FORMULA 1 - 2015

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2015 F1 testing day two in pictures

Jenson Button, McLaren, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Felipe Nasr, Sauber, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Valtteri Bottas, Williams, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, Circuito de Jerez, Testing, 2015

Lewis Hamilton,vettlink, Felipe Nasr, Daniil Kvyat, Jerez, 2015

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Nasr satisfied after day of firsts with Sauber

Sauber’s Felipe Nasr enjoyed a day of new experiences during his first outing for Sauber in Jerez in which he set the second-quickest time of the day.

The rookie completed 88 laps – over a race distance – and says that he is satisfied with his first day’s running in the C34.

“So far, so good,” says Nasr. “It’s a new environment for me. A new car, a new team, working with new people. So I’m just getting used to everything – all the systems and procedures.”

Despite a number of Friday practice outings for Williams last year, Nasr says he had a variety of brand new experiences around Jerez today.

“I’ve never driven on the soft tyres before, so that was the first time I did that today. So many things to take into tomorrow and keep working,” says Nasr.

“It was also good to get the feeling of the wet tyres and the intermediate tyres. It was quite slippery. It was my first time driving a Formula 1 car in wet conditions. It wasn’t ideal, because it rained quite heavily and then it dried quite quickly, so it was difficult to know the grip available.”

Having set the second-quickest time of the test so far on the soft Pirelli tyres, Nasr is not getting ahead of himself ahead of his return to the cockpit tomorrow.

“It’s not bad, but at the end of the day, it’s just the first day of work and we need to keep ourselves focused on the long runs. Of course, it’s good to do a good lap, but there’s is so much more to being competitive, so there is more work to do.”

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These things always take time, Button says of McLaren issues

McLaren has completed a total of twelve laps between the first two days of testing.

McLaren endured another difficult day in Jerez as Jenson Button failed to complete a flying lap on his first outing in the MP4-30, but the former World Champion says he's not concerned about the teething problems with the package.

The car spent most of the day in the garage after running five stop-start laps early in the day, before Jenson re-emerged for a single lap on a damp track at the end of the day.

A new era

“It's nice to be a part of the new era of McLaren-Honda,” he said. “I think it has a very exciting future, but as we all know things take a little bit of time. I feel that the atmosphere in the team is very good, and I when I say team, I mean McLaren-Honda. I think that it's key for everyone to remember that it's not McLaren with an engine manufacturer, it is one team, with one goal. It's a good atmosphere.

“Obviously not the easiest start to the season, but as we know it's a very complicated power unit. We will get our heads around it, and in terms of the problems we had today we had our head around it and understand the issue, and that's what the last run of the day was in the wet, to really understand it, and I think we do now, which is good. So we're hoping for a much more productive day three and day four.”

There's time to improve

Button cited Red Bull's 2014 testing problems as an example of a team turning things around: “You look at where the Red Bull was at the first couple of tests, and even the last test in Bahrain – obviously they got the result taken away from them, but they finished second at the first Grand Prix. So a lot can happen.

“And we always knew the first test was going to be difficult, it always is, it's not as straightforward as it used to be with sticking an engine in the car and trying to power round. It's a very complex system, the power unit. We've had a few little niggling things that we've been able to solve now. As I said tomorrow we'll see where we stand.”

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German GP still in the balance as Ecclestone says it's “unlikely”

Bernie Ecclestone says the German GP is not officially off yet but it is unlikely to take place this year.

Bernie Ecclestone has denied that the German GP is officially off, despite a German newspaper claiming that he had confirmed that was the case.

The race was due to be held at Nurburgrimg this year, while Hockenheim has a contract to host it in 2016, as per the usual alternating deal.

Ecclestone confirmed that he had sent a reply to the paper in response to a query about the race, but said that a final decision had been not made.

“Who knows?,” he told Reuters. “There are two places there. Wait and see. It's not looking good... You can say that it looks unlikely but we are trying to rescue it. I don't want to lose it, for sure. We are trying our best."

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Jos Verstappen proud of young Max's performance in Jerez

Max Verstappen now has a race distance under him in Winter testing, but what does his father, Jos, think?

Speaking from the paddock in Jerez, veteran of 107 Formula One Grand Prix Jos Verstappen spoke highly of his son's first days of developing the new Renault powered Scuderia Toro Rosso.

