repeat of the problem.

However, it is likely that Marussia will not be able to take to the track until late morning while the car is adapted.

"Something gave way, but the team are looking at it and trying to see a cure," said Chilton of the accident.

"I was literally just about to hit the brakes and it gave way.

"I'd recovered it once and it was out of control.

"It was the first real pushing run, so it was testing the car to its maximum and something wasn't quite right."

Despite his high-speed off, Chilton has no doubts that the car will be safe when he is cleared to return to action.

"Pat [symonds] and the team are very experienced and I'm sure they will find a cure," he said.

"I'll just have to trust their judgement as they've been here a lot of years.

"There's not much else I can do as a driver but just trust them.

"As soon as I put that helmet on, I've just got to see how it is, build it up and hopefully we'll have fixed the problem."

The GP2 race-winner added that he was happy with the performance of the car until the accident.

He completed 29 laps and ended the day slowest, 5.315 seconds off the pace.

"Testing was going well until that point," said Chilton.

"I was getting some laps in and the car was performing well but I guess that's what early days of testing are for with a new car.

"I did do some pushing laps before that, but not fully.

"I'm looking forward to getting back out and to do a good test."

[Katsuya]

Bwahaha, Lewis crashed.

[MJB]

Completely the car's fault

[Katsuya]

The Lotus looks like a beast of a car. Grosjean is smashing it in lap after lap.

[MJB]

Lotus looked strong in testing last year.

But, there's no real point in talking about who's got the fastest car. We'll only know come Qualifying in Melbourne.

[Lineker]

Romain Grosjean set the pace on the second day of pre-season Formula 1 testing at Jerez, while Lewis Hamilton's first outing for Mercedes was cut short by a crash.

Lotus driver Grosjean, who led the way in the morning, went faster on a series of short runs on the soft tyre in the afternoon.

He eventually got down to a 1m18.218s, six tenths faster than Jenson Button managed on the opening day for McLaren, before switching to longer runs focused on heavy fuel loads and the hard compound tyres.

Grosjean was the only driver in the top nine to improve in the afternoon, and with just three minutes left on the clock he brought the day to a close by stopping on track between Turns 3 and 4, bringing out the red flags.

Nico Hulkenberg also came to a halt in his Sauber before he could get back to the pits, stopping between Turns 8 and 9 after running out of fuel.

Aside from the performance of the Lotus, the main focus of the day was the plight of Mercedes.

After the team finished early on day one due to an electrical problem when Nico Rosberg was at the wheel, new signing Hamilton clocked just 15 laps before a rear brake problem caused him to crash at the Dry Sack hairpin.

Mercedes looked in to fixing the car in time to get Hamilton back out on his first day of proper testing with the F1 W04, but eventually decided against it and worked on repairs to areas including the hydraulics.

There were improvements towards the bottom of the field in the afternoon. Pastor Maldonado got up to 71 laps after a clutch problem had delayed Williams earlier on, and Giedo van der Garde found six tenths in the Caterham to end the day on a 1m21.311s.

Late on, Force India simulator driver James Rossiter returned to F1 testing duties for the first time since a run for Super Aguri in 2008.

The Briton took over from Paul di Resta with just over an hour remaining, and in 19 laps managed a best time of 1m21.273s.

Marussia's new signing Luiz Razia stopped with an engine problem in the morning. Despite the team's best effort, it was not resolved in time for him to rejoin the track.

TODAY'S TIMES Pos Driver Team Time Laps
 1.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus        1m18.218s            95
 2.  Paul di Resta        Force India  1m19.003s  + 0.785s  95
 3.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso   1m19.134s  + 0.916s  83
 4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull     1m19.338s  + 1.120s  101
 5.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber       1m19.502s  + 1.284s  99
 6.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes     1m19.519s  + 1.301s  15
 7.  Sergio Perez         McLaren      1m19.572s  + 1.354s  81
 8.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari      1m19.914s  + 1.696s  78
 9.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams     1m20.693s  + 2.475s  71
10.  James Rossiter       Force India  1m21.273s  + 3.055s  19
11.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham     1m21.311s  + 3.093s  88
12.  Luiz Razia           Marussia     1m23.537s  + 5.319s  31

Lewis Hamilton's first proper day of Formula 1 testing with Mercedes got off to a bad start on Wednesday when he crashed the team's new W04.

The Briton, who has joined the team from McLaren, had been third quickest in the morning when, after 15 laps, he ran off the track at the Dry Sack hairpin.

Television footage of the incident showed he had locked up in the braking area of the corner, before skipping across the gravel trap and nosing into the barriers.

Hamilton was able to climb out of the car unaided, and returned to the pits.

Damage to the car appeared to be limited to the front wing and front suspension, and Mercedes is likely to be able to get it repaired for later in the day.

There was no initial answer from the team as to whether the accident had been caused by a mechanical problem or driver error.

The setback comes just 24 hours after Mercedes' first day of running was also cut short when team-mate Nico Rosberg was stopped on track with an electrical problem.

Revisions to the team's wiring loom were required overnight, which meant Rosberg had been unable to resume running during the afternoon session.

Despite the reliability disappointment, Rosberg had still been encouraged by what he had experienced with the car.

Lewis Hamilton's accident on his first day of Formula 1 testing for Mercedes was caused by rear brake problems, his team has confirmed.

The Briton ran off the track and straight on into the crash barriers at the Dry Sack hairpin after just 15 laps of testing on Wednesday.

Television footage showed tyre marks running off the track and across the gravel trap, before Hamilton had nudged the barriers, knocking the front wing off.

Mercedes confirmed shortly after the accident that Hamilton's issues had been related to the rear brakes, and that the driver was completely unhurt.

