The Formula One car’s and drivers are at Jerez in Spain this week for a four-day test starting today, and Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time. The only team that were absent on day one of testing were the Force India crew.
He was more than three-tenths faster than the McLaren test driver Gary Paffett with the Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer in third.
Most of the teams seemed to be running with their test drivers on the opening day of testing and the Williams were no exception as their driver Nico Hulkenberg was in fourth.
The two Renault test drivers, Sebastien Buemi and Roman Grosjean were both out on track with Buemi in the Red Bull in fifth place and Grosjean in sixth.
More problems occurred for the Red Bull team today with their new KERS system. KERS stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery System. The system enables the regeneration and storage of braking energy which is then used as an extra source of power under acceleration to complement the output of the V8 engine.
Last week the local fire department were called to the team’s headquarters when they were testing the system, and were surrounded by smoke and fumes.
Today, Christian Klien was at the wheel of a modified 2007 BMW Sauber fitted with an early KERS system, and after three laps returned to the pits. The mechanic that pushed the car back into the garage, was thrown to the ground after receiving a shock from the car.
A statement was issued to say that the he had to visit the medical centre but suffered only slight injuries to his hand and a graze to his arm. A spokesman added,
“Because the team is still investigating the incident, the car did not run in the afternoon.”
Jarno Trulli in the Toyota was testing the new Bridgestone slick tyres in preparation for the 2009 season. He was also running with a low downforce package. Timo Glock will be test driving on Thursday after being given the all clear after his dramatic crash on Sunday.
1 comment so far
1 Boy George // Jul 22, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Were Red Bull the only team testing the KERS system setup. I still really don’t get how thats works. It’s going to be interesting to see how this new technology changes things up.