"(Today) was ideal actually," said the elder Verstappen.

"This morning it was really cold and he had to warm up the car, in the afternoon it started to rain. He went out on the rain tires and that is a new experience for him as well. He did a really good job today, we are very pleased with what he did, and the team is happy with his feedback."

The rookie ran a total of 73 laps on track today.

Verstappen spent much of the day watching over his son on track, following along with both telemetry and a headset, listening in to the team communications.

Watching more as a father or as a driver?

He said while he is watching, he is both a former pilot and a father, but added the "driver's eye" takes over because "I want Max to do well and to help him as much as possible."

At the end of the day, those 73 laps completed gave Verstappen the fifth spot of eight on the board.

Driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso is a big opportunity for Verstappen, especially considering the team's experience working with younger drivers.

"Sometimes I am jealous, but I am very happy Max has this opportunity," he said.

"They know how to treat young drivers and also how to do the training and simulator work and the way a new guy comes into a new team, everything is big and new and they know how to handle that."

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Maldonado pleased with solid first day for new Lotus E23

Belated start for new Mercedes-powered machine after car is flown to Jerez testing.

The Lotus-Mercedes E23 took to the track for the first time in Jerez today after the team missed the first day of running on Sunday.

The car was built up overnight and Pastor Maldonado was able to run 41 laps before he was stopped by a transmission problem on a day that was mainly about getting used to Mercedes power.

“A bit late, but we are here,” he said. “The new car is looking good. It's difficult to say something because we've only done a few laps today. It's quite positive. It's looking probably different to what we had last year in terms of reliability, and how the entire package is working. So quite a positive day.

“Maybe we were expecting to run a bit more, but we had a small issue in the car, which is normal, because as you know we changed a lot. We have a new engine, we have a big revolution in the car, it's another car, it's not a continuation of what we had last year. But it's quite positive.

“We had a problem somewhere in the gearbox. We are trying to discover, we are working on it. It's not a serious problem that we cannot solve.”

No comparisons yet with Renault power

Maldonado said it was too early to make any comparison with the Renault engine he had last year.

“It's different, it's just different. It's difficult to compare then because we were more focussed on mileage than performance, you know. We're still looking for some problems and taking some aero data as well, so it's not the moment to release something about the engine performance. But for sure it is completely different, we are working in different ways.

“We are happy, we've been working in the simulator as well, together with Mercedes, so we are very happy in the way they are working. As a team we are very positive and pushing very hard to be in the best position.”

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Pat Symonds: Larger F1 grid ‘more important’ than 1000bhp engines

Healthy teams should have priority over a rush to boost power outputs, according to veteran engineer.

Williams technical boss Pat Symonds has cautioned against a rush towards new regulations for 2017 – and says that the priority should be to ensure that the sport's teams are in a healthy state.

Discussions are underway about more powerful engines and ways of making the cars look spectacular.

“I like the idea of 1000bhp engines, I like the idea of spectacular cars,” said Symonds, who was a consultant to minnows Marussia before he moved to Williams. “I also like the idea of having a lot more cars on the grid, and that's what I think should be our prime concern at the moment, to have a good business, and something that spectators also want to watch.

“They can at times be mutually exclusive unfortunately, but I think there is a lot that we can do within the framework that we have, and particularly to improve our engagement with the public.

“I think that we are much too early into a new set of rules to start radical change, but we should never be afraid of change, either.”

Symonds upbeat about new car’s chances

Meanwhile regarding the potential of the FW37, he said: “Competitiveness is a relative thing. We've certainly taken steps that I hope will move us forward, but I don't know yet what our competitors have done. I hope that at least we start where we finished.

“Our development rate last year was one of the things I'm particularly proud of, we really did add a lot of performance to the car relative to our competitors last season.

“We're applying all of the same sort of philosophies to doing that. We want to get in there and be fighting.”

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Christian Horner 2015 Pre-Season Interview

The reset button has been pressed for 2015 and we caught up with Team Principal Christian Horner to find out his thoughts ahead of the season.

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Unleash the CamoBull. The RB11 takes to the track in Jerez

http://youtu.be/o2we5zvUhH8

Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s 2015 challenger, the RB11, made an eye-catching debut at the first pre-season test of 2015 in Jerez this week, with the team’s new car taking to the track in a striking black and white “dazzle” livery, similar to those used to camouflage prototype road cars.