"Lewis suffered a loss of rear brake pressure, the front brakes enabled him to slow the car but he couldn't avoid the barrier," wrote Mercedes on its official Twitter account.

The team concluded that the problem started in the hydraulic brake line to the right rear caliper. It is now working on aero and suspension repairs in the hope of getting Hamilton back out in the afternoon.

Hamilton's accident delivered more frustration for Mercedes, which had to cut short its running on Tuesday because an electrical problem on the car forced it to rework its wiring loom.

Lewis Hamilton insists he is far from disheartened by Mercedes' early testing woes.

A crash caused by rear brake failure at Jerez on Wednesday meant Hamilton was only able to complete 15 laps, just a day after team-mate Nico Rosberg was only able to do a similar number before being stopped by an electrical issue.

"You can't get fazed by these days," he said, when asked by AUTOSPORT about how he has endured similar difficult testing programmes before. "You have to keep looking forwards and remain positive.

"The guys in the garage, they are not trying to have this kind of thing happen. They are working as hard as they can back at the factory, so I am glad that this didn't happen at the last test at Barcelona. That would really suck.

"Having it now, we can get it out of the way. If there are any more problems to come, I hope they come tomorrow and the next day, so then we can have clear days after that."

Hamilton's accident was caused by a failure of the rear brake hydraulics on the entry to the Dry Sack hairpin.

Mercedes is working on a solution to prevent a repeat of the issue. It is believed to have been the result of hydraulic fluid leaking out of the system.

Speaking about the accident, Hamilton said: "I hit the brake and, for a split second, it was working. But then the pedal went straight down. It just wasn't working and then I had to brace for the impact... My legs got a bit of a bump."

Hamilton revealed that he elected to hit the barriers head-on because he did not want to seriously damage the car.

"If you go in sideways you rip the whole side off. It is much easier just going in front ways and damaging the nose."

Following Rosberg's troubles, Hamilton thinks it vital Mercedes gets some decent mileage in the final two days of the Jerez test, especially because he has a positive feeling about the performance of the car.

"We have lots of tyres, we just need to make sure that we go out when it goes 9am tomorrow morning," he said. "Nico needs to be the first out and we need to try and get as many laps as possible. 110/120 laps a day that will be good."

He added: "I am quite happy with it [the car]. I think we have a good foundation and we can work on something.

"That [lap time] was an easy time to do. There is definitely more in it. But definitely I am pushing the aero guys as much as I can because I need aero for sure.

"Coming from a McLaren that was so competitive at the end of last year, it had incredible downforce, definitely you notice the difference. But it is nowhere near as bad as it could be."

Mark Webber believes Red Bull has made a more satisfying start to the 2013 Formula 1 campaign than it did to last year's title-winning season.

The Australian said the reliability of the RB9 was especially pleasing, having racked up 101 laps - the most of any driver – on the second day at Jerez.

After two days of testing last year, Webber's RB8 was the fastest of the new cars, although he was delayed by three hours on the first day waiting for new parts.

Asked if he was happier with his progress in 2013, Webber said: "I think we are. It was very good day for the team in terms of how we worked and our preparation.

"It was important to make the most of the conditions and we did that - we've pretty much done our programme and got all the information we needed to.

"This morning's programme was ambitious but we pretty much nailed it. Our long runs, getting more confident with components on the car, went well too.

"In the end I was surprised with the amount of kilometres we did, it's quite good.

"We certainly learned a lot more than yesterday, and we'll learn more again tomorrow when Sebastian takes over.

"In terms of consistency I was very happy with the last few days and myself. The car gives me the confidence to push, and we can certainly build from there in terms of development."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insists he barely even considered options elsewhere before extending his current contract with the Formula 1 champion team.

Horner signed a new multi-year deal to lead Red Bull in December, and it is understood that he is now committed to the outfit for up to five seasons.

In the past, Horner has been linked with a potential move to Ferrari, or a switch into a senior management role in F1 itself, but instead he says it was 'logical' for him to remain where he is for now.

When asked by AUTOSPORT how tempted he was by alternatives in grand prix racing, Horner said: "I joined Red Bull at the beginning and it was an absolutely logical thing to extend my relationship with the team.

"For me, stability is important and we have had that at the team for some time now. [Red Bull owner] Dietrich Mateschitz gave me the opportunity to move into Formula 1, and it was almost a formality to extend my relationship with Red Bull."

One of Horner's key tasks now that his own future is settled is to shore up a new contract with Sebastian Vettel.

This may well depend on securing a longer term deal for senior technical staff including Adrian Newey.

When asked what the contractual situation with Newey was, Horner said: "The last thing I am going to do is tell you the detail of contracts, but Adrian is on a multi-year agreement. As I say, continuity and stability are important."

Romain Grosjean believes the Lotus E21 is an improvement "in all areas" following his first two days of testing in the new car at Jerez.

The Frenchman topped the times comfortably on the second day of Formula 1 testing thanks to a series of short runs on the soft tyre in the afternoon.

Grosjean, who was also positive after the first day of pre-season running, told reporters in the Jerez paddock that the second day had confirmed his initial feelings.

"It's a little bit better in all areas," he said. "Generally speaking, after this day, we can say that the car is a good baseline.

"I was a bit cautious with what I said yesterday, but the feelings are better than last year.

"There is some more work that we are going to do on the car to improve some areas, but generally for a first try I am very happy with the car."

Grosjean will hand the Lotus over to team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for the second half of the test, and he said he is looking forward to hearing the former world champion's assessment of the car.

"We have some ideas for the future tests, and it will be good to have Kimi in the car to give us some feedback as well," he said.

"We can see if he feels the same as I do, and if he wants to go in the same direction as I do in terms of set-up."

Sergio Perez admitted that the step up to a top Formula 1 team lived up to his expectations, with the new McLaren MP4-28 impressing him immediately.

