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Staff wrote:">Spain F1 in-season test: Circuit de Catalunya F1 test - Driver line-up

Full Circuit de Catalunya testing line-up (May 12-13):

Mercedes: Nico Rosberg (Tuesday), Pascal Wehrlein (Wednesday)
Red Bull: Daniil Kvyat (Tuesday), Pierre Gasly (Wednesday)
Williams: Felipe Massa (Tuesday), Alex Lynn (Wednesday)
Ferrari: Raffaele Marciello (Tuesday), Esteban Gutierrez (Wednesday)
McLaren: Oliver Turvey (Tuesday), Jenson Button (Wednesday)
Force India: Nick Yelloly (Tuesday), Esteban Ocon (Wednesday)
Lotus: Pastor Maldonado (Tuesday), Jolyon Palmer (Wednesday)
Sauber: Marcus Ericsson (Tuesday), Raffaele Marciello (Wednesday)
Toro Rosso: Pierre Gasly (Tuesday), Carlos Sainz (Wednesday)
Manor: Not participating

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Staff wrote:">Spain F1 in-season test: Turvey impressed with McLaren-Honda potential

Oliver Turvey is encouraged by the potential of the McLaren-Honda MP4-30 after getting his first run in the car during in-season F1 testing

Oliver Turvey feels McLaren-Honda is heading in a 'good direction' after getting his first taste of the MP4-30 during in-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The Englishman, who has enjoyed a six-year association with the McLaren marque and is now driving for Honda in the Super GT series, was called up to drive the MP4-30 in Spain for a day as an opportunity to compare it to the simulator work he has done back at the factory.

Though his day was interrupted by sensor issues in the morning and a lengthy period to change settings on the car, he says he is encouraged by the progress shown from the car during his time in it.

“This new direction I feel is a good direction,” he said. “I think it makes the car more driveable and I think long-term it is a good direction. These concepts take time to develop and I am sure there is more potential in this package.

“It is exciting, for me as a test driver to be working with these engineers because there are quite a few engineers joining the team and new ideas and at the minute there is a lot of excitement and things to try. It has been an exciting year from a development point of view, so I think it has potential for the future.”

Jenson Button will take over the car on the second and final day of the test.

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Staff wrote:">Spain F1 in-season test: Dominant Rosberg goes fast and long in testing

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg completes 146 trouble-free laps and goes quicker than his pole winning lap during the Spanish Grand Prix.

Following his peerless performance in the Spanish Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg ensured his name remained perched at the top of the timesheets as he impressed during testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

A productive, trouble-free day for the title contender, Rosberg notched up 146 laps – more than two race distances – and stopped the clock with a best time of 1min 24.374secs.

Set during Mercedes' two-hour Pirelli tyre test, Rosberg's effort was also four tenths quicker than his pole position winning lap from the Spanish Grand Prix weekend. With an eye on working towards set-up for the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix, Rosberg was pleased with the progress made.

“The track was a bit quicker,” he said. “I did a lot of laps, learned a lot of things and I am a bit tired now, but it was a good day.

“We did a whole lot of different things, for example working for the Monaco race because the last corners here are good testing for Monaco because they are tight corners. That was useful, you just do a really soft car and it all went well.

“We are trying others things for the rest of the season and it was a great test day. It was my only test day of the whole year so it is a very important day.

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Staff wrote:">Spain F1 in-season test: Palmer puts Lotus fastest in F1 testing

Jolyon Palmer gets a go on the super-soft tyres as he powers to the fastest time for Lotus during the second day of F1 testing in Spain.

Jolyon Palmer has ended the second and final day of F1 testing around the Circuit de Catalunya atop the timesheets after a last gasp super-soft tyre run.

Following on from his three FP1 runs in China, Bahrain and Spain, Palmer returned to the cockpit to continue work on developing the E23 around the Spanish venue, completing more than 80 laps in the car.

As a reward for his efforts, Lotus was the only team to bolt on a new set of super-soft Pirelli tyres in the closing stages, the defending GP2 Series champion duly taking full advantage as he punched in a 1min 26.080secs lap in the final half-hour of the session. He looked on course to go even faster in the closing stages, only to come across the slower McLaren in the final sector.

Regardless, his time was enough to unseat Pascal Wehrlein from first position, the Mercedes test driver having been perched at the head of the timesheets for almost the entire day despite battling the remnants of an energy-sapping illness. Despite this, the DTM driver still put in the most work of anyone, completing 138 laps.

Despite failing to set a time in the morning and stopping briefly in the afternoon, Pierre Gasly progressed up the order in the afternoon having swapped yesterday's Toro Rosso for the Red Bull today, getting a further 75 laps under his belt.

The Frenchman was six-tenths down on the top spot, having clocked 1m 26.683s, but pushed ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, the Englishman returning to action just days after declaring the MP4-30 as 'scary to drive' during the Spanish Grand Prix. Completing almost 100 laps, the former champion - who clocked 1m 26.927s - nonetheless pronounced himself as much happier with the car following the two days, saying it had made good progress in that time.

Getting his first taste of Williams machinery since signing as its development driver, Alex Lynn completed 52 laps and finished more than an hour early as he shifted through the team's workload. The GP2 racewinner finished ahead of GP3 equivalent Esteban Ocon, who steadily chipped away at his times in his first test for Force India before settling at 1m 27.520s.

In his first outing in an F1 car since his last race for Sauber at the end of the 2014 season, Esteban Gutierrez put in the miles for Ferrari by completing 116 laps, while Carlos Sainz shrugged off a brief stop in the afternoon to put a substantial 125 laps on the Toro Rosso.

The only driver to bring out the red flags over the two days because of a crash, Raffaele Marciello – in the Sauber today after spending Tuesday with Ferrari - hit the barriers at turn three early on in the day, but recovered to complete 75 laps in total.

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Staff wrote:">Barcelona - F1 test times [Tuesday Final]

Full testing times from the first in-season F1 test of the 2015 season from the Circuit de Catalunya – Tuesday 6pm.

1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 146 laps 1m 24.374s
2. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 97 laps 1m 26.624s
3. Raffaele Marciello ITA Ferrari-Ferrari 125 laps 1m 26.648s
4. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault 100 laps 1m 26.904s
5. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 60 laps 1m 27.338s
6. Nick Yelloly GBR Force India-Mercedes 109 laps 1m 27.396s
7. Pierre Gasly FRA Toro Rosso-Renault 126 laps 1m 27.639s
8. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 54 laps 1m 27.911s
9. Oliver Turvey GBR McLaren-Honda 66 laps 1m 28.542s

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Staff wrote:">Barcelona - F1 test times [Wednesday Final]

Final testing times from day two of the first in-season F1 test of 2015 at the Circuit de Catalunya – Wednesday 6pm

1. Jolyon Palmer GBR Lotus-Mercedes 87 laps 1m 26.080s
2. Pascal Wehrlein GER Mercedes-Mercedes 137 laps 1m 26.497s
3. Pierre Gasly FRA Red Bull-Renault 76 laps 1m 26.683s
4. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 99 laps 1m 26.927s
5. Alex Lynn GBR Williams-Mercedes 52 laps 1m 26.967s
6. Esteban Ocon FRA Force India-Mercedes 94 laps 1m 27.520s
7. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Ferrari-Ferrari 117 laps 1m 27.930s
8. Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 124 laps 1m 27.997s
9. Raffaele Marciello ITA Sauber-Ferrari 75 laps 1m 28.829s