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NEWEY: MERCEDES SHOULD WIN IT, THEY ARE HUGELY AHEAD

Red Bull who dominated Formula 1 from 2010 to the end of 2013 are all but throwing in the towel as the first test sessions of the new season are underway in Jerez, with the team’s design guru Adrian Newey again predicting that Mercedes will win the 2015 title.

Newey repeated his view that champions Mercedes, who won all but three races last year, would be hard to beat this season and said the regulations favoured the engines over aerodynamics.

“I think Mercedes should win it, frankly. They have a power advantage and certainly in this relatively engine-dominated formula, then that puts them hugely ahead,” he told Sky Sports television.

“Can we make enough of a difference on the chassis to mount a challenge? I think it will be extremely difficult but we will obviously do our best. A bit more freedom on the chassis regulations would make that more viable.”

Red Bull won three races last year and finished as overall runners-up.

Meanwhile it has emerged that Red Bull have taken inspiration from one of Sebastian Vettel’s old helmets to confuse Formula 1 rivals seeking a clear picture of their aerodynamic secrets in pre-season testing.

The former champions, now without Vettel after the German moved to Ferrari, have been testing at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain with a car painted in black and white ‘camouflage’ livery.

Team principal Christian Horner said Vettel had worn a helmet with a similar dazzle design at last year’s Italian Grand Prix and the team thought it would be interesting to extend the concept to the whole car.

Horner, who had said last week that the team were rushing to get the Renault-powered car ready for Jerez, promised the livery would be “even stronger” for the first race in Australia on March 15.

“Everybody works away over the winter and once the new cars come out, then everybody is looking at what everyone else has been up to,” explained Newey

“If we can help to disguise that a little bit and conceal some of the shapes we’ve developed over the winter, then that prevents them getting as good a knowledge of our shapes as they might do otherwise. How much difference it makes, we’ll see. But it’s something different.”

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HAMILTON: YOU CAN’T GET EXCITED AT THIS POINT

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton returned from his off-season break in Colorado and got back down business on day two of Formula 1 testing at Jerez in southern Spain, ending the day satisfied with the car Mercedes have produced for the 2015 season.

Speaking at the end of the second day of testing, where he was behind the wheel of the W06, Hamilton said, “That was a satisfying day. We did a lot of laps and I got a feel for the car quite quickly. We’re in the first days of testing so it never feels that great as the car is at the worst it will be all season.”

“But it feels the same as it did last year which is a good thing. A little more downforce maybe but otherwise it handles exactly the same. The balance obviously wasn’t perfect as we’re not working on setup yet, so it could be a lot better.”

“But the priority right now is to put in the laps, not set fast times, and there were lots of positives,” said the Briton who last year won 11 races on the way to his second world title.

Hamilton ended the day at Jerez fourth fastest, but with the most laps to his credit, “We got good mileage and hopefully we’ll get even more in the next two days. Testing isn’t the exciting part as a driver – I live to go racing.”

“This is where you build your foundations for the year and we’re all working hard to understand the car. Everything from drivability to tyres you have to learn now to stand you in good stead for the season.”

“You can’t get excited at this point as there’s a long way to go before Melbourne but there’s a really good energy in the team. Everybody is feeling positive and working hard but we’re basing nothing on last year. We start again with the same aim as everyone else – to win. I can’t wait to get to that first race,” concluded Hamilton.

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JENSEN BUTTON: WE DON’T KNOW WHERE WE ARE

Jenson Button stayed positive on Monday despite McLaren experiencing a second day of testing woes with their new Honda-powered Formula 1 car in southern Spain, but at the same time admitted that he and the team were unsure where they were in terms of performance.

“We expected this test to be tricky — and the next two days probably won’t be plain sailing, either,” the Briton said in a team release.

“But people have short memories. Look at last winter; the first test of 2014 was very tough for everyone too,” added the 2009 champion.

“So there are no real worries at the moment. We’re just hopeful we’ve solved our issue. The last run of the day seems to have sorted the problem out, so I hope tomorrow will be a little easier.”

After sensor problems limited Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso to just six laps on the first day of pre-season testing at Jerez on Sunday, Button managed only the same amount.

The team, who are starting a new era with their Japanese partners returning to the sport after a six-year absence, had worked overnight to rectify Sunday’s problems but a new one emerged once the car was back out on the track.