The former Sauber driver took over driving duties from team-mate Jenson Button for the second day of the Jerez test.

He completed 81 laps and ended with the seventh fastest time, 1.354 seconds off pacesetter Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

"Today was a great day. Since I drove it out of the garage and did the first laps, I knew that this car has good potential," he said when asked for his impressions on driving a McLaren for the first time.

"The feedback was good straight away and you definitely feel [the car's potential]. We don't know how competitive we are but all I can say is that the car feels good.

"We managed to do some good programmes, so hopefully we can keep doing the same in the next five days [of testing] and we will be in good shape ready for the start of the season."

The 23-year-old, who signed his deal to switch teams in September last year, was thrilled to have taken the wheel of a McLaren for the first time.

He added that the preparation work that he had done made it much easier to adapt to his new surroundings.

"Oh, a lot of excitement," he said when asked how he felt on his first run in the MP4-28.

"There has been a lot of simulator [work], a lot of preparation for this day.

"This is what you are looking for: to get into the car, to start working with the engineers, to debrief and start spending hours trying to improve yourself.

"Finally the day came and I am very happy."

Perez was surprised by how different the cockpit accommodation was in the McLaren compared to the Sauber.

The Mexican plans to make some small tweaks to the car, but overall was pleased with how well he fitted in.

"It's much more different than I expected just by sitting in a different seat," he added.

"It's so different that you have to adapt yourself to a different position, a different way to hold the steering wheel; pretty much everything is different. It's like starting from zero.

"I'm happier than I was expecting today. I still need to sort out some things to be a bit more comfortable but, even so, we managed to do an incredible day."

Pastor Maldonado insists that Williams will not be disadvantaged by delaying the debut of its 2013 Formula 1 car until the second pre-season test at Barcelona in two weeks.

The Venezuelan and new team-mate Valtteri Bottas are running last year's FW34 at this week's Jerez test, with the focus on understanding the 2013 Pirelli rubber.

But as well as the new tyres, the car also includes a number of 2013 development parts, most obviously the vanity panel fitted to shroud the step in the nose.

"We are confident with the new car," Maldonado told AUTOSPORT. "But we want to be even more confident.

"With the test we planned to do here, there is no better way to do it than with the other car because we have a lot of confidence in it, a lot of data to compare and we are going to be more clear [in understanding the tyres] with it.

"We are trying small parts in the car, different things and different settings to try and understand the components.

"It is very important to be here with the old car."

Maldonado, who claimed a shock victory in last year's Spanish Grand Prix, is certain that the new car will be an improvement on last year's machine.

The team believes that its 2012 car was good enough to finish fifth in the constructors' championship, three places higher than it ultimately did, and Maldonado expects even more from its successor.

"It's a step," said Maldonado. "We try to look at every single component, everything.

"But all the cars look very similar to last year because the rules are the same.

"It's a small improvement all round the car and we are quite confident that it will be very competitive this year, even better than the previous one."

Maldonado added that the team still has some way to go with understanding the tyres having run exclusively on the soft compound on Tuesday.

The team's Wednesday running has been limited because of a clutch problem that manifested itself during his first run.

Jean-Eric Verge says he has no concerns about his Toro Rosso job security if he does not make a good step forward in the 2013 Formula 1 season.

The Frenchman driver is well aware that the previous drivers at his team - Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari - were dropped without warning after Red Bull chiefs believed they had not delivered all that was expected of them.

But, ahead of a campaign where he is convinced he and Toro Rosso can make good progress, Vergne says he is calm about the future.

"I am not too worried about this," he said, when asked about Red Bull's potential impatience for its young drivers to make progress.

"I trust in myself to have the performance.

"I know when I have a good car, I can do something good. I showed it last year with the car we had, and we had some good races I would say.

"This year we definitely have a better car compared to last year's one. I am a better driver I believe, with more experience, and therefore these two combined will automatically give us better results."

Vergne and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will face increased pressure to do well, however, because rising Red Bull junior Antonio Felix da Costa is knocking on the door of a promotion to F1.

Although aware there is some hype surrounding the Portuguese driver, Vergne said he did not feel threatened by another youngster emerging as a candidate for Toro Rosso.

"I don't see any problems in this," he said. "It is the way Red Bull works. I have been in the same position too.

"Antonio is a good driver. If he keeps doing a good job he deserves a seat in F1 and, following the politics of Red Bull, if one of us, Daniel or myself, is good enough to be one day at Red Bull, then that will leave a free seat at Toro Rosso anyway.

"Everybody has to deserve a seat – whether in F1, whether in the best F1 team to be world champion. You always have to perform.

"In any case, I am not here to just be in F1, just to garnish the driver platform. I have some objectives and I want to succeed. The pressure is only on me from me."

Caterham insists it is not concerned by suggestions it may need to change its exhaust layout before the start of the 2013 Formula 1 season.

Lotus technical director James Allison told reporters on the opening day of Jerez testing that the design of the Caterham exhaust could be illegal.

When asked for his comments on rival machinery, he said: "I have barely looked at anyone else's car, but I saw a detail on the Caterham's exhaust that I am not sure will survive until Melbourne..."

It is understood that the matter relates to a small piece of bodywork at the exit of the Caterham exhaust, which directs the airflow towards the floor.

Article 5.8.4 of F1's technical regulations states that no bodywork can be situated within a specified 'truncated' cone area, specified in detail below.

Caterham team principal Cyril Abiteboul believes that the piece of bodywork in question does lay outside of that restricted area, although he expects the matter to be subject to some discussion with the FIA and other teams.

"My understanding is that it is within the regulations," he told AUTOSPORT. "We tested it last year and nobody made any remark about it [then].

