All eyes were on the new Red Bull RB6 when testing got underway at the Circuit Jerez de la Frontera on Wednesday, as last year's title challenger finally got its 2010 campaign underway, but a mix of gremlins and inclement weather meant that little could be gleaned from the car's first run.
Mark Webber was given the honour of taking chassis RB6-01 out for its maiden run, following its official unveiling in the Jerez pit-lane earlier in the morning, but, despite completing 50 laps and setting a best time of 1min 26.502secs, the Australian ended the day nearly six seconds off the pace after rain arrived before he could really get into the groove.
Despite the track remaining wet from around 10am, however, the team made good progress during the morning, as Webber began working through the new car system checks. The only major glitch came when Webber slowed to a halt on track just before the lunch break, the result of an oil leak that led to a precautionary engine change for the afternoon.
“It was great to finally see the car in action after a long winter with no testing,” head of race engineering Ian Morgan noted, “Everything ran very smoothly this morning and the build of the car was very structured.
"It's frustrating that a problem with a simple component late in the morning forced an engine change later in the day, as it cost us quite a lot of time. However, the most disappointing thing today was the weather – it's good to have a test in the wet, but it's not ideal when it's your first. We're hoping for better conditions tomorrow when we will continue working through the new car system checks.”
Webber is due to continue testing on day two, before handing over to team-mate Sebastian Vettel on Friday.
Source: Crash.net
No comments:
Post a Comment