Button carried out a number of installation laps but the engineers then decided to investigate more deeply and believed they had found the cause. Button did one more trouble-free lap before the day’s session ended.

“Today was another tricky day, but we feel like we’ve overcome the main issue that affected our running during the first two days of the test,” said Honda’s motorsport head Yasuhisa Arai.

“Despite our lack of mileage, it’s been an important learning process for our engineers, who’ve really started to develop a close working relationship with everybody at McLaren – that’s a big positive. For [Tuesday] we’re hopeful that we’ve moved on, and that we can get some more laps completed.”

“Hopefully we’ll get to the first race and we’ll be competitive but we don’t know where we stand right now,” said Button, the 2009 F1 champion. “In terms of understanding our performance, we’re still at zero. We don’t know where we are.”

McLaren’s strong driver line-up promises much – considering Alonso has won two F1 titles – but Button is steering clear of making predictions.

“I haven’t even driven the car at full speed so I don’t really know. I could pick a number or position out of a hat but it would mean nothing,” he said. “We’re not going to be setting the world alight with lap times or laps on the circuit.”

The problems here on the southern Spanish circuit of Jerez follow on from McLaren’s difficulties in testing in the two days following the Abu Dhabi GP in late November.

“Not the easiest start to the season but we know it’s a very complicated power unit,” Button said. “In terms of the problems we had, we have our head around it and understand the issue.”

“I can’t tell you that. As I said they’re very complicated these days, but it’s sorted now,” Button said. “We hope for a much more productive day three and day four.”

Twelve months ago at the same venue Red Bull also struggled when the new V6 turbo hybrid power unit was introduced but went on to finish second in the Australian opener, before disqualification. They ended the season with three wins.

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JEREZ DAY 3: NASR FASTEST FOR SAUBER

Sauber’s Felipe Nasr went quickest on day three of Formula One’s first pre-season test, the Brazilian finishing two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen, who was making his first appearance of 2015 for Ferrari.

Brazilian Nasr set a best lap of 1:21.545 on soft tyres to eclipse the previous best of Raikkonen, who had recorded his best time on medium tyres.

On a day when early morning rain left the track greasy and of little real value for the first two hours of the session, Nasr racked up an impressive 108 laps in the process but it was Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg who once again put in the biggest total.

On day one of the test the German posted a huge total of 157 laps and he almost matched the tally today with 151 laps of the 4.4km circuit. The Rosberg’s morning outing also included a race sim. By just after midday he had already posted a total of 76 laps.

The 2014 title runner-up’s day was not without problems however. Just before 1pm his Mercedes W06 suffered an engine shutdown and the red flag appeared. The problem didn’t halt Rosberg for long and by 2pm he was circulating again, eventually ending the day with the third fastest laps, a 1:21.982 to finish just under half a second adrift of Nasr.

Rosberg’s wasn’t the only technical issue of the day. Following a difficult day yesterday in which it was forced to run without a front wing following an off from Daniil Kvyat early in the session, there was more frustration for Red Bull Racing today, as after just five lap in the morning a power unit issue forced Daniel Ricciardo back to the garage where the team had to change the Renault powerplant.

Ricciardo finally got back out in the afternoon and put together a number of longer runs, which he said had given him a better feeling for the car.

“Although we were limited with running today the last hour was good, we got some long runs together and that was encouraging,” he said.

“I was happy to do some 10-15 lap runs as that’s always where you get a better understanding of the car. Every lap we do we understand something more about the car or the driveablility of the Renault power unit. So it was a decent afternoon.”

In the morning Honda-powered McLaren enjoyed its best period of the test so far, with Fernando Alonso putting in 32 laps, more than two and a half times the total number of laps achieved over the first two days.

However, at lunchtime the team confirmed that a water pressure problem had been discovered and that the MP4-30 would not be running in the afternoon.

At Williams, Felipe Massa made his first appearance behind the wheel of the FW37 and the Brazilian made it through 71 largely untroubled laps to eventually finish fourth on the timesheet.

Behind him Pastor Maldonado was back behind the wheel of the Lotus E23. A telemetry problem kept the Venezuelan in the garage for some time in the morning but he eventually put 96 laps on the board only for a mechanical failure to halt him in the final minutes of the session.