"We are quite flattered that James Allison is paying attention to what is happening at our exhausts. There are different ways of looking at it, and definitely we are outside of the cone."

Abiteboul said that Caterham would ensure it complied fully with the regulations, and that part of testing involved trialling new solutions on the cars that may not make it to the first race.

"The purpose of testing is to test and to understand what is happening. One of the areas that everybody is looking at is to understand how the exhaust effect is working, and where it is going.

"Therefore anything that helps you better measure that is welcome, at least for the tests. We will see whatever clarification is made before the first race."

What article 5.8.4 says:

5.8.4 Once the exhaust tailpipes, the bodywork required by Article 3.8.4 and any apertures permitted by Article 3.8.5 have been fully defined there must be no bodywork lying within a right circular truncated cone which:

a) Shares a common axis with that of the last 100mm of the tailpipe.

b) Has a forward diameter equal to that of each exhaust exit.

c) Starts at the exit of the tailpipe and extends rearwards as far as the rear wheel centre line.

d) Has a half-cone angle of 3° such that the cone has its larger diameter at the rear wheel centre line.

Furthermore, there must be a view from above, the side, or any intermediate angle perpendicular to the car centre line, from which the truncated cone is not obscured by any bodywork lying more than 50mm forward of the rear wheel centre line.

Luiz Razia insists Marussia will not be penalised for signing him and fellow rookie Max Chilton for the 2013 Formula 1 season.

Marussia dropped the experienced Timo Glock shortly before the start of testing for financial reasons.

It will begin the year as the only team with two F1 novices in its cockpits.

The Brazilian acknowledged that he and Chilton faced a tough task, but did not think Marussia would suffer for its choice.

"I would say we are going to have some tough times but no problems," he told reporters at Jerez.

"For the team, it was a tough decision.

"I think we just need to get there together and work through all the difficulties we have and eventually we'll come up with good stuff.

"There are some circuits we don't know and a lot of stuff is new to us so we need to get into the rhythm.

"GP2 drivers get into the rhythm quite quickly."

Razia is determined to prove that he is worthy of an F1 place, but admits the last-minute nature of his deal could be an initial handicap.

"I've been pushing all my life to this point and eventually I got the opportunity," he said.

"It's a great opportunity to show and to prove - to me before anybody else - that I belong in this place.

"First of all I need to work hard because it's quite late that I got into the team.

"I need to catch up with everybody and move through all the things I can do in the car."

Formula 1 teams are pushing for an early test of the 2014 V6 turbo engines, amid fears just three pre-season tests next year may not be enough.

Under F1's current test restrictions, the new engines will not be able to run in cars until next February - which means there would be just a few weeks to sort out any reliability gremlins before the first race of the season.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said: "There is some useful discussion going on about the challenge we all face with the 2014 engines.

"You can imagine from an engine supplier's point of view, starting in February with a new engine with a race in March, in our case supplying three teams, is a pretty big challenge.

"We are looking at ways we can ease that, but it is too early to say what solutions we can find.

"I think everyone is sympathetic to the need to see if there is a better solution, perhaps for the beginning of 2014 only.

"I don't anticipate any testing of engines this year but perhaps the 2014 test programme can be anticipated by some degree to help the engine suppliers cope with a pretty massive challenge."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his outfit would be open to an early test. He reckons it would make financial sense to head off any issues promptly.

"I think in many respects it would make sense, but then again it is not something [Red Bull supplier] Renault is crying out for," Horner said.

"There are obviously associated costs with that [test] but ultimately it is probably a good investment in terms of knowing the engines are reliable by the time you get to the first race."

Lotus technical director James Allison is confident, however, that if no extra test is arranged then there will be enough time to get cars and power units reliable for the first race.

"From the reliability point of view, can you be ready in three tests? Yes," he said.

"Dynos are quite good at telling you whether the engine is reliable, and they are quite good at making gearboxes reliable - and that is the majority of the drivetrain.

"The only open point would be whether you are going to produce a car that has enough cooling. That is a fair challenge in 2014.

"But windtunnels are not bad either, so most of the things that would be necessary to put the car on the ground and make it work are there, and the testing would be about getting performance."

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is to meet a number of team bosses on Thursday to make progress in securing the future of the sport.

With the teams, Ecclestone and the FIA still having not signed a Concorde Agreement, and concerns about future costs ahead of the switch to new engine regulations in 2014, there is a new push to shore up a common way forward.

After Ecclestone met team representatives from Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes at Mercedes to discuss matters last month, he is now meeting the other outfits in London.

It is understood that among the items being discussed are the situation regarding the Concorde Agreement, future engine regulations, the non-payment by some teams of entry fees, and customer cars.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh reckoned that getting a Concorde Agreement in place would be important for getting the sport's stakeholders moving forward in the same direction.

"We're good at creating crisis in our sport and we're good at not sorting many things out," he said during a visit to Jerez this week.

"We need people at the moment - or someone needs to come out and say – "peace in our time", wave a bit of paper and there's a new Concorde Agreement. We need to have that, but I'm not sure everyone is motivated to do it."

There have been mounting concerns in recent weeks that the collapse of HRT, the failure of Ecclestone to find a 20th race and the growing number of pay drivers in the sport is a sign that the sport is heading towards serious financial trouble.

When asked for his view on the situation, Whitmarsh said: "I think it's going to be tough for some of the teams to have a viable business model for a few years; there's no doubt about that.

"For me personally, that it's sad that there are many pay drivers in Formula 1.

"The numbers have crept up and I'm sure it's good and exciting for those who can afford it, but you would hope that in the premier form of motor racing world wide, you wouldn't have to have pay drivers."

Robert Kubica believes he still has a long way to go in his recovery from the injuries he sustained in a rally crash in 2011.

The Pole returned to the cockpit of a racing car last week, as he sampled a DTM Mercedes at Valencia.

Previously, his return had been focused around rally cars, which included competing in some regional events in 2012.

"I have big injuries, so there is still a long way to go for my health and my body," Kubica told the DTM's online TV channel.

"But yeah, slowly it is getting better. Of course, it has needed time.

"This test was just to get a feeling of the car and see how it looks and how it is to drive a DTM car.

"Overall I feel comfortable in the car which is good. That is always important, especially if you only have a short time to adapt."

New Mercedes-Benz motorsport chief Toto Wolff said that Kubica was testing a DTM car because the condition of his right arm still does not allow him to drive a single seater.

The 28-year-old said that he can still only drive cars with more cockpit space, and that could lead to him joining the series in the future.

"If I have enough room in the car - and in the DTM car I do – then there is no big limitation for my arm," he added.

"So we will see. For sure, the DTM can be an option for me."

[Lineker]

Quote
Felipe Massa's morning benchmark was enough to ensure Ferrari ended on top on a day when reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel got his first taste of Red Bull's RB9.

The Brazilian set the fastest time seen so far this week at Jerez when he broke the 1m18s barrier during a short run on soft tyres.

His 1m17.879s wasn't threatened in the afternoon, with only Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes W04 able to get within one second of the time.

Three different cars - McLaren, Lotus and now Ferrari - have topped the opening three days.

Rosberg provided a welcome relief to the setbacks Mercedes had suffered on days one and two by racking up 148 laps, comfortably the most of any driver.

The German had been forced to cut short his day one programme due to electrical issues, while a rear-brake issue caused Hamilton's debut test for Mercedes to end early and in the barriers.

Vettel also broke into triple figures in the lap count, while an afternoon improvement was enough to send him into third overall.

Kimi Raikkonen, like Vettel getting his first taste of his team's 2013 car, improved in the afternoon session and finished just over one tenth of a second down on the triple world champion.

On his first day in the Toro Rosso STR8, Jean-Eric Vergne finished fifth, just ahead of Force India's simulator driver James Rossiter.

Rossiter managed 42 laps in the morning before handing over to Paul di Resta, whose programme was then derailed after just seven laps due to an exhaust issue.

Jenson Button, who brought about a premature end to the day when he stopped out on track between Turns 7 and 8, was seventh ahead of Sauber's new signing and F1 rookie Esteban Gutierrez.

The Mexican was the day's second busiest driver with 110 laps.

Several late improvements helped carry Max Chilton into ninth, above Williams's new signing Valtteri Bottas and Caterham's Charles Pic.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
 1.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari         1m17.879s           85
 2.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes        1m18.766s  +0.887   148
 3.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull        1m19.052s  +1.173   102
 4.  Kimi Raikkonen      Lotus           1m19.200s  +1.321   40
 5.  Jean-Eric Vergne    Toro Rosso      1m19.247s  +1.368   85
 6.  James Rossiter      Force India     1m19.303s  +1.424   42
 7.  Jenson Button       McLaren         1m19.603s  +1.724   83
 8.  Esteban Gutierrez   Sauber          1m19.934s  +2.055   110
 9.  Max Chilton         Marussia        1m21.269s  +3.390   78
10.  Valtteri  Bottas    Williams        1m21.575s  +3.696   86
11.  Charles Pic         Caterham        1m22.352s  +4.473   57
12.  Paul di Resta       Force India     1m23.729s  +5.850   7

All Timing Unofficial

Quote
Red Bull thinks it unlikely that a single Formula 1 team will dominate this season, as it expects a repeat of last year's fluctuating form.

After a 2012 campaign when Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus and Ferrari enjoyed periods of pacesetting speed, early testing form is already pointing towards a similarly close battle at the front of the field.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes that there will be a repeat situation in 2013, with the form book being shuffled around at different tracks.

"I think it will be a case of different circuits suiting different cars," explained Horner. "Last year the significant blown diffuser change had a large impact on our early season performance.

"As a team we optimised our performances where our car was sub-optimal, focussed on developing the car and, when we got the opportunity, we grabbed it with both hands and delivered when it mattered.

"I think this season coming will be another where it will to and fro; there are four or five teams capable of winning and it will be down to teams and drivers to do the most consistent job from race one to 19.

"On days you can't win, the third, fourth, and fifth places become so important. You have to make sure you get the maximum possible from each weekend."

Red Bull is chasing a fourth consecutive world championship double this season, and Horner says there is no sense of his outfit nor Sebastian Vettel getting complacent about what it will take to continue the streak.

"The last three years have been phenomenal," he said. "To win six world championships within three years is something quite remarkable.

"There's only three other teams to have won three consecutive constructors' titles in Formula 1 history, so we're extremely motivated to try and retain both those titles. And we'll do our best to try and achieve that.

"But we'd be foolish to sit here and underestimate the calibre of our opponents, both drivers and teams. Both 2010 and last year went down to the wire, and I'm sure this year will be a very close and tough season."




Quote
Sebastian Vettel felt the new Red Bull was a step forward after his first Formula 1 test of the season at Jerez on Thursday, but warned against 'getting excited' about any team's performance at this stage.

The reigning world champion was third quickest as he took over the RB9 from team-mate Mark Webber.

"I think the car's working very well. Obviously it's difficult to judge the speed, but it terms of reliability it was good and I feel pretty happy with the car so far," said Vettel.

"It's always nice to be on top but if there's one phase when it matters least, it's now.

"It's good for us now to do a lot of laps and to see whether the car's working.

"It's an evolution and I think we've done another step forward, but that's all we can say now."

He said the use of Jerez also made the times misleading. Pirelli earlier suggested that the Spanish track should be dropped from the F1 test rota unless it was resurfaced.