Carlos Sainz Jr put in the second highest lap total of the day with 136 tours in the STR10, the Spaniard enjoying a much more profitable outing than his first day in which a series of mechanical niggles interrupted his running.

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MCLAREN FINALLY GET GOING BUT END DAY THREE EARLY

McLaren’s new Honda powered car showed progress on day two of pre-season Formula 1 testing with Fernando Alonso completing 32 laps before an engine problem forced an early end to their penultimate day of testing at the Jerez circuit.

Before Tuesday, Alonso and British team mate Jenson Button had managed only six laps each in the MP4-30 turbo hybrid car on the opening two days of the first pre-season test in southern Spain.

“We’ve had a loss of cooling water pressure and have removed the power unit for inspection,” the former champions said on their Twitter feed. “That’s a long process, so it ends today’s running.

“We can replace those components ahead of running tomorrow,” they added, with the team missing the final three hours of Tuesday’s session.

McLaren are starting a new partnership with Honda, who powered them to titles in the late 1980s and early 1990s and are returning after leaving the sport in 2008, after two decades with Mercedes.

McLaren and Alonso had warned before the test that there would be problems with bedding in the new V6 engine and they have been proved right.

The number of laps completed in the morning did at least show, however, that the problems that sidelined Button on Monday had been addressed, but laptimes were a massive 14 seconds down on the toptime of the day set by Felipe Nasr in a Sauber.

“We expected it to be difficult. I’m sure the next two days won’t be plain-sailing either,” Button, who will be at the wheel for the final day on Wednesday, had said on Monday evening.

“It’s going to be tricky. It’s a very complicated power unit, it’s not as straightforward as the old V8 engines or the V10s. So it takes a little bit of time.”

Champions Mercedes, whose works team dominated last season with their engine taking Hamilton to his second title, continued to run like clockwork after completing more laps than any of their rivals.

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DENNIS: WE JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE FRUSTRATIONS

McLaren are continuing to put a brave face on its troubled start to the 2015 pre-season, which also marks their second era as a Honda powered team.

After two of the 12 official test days before Melbourne, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have each managed just 6 laps apiece in the Honda-powered MP4-30.

“At least they are consistent,” was the running joke within the Jerez paddock.

McLaren, however, insists it is delighted with what it is referring to as its ‘size-zero’ car, in reference to its ultra-slim packaging around the small Honda V6.

“I definitely didn’t think we would go out and pound around,” Button said after lapping painfully off the pace on Monday.

Also at Jerez is the McLaren supremo Ron Dennis, who is upbeat not only about the Woking-produced 2015 car, but also new works partner Honda’s turbo design.

Some reports suggest that, under the skin, the Honda architecture is more akin to the dominant Mercedes than the Ferrari or Renault.

And Dennis is quoted by Diario Sport: “This engine (at Jerez) is two or three steps behind what we will race, so let’s keep developing it until the last test.

“The key word for everyone in the team is patience,” he said. “We just have to live with the frustrations that almost everyone had anticipated.”

He gushed about the design of the MP4-30, insisting the “level of detail and precision exceeds anything McLaren has done before”.

“In addition, there has been so much work around the ERS and the technologies we are using; some of which did not even exist before now,” Dennis revealed.

“I don’t even think we will even know in Australia where we are; we will have to wait for two or three races,” he added.

Outside the team, however, there are concerns. Writing for Marca, correspondent Marco Canseco said the noise produced by the new Honda is “strong and rough, far from anything we have ever heard in F1″.

“If it is just a hallmark of the power unit or the consequence of a malfunction will be seen over time,” he added.

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ROSBERG: I KNOW HOW GREAT IT FEELS WHEN I BEAT LEWIS

Nico Rosberg is studying how he breathes as he looks to overhaul Formula 1 world champion and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton this season.

Rosberg missed out on the title in dramatic fashion last year and wants to find improvements. The German driver has tried perfecting new breathing techniques in order to find the “one or two percent” that could make all the difference this season.

Rosberg did better than Hamilton in qualifying last year, securing 11 pole positions compared to seven, but Hamilton dominated him – 11 wins to five – on race day.

That has been bugging Rosberg, who is determined to find the small margins that will work in his favor, “I learned some things in the winter. For example, my breathing was something I could work on, my breathing in the race car.”

“Because when we go through fast corners we hold the breath, because we have so much g-force. Of course I want to give you some insights, but not compromise my secrets,” Rosberg explained.