"It's impossible to give a judgement right now because I think people were playing with the fuel loads today," Vettel said.

"Plus it's the first test and it's Jerez, where the tyre degradation is quite big and tyres play a massive role. There are too many variables.

"Today it was nice to be back in the car and not much more than that. We shouldn't get excited in any way.

"Now is the time to do our homework. Maybe it's not the most exciting part of the season, but I had fun today, so it's not that boring."



Quote
Felipe Massa insists Jenson Button's fastest time from Tuesday at Jerez remains very impressive, despite the Ferrari driver beating it on Thursday.

Massa described Button's Tuesday performance as'incredible', but the Brazilian was the first and only man to lap in the 1m17s this week on the third day of testing.

Although Massa lapped over a second quicker than Button had, the Ferrari driver believes that given the track conditions on Tuesday and the fact that Button set his time using the hard tyres, the McLaren's pace was still a benchmark.

"I still believe his lap was incredible," said Massa of Button's effort after the third day of testing.

"On the hard tyres on the first day on the dirty track and everything, it really was a quick lap. I didn't have the car to do this lap time on the first day.

"I didn't even try to work for the laptime, but I think it was impressive.

"I think many people are thinking the same about me now, but I think we just improved the car on these days. I think it was a good lap I did, but we can't say what we're going to have at the beginning of the championship.

"I have my feet 100 per cent on the ground."

Although Massa admitted that the first days of work with the F138 had been positive, he refused to believe that Thursday's fastest time meant much.

"It's going in the direction I was hoping but the races are where it counts," he said. "In the tests I don't think it counts so much.

"It's always nice but it doesn't count so much. I think our feet are on the ground and we need to work 100 per cent to improve the car for the first race."



Quote
Lotus has everything it needs to be fighting at the front of the field in Formula 1 this year, reckons its technical director James Allison.

Ahead of a season where the Enstone-based outfit has set its sights on breaking into the top three in the championship, Allison believes that the infrastructure at his team is well placed to deliver just that.

Having undergone the growing pains of a windtunnel upgrade in 2011, plus a more recent ramp up of its CFD and simulator facilities at its factory, Lotus' recent investment appears to have paid off with its new E21 impressing in early testing.

When asked by AUTOSPORT about the improvements he has witnessed in the facilities back at base, Allison said: "I think across the board it is a team that is technically in good shape.

"It is stuffed full of people who know their business, with a lot of experience in the key posts. It is also a team with a lot of young women and men, who are two or three years out of university but very talented and extremely dedicated.

"We have got a lot of nice and good people. We have pretty much the full tool set that a team needs to be competitive, and there is no reason why this team should not compete at the front."

Romain Grosjean delivered the fastest time at Jerez on Wednesday after completing two days in the new Lotus, while Kimi Raikkonen has taken over for the final two days.



Quote
Kimi Raikkonen believes Lotus is already in better shape than it was last year after completing his first day of running in the new E21.

The Finn was only able to complete 40 laps at Jerez on Thursday, after problems with his seating position and other minor electronic niggles restricted his time in the car.

Yet he said he had seen enough to be convinced about the step forward his team had taken.

"It feels better than last year at this time," said Raikkonen, when asked by AUTOSPORT for his general feelings on the new Lotus.

"I think we have a good car, but how good it is this year we will only see it during the races and during the season. But it is not a bad start."

Team-mate Romain Grosjean had been positive about the good feeling from the car in all areas, but Raikkonen felt that he had not yet explored its full potential.

"The changes are not massive but it feels better," he said. "We are missing some parts but there is no bad point on it. It is a normal first day.

"We did one change and used only the hard tyres.

"We still don't have all the parts that we will run in the races and we had last year, so it only can get better. It is not too bad."

Raikkonen says work undertaken on his seat position over Thursday, which included revising the location of his seatbelts, had improved matters considerably, and should allow him to get on with a full programme on the final day.

"We did some work on the seat, like is normal for the first test," he said.

"You make the seat at the factory and then it feels OK, but you can only tell when you drive. It is OK now for tomorrow and we can start the day properly."




Quote
Nico Rosberg insists that Mercedes does not need to be battling for the world championship this year to judge its 2013 season a success.

Amid an increased focus on the team following the capture of Lewis Hamilton and a major management overhaul, Mercedes is under no illusions about how important this season will be.

But on the back of a difficult start to its pre-season testing programme at Jerez this week - with Rosberg having been stopped with an electrical problem and Hamilton crashing out – Mercedes has found out the hard way just how much work is needed.

Rosberg, however, thinks it vital that expectations are not raised too high, and he believes season-long consistency will be just as important as a few headline-grabbing performances.

"Improvement can be in being more consistent through the year, not like last year where we started okay and completely fell off," said Rosberg, referring to a 2012 campaign that started with the outfit fighting for wins but ending it struggling to score points.

"An improvement could also be a very okay car through the whole season, with a win or two, or something.

"But what we need is progress. We need to move forward and we need to go through this season thinking, 'okay we are on the right track to become the best'."

Rosberg returned to action for Mercedes at Jerez on Thursday, hoping for better luck after the troubles the team has encountered with its W04 so far.



Quote
Mercedes has recovered from its difficult start to the Jerez Formula 1 test thanks to a successful third day of running, according to Nico Rosberg.

The German completed 148 laps on Thursday and ended up second fastest behind Felipe Massa.

This followed two days during which Mercedes managed just 29 laps after Rosberg was sidelined by an electrical problem on Tuesday and Lewis Hamilton crashed on Wednesday following a rear braking problem.

"Today was good and made up for a lot of the loss that we had in the last two days because we got through everything and more today," said Rosberg.

"I'm sure it's going to be the same again tomorrow [when Hamilton takes over], so that will really kickstart our programme.

"It was really consistent and we got everything done that we have on the plan early. We ran out of ideas because you are limited with the tyres and in the end we were doing pitstops and things like that.

"It all worked out well with no problems whatsoever."

Rosberg added that he considers the car to be fundamentally reliable despite the issues that afflicted Mercedes on the first two days at Jerez.

He believes that the loss of track time to what he considered relatively minor problems was largely down to bad luck.

"We have just been unfortunate over the last few days, there have been problems that could very easily have been avoided but they have also been so difficult to fix.

"That is unusual with relatively small problems.

"Today, we showed that we have a very reliable car. Nothing at all went wrong today on the car, not the slightest thing.

Rosberg was positive about the handling characteristics of the car even though the team still has work to do to find a good balance.

"From lap one with this car, I feel comfortable.

"OK, there is still understeer and there's not great balance yet and there's still some optimising to do.

"But I can push straight away, feel very comfortable and I feel what's going on and that's very nice."



Quote
Nico Hulkenberg expects Sauber to be in the competitive mix this season after describing the laptimes as being "like qualifying" at times during testing.

The Sauber newcomer was fifth fastest yesterday and was agreed that the new C32 is a "fast car".

"At one point I was looking at the timing monitor and it looked like qualifying, it [the laptimes] were separated by only a few hundredths so we should happy with the two days," said Hulkenberg.

"The car performed reasonably well. It's something we can build on, so I think it's a good baseline.

"It needs further development. We know in Formula 1 you cannot stop."

Hulkenberg added that after two days of driving, he is now more comfortable in the Sauber.

He insists that he is not having major problems with accommodation in the cockpit despite being significantly taller than his predecessors at Sauber.

"I've got a bit more comfortable with the car," he said. "The first two days in the office, obviously quite a few things and items to get used to.

"My main priority was to come here to make sure I'm comfortable in the car,seating-wise, comfort-wise and obviously with the steering wheel.

"We've made some little tweaks and modifications so we're going the right way."

Team-mate Esteban Gutierrez has taken over the Sauber for the final two days of the Jerez test.



Quote
A Force India mechanic escaped serious injury after being hit by test driver James Rossiter at Jerez on Thursday morning.

Rossiter missed his braking point when returning to the pits following an installation lap on the third morning of pre-season testing in Spain.

After failing to stop in time in front of the garage, he clouted the mechanic who was holding the front jack, throwing him into the air.

The mechanic was taken for medical checks, but a team spokesman confirmed to AUTOSPORT that he has been given the all clear, but was bruised and shaken.

Rossiter was able to resume testing and is pencilled in to run all morning, before handing the car back to Paul di Resta for the afternoon session.



Quote
James Rossiter believes that Force India's simulator programme will be hugely boosted by the testing he did at Jerez in Spain this week.

The Briton drove two half days for the Silverstone-based team in the first pre-season test, as the outfit wanted to give him a better understanding of how a contemporary machine compares to the simulator.

When asked by AUTOSPORT how valuable he felt the running had been, Rossiter said: "Massively. I think with all the guys who I work with, and the vehicle dynamic guys who work on the simulators, it has been very, very important.

"It is so important to get it right with the tyres early on in the season. Then we can really try and help with the early season upgrades and the direction we need to take it in to exploit its full potential."

Rossiter tried out different tyre compounds during his running, and believed the fact that he was able to set competitive times showed how beneficial simulators could be.

The only drama of the two days was when he misjudged his braking into the pits on Thursday morning, knocking down one of his mechanics.

"It was totally my fault," said Rossiter. "We were doing some aero runs and everything was cold. The brakes were too cold, the tyres were too cold and I came in too fast.

"Thank god Marcus is okay. He has got a few bruises and I am sure I will be buying him many beers and he won't be forgetting it soon.

"There are no reset buttons in real life like there is in the simulator - and there are no mechanics standing in front of the car in the simulator either! It was quite unfortunate but luckily he is okay."



Quote
Daniel Ricciardo is confident he can play a far greater role in Toro Rosso's development efforts in the 2013 Formula 1 campaign.

The Australian said the experience he accrued last year with the team was already having an impact after just two days of testing, and that he was able to provide much more of a guide to the team's engineers.

Ricciardo will be partnered by Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne for the second year in a row.

In contrast to last year, when Ricciardo admits he was guided by the team, he expects to be able to have more influence in determining what it focuses on across the rest of the year.

"Even now, just in testing, in terms of feedback with the engineers we can definitely guide each other better [than last year]," he told reporters at Jerez.

"That's just simply down to experience.

"Last year I guess we relied more on them form their past experience to tell us what to do, but I can see already we are having much more of an input.

"They are listening to us because we have matured and we know what we are talking about - or we think we know what we are talking about!"

Ricciardo said he was also more secure in his driving after his first full season last year.

"OK I've always been confident in the car, but personally I have a lot of confidence coming into this year.

"I had some races last year which built that for me, I believe in myself 100 per cent and without talking myself up I believe in what I am capable of doing."



Quote
Charles Pic believes that Caterham's Renault engine and KERS is its biggest advantage over rival team Marussia.

The Frenchman has switched from Marussia to Caterham this year, giving him a direct comparison of the two teams that fought over 10th place in the constructors' championship last year.

When asked how the Caterham CT03 compared to the Marussia he raced last year, Pic told reporters at Jerez: "The biggest difference is coming from the engine side and the KERS.

"Last year [at Marussia] we didn't have KERS, and yeah, it's quite different. It's a new part, but it's quite fun.

"You have to learn how to use it and where you decide to recover the energy, because it gives you extra rear braking which can cause [wheel] locking which disturbs the balance."

Pic added that he did not want to focus on comparisons between the two back-of-the-grid teams.

"I had a great year with Marussia and I'm very happy to be in Caterham for now and the future," he said. "I don't want to compare them.

"What was different was the engine and the KERS, of course. After that, I think they are two young teams who are working hard to progress.

"Of course there are some differences. We will see in Australia who is the best."



Quote
Formula 1 teams may need to consider an alternative venue to Jerez for pre-season tyre testing next year unless the Spanish venue undergoes a track resurface, according to Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

Hembery claims that this week's first action at Jerez has been compromised by the surface being too rough to allow proper evaluation of tyres.

"The track is rather abrasive - and is substantially worse than last year," said Hembery, when asked by AUTOSPORT for his feelings on what had been learned this week.

"We have seen quite a lot of shredding of tyres, and there seems to be a lack of bitumen in the track, so we are looking at a very open surface.

"It has meant that what was historically an interesting track from our point of view for doing tyre compound work has proven to be probably dominated by that effect, so we have not seen the differences between the compounds that we would have liked.

"We have still seen peak performances of half a second between different levels, and the hard tyre has been working quite well considering those conditions to get through their work, but there has been this stripping action across the top of the tyres."

When asked if the track was now too rough for useful tyre work, he said: "Certainly for tyre evaluations, yes. It is a shame because the weather conditions are not too bad.

"You struggle to get anywhere above 20 degrees in Europe in February, so it is slightly disappointing from that point of view.

"But it is quite a big evolution from last year; it is so far away from anything else you are going to see in terms of macro."

Force India's Paul di Resta said earlier this week that his outfit has been taken aback by the track data report it had been given ahead of the test.

"Jerez is quite difficult, and demanding on tyres," he said. "When we saw the Pirelli report this morning we were quite surprised to see how much the track has roughed up over the last year."

[Katsuya]

I'm loving the combined outrage of the drivers over the fact Heikki's not on the grid this year.

[Katsuya]

Bloody hell. Gary Anderson's got an article up that effectively works out the way all the cars shake out and the times through fuel loads at Jerez. Comes out as:

1. Perez 1:17.315, 2. Massa* 1:17.536, 3. Rosberg* 1:17.566, 4. Button 1:17.857, 5. Grosjean 1:17.961, 6. Raikkonen 1:17.977, 7. Bianchi 1:18.004, 8. Vettel 1:18.045, 9. Vergne* 1:18.160, 10. Gutierrez 1:18.465, 11. Hamilton 1:18.476, 12. Di Resta 1:18.562, 13. Ricciardo 1:18.877, 14. Webber 1:18.953, 15. Rossiter 18.966, 16. Hulkenberg 1:19.331, 17. Bottas 1:19.508, 18. De La Rosa* 1:19.887, 19. Maldonado 1:20.350, 20. Van Der Garde* 1:20.882, 21. Pic* 1:20.934, 22. Chilton 1:21.012, 23. Razia 1:21.226

* = no lap time that constitutes a high fuel load

Effectively it means it's McLaren > Ferrari > Lotus, with the Mercedes and RBR's struggling a bit.

[Lineker]

A lot can and will change before Melbourne and then again even more so when the European season starts. But yeah, Gary Anderson is probably the best F1 pundit/analyst around nowadays. His contributions to the BBC live pages for the Jerez test were great, particularly when he explained all the different new parts.

Ted Kravitz's notebook was good too, he did something similar.

Kimi Raikkonen topped the final day of Formula 1's first pre-season test of 2013 at Jerez.

The Finn set the best time of the day on a short run with the soft tyre during the afternoon running, which was extended by 30 minutes to make up for a delay caused by track repairs around lunchtime.

Raikkonen had attacked the run from the moment he left the pits, choosing to force a way past the Caterham of Charles Pic on his out lap rather than back off to get clear track.

After the short, but clearly committed run, the 2007 world champion switched back to longer runs.

Raikkonen's lap was just enough to prevent Force India hopeful Jules Bianchi from leading the way as he bids to earn a promotion to a race seat with the Silverstone-based team.

Bianchi's lap, which came just after the track re-opened following the long stoppage in the middle of the day, also came on soft tyres.

The Ferrari junior had no chance to respond to Raikkonen's lap, as he handed the Force India back to lead driver Paul di Resta for the final two hours.

World champion Sebastian Vettel was third fastest for Red Bull on a day where he focused on long runs with the medium and hard tyres.

Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez managed to go fourth with a short run, but he spent most of his afternoon getting used to how the Pirelli tyres behave on longer stints.

A series of short runs on the soft tyre helped Jean-Eric Vergne move up to fifth late in the day, moving him ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The Briton had a much better second day with his new team, making up for his lack of running on Wednesday due to a crash by logging the most laps of anyone.

New Ferrari development driver Pedro de la Rosa got back out in the afternoon after a gearbox problem stopped the F138 in the morning. The Spaniard completed 50 laps.

TODAY'S TIMES

Pos Driver Team Time Laps

1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m18.148s 83

2. Jules Bianchi Force India 1m18.175s + 0.027 56

3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m18.565s + 0.417 96

4. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1m18.669s + 0.521 142

5. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m18.760s + 0.612 92

6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m18.905s + 0.757 145

7. Sergio Perez McLaren 1m18.944s + 0.796 98

8. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m19.851s + 1.703 92

9. Pedro de la Rosa Ferrari 1m20.316s + 2.168 51

10. Charles Pic Caterham 1m21.105s + 2.957 109

11. Luiz Razia Marussia 1m21.226s + 3.078 82

12. Paul di Resta Force India 1m23.435s + 5.287 49

[MJB]

That post is almost as good as my attempt at SmackDown a week or so ago

Editor giving you some problems, Lineker?

[Lineker]

Yes, over and over again