He’s also stepped up his training regime, “To be that little bit more fit at the end of races, a little bit more on it. That one or two percent that makes the difference in the end.”

Hamilton beat Rosberg by 67 points – but the margin was exaggerated by the double points on offer in the last race.

Rosberg could have clinched the title, for example, if he had won and Hamilton placed third. But Hamilton won and Rosberg, blighted by technical problems, ended up 14th and out of the points.

The 29-year-old insists it did not take him long to get over it, “Life went back to normal for me very quickly, one or two days. I’m always motivated, but (this time) I have an extra little bit.”

“To have this memory from last year. I know how awesome it feels to win races and how great it feels when I beat Lewis,” mused Rosberg.

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HAAS SAYS ALL ON TRACK BUT IN NO RUSH TO SIGN DRIVERS

Formula 1 team owner Gene Haas says he is in no rush to sign drivers for his team which will hit the grand prix grids in 2015.

Accompanied by his team principal Gunther Steiner, the Californian is this week visiting the Jerez test, even though his Ferrari-powered outfit will not go racing for more than a full 12 months from now.

Haas told media however, that preparations for 2016 are “going well”.

“We came here at the invitation of Ferrari and I must admit that I like what I see. The SF15-T seems to be born well and we will rely on many systems supplied by Ferrari. The FIA has relaxed some rules for 2016 and we will make the most of them.”

“Contrary to what has been written,” he explained, “we have not bought Marussia or the intellectual property of the 2015 chassis. We have only acquired the plant in Banbury, now known as the ‘Haas Building’ to avoid confusion.”

The North Carolina-based Nascar team co-owner also said he has bought a F1 driver simulator and has commenced working with Dallara on the 2016 car, which will be wind tunnel tested at technical partner Ferrari’s Maranello factory.

“Our approach is pragmatic,” Haas said, “very American, and probably more effective than the European way of managing a budget.

“We expect to shake down the car in December, but we will not take to the track officially before the preliminary tests for the 2016 season, in exactly one year. So far, we are following our programme to the letter and we should be on time.”

Haas said the highly anticipated race driver choice is not yet a priority, “All in good time. We will see how the market has evolved by next summer.

“We will have an experienced driver with knowledge of F1, ideally having taken part in the 2015 season, while at the same time we are ready to have a rookie, but it does not necessarily have to be an American.

“No, I will not mention any names, as I myself do not even know who our drivers will be. At the moment we are recruiting engineers and mechanics and the drivers will come later,” Haas added.

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WADA CONDUCTING DOPING TESTS AT JEREZ

McLaren driver Jenson Button arrived late to his scheduled news conference at Jerez on Monday because he had to take an anti-doping test, his first for “about two years” he revealed

“We normally have a doping test once a year – a Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] test – at home or wherever you are,” explained the 35 year old, “But I hadn’t had it for a little while.”

“Mine was only a [urine] test, some other people had blood tests, I think,” added Button.

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Rosberg: Ferrari display eye-opening

Nico Rosberg admits Ferrari's performances on the first couple of days of testing have been "an eye-opener" for Mercedes.

While Merc have dominated lap sheets on the first three days in Jerez with Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton completing more than 400 laps between them, Ferrari posted the fastest times on the first two days through Sebastian Vettel while Kimi Raikkonen was P2 on day three.

"The general feeling is a feeling that we've come a long way as a team, we're a strong team," Rosberg said. "We're keeping an eye on the opposition and especially Ferrari has been an eye-opener for us in the last couple of days. But still, we're confident we can start the season well and in terms of development be strong."

After 157 laps on the opening day, Rosberg produced 151 more on Tuesday and he believes it is important they iron out issues when it comes to reliability.

"Our goals here are to do mileage, because last year our weakness was reliability so we have a big focus on that and to have a really reliable car this year because it cost us points and things like that last year," he said. "That's been the goal because it's important to see the problems now when you still have time before Melbourne. The problems you see in Barcelona, there's a shorter time to Melbourne so it's more difficult to solve them. Anything you find here is going to be easy to solve, or much easier.

There was some concern for Mercedes though as his car shut down in the afternoon due to an engine issue, but he insists things going according to plan.

"We did find some weaknesses on the car already but they are going to be easy to fix, so we're on the right track," he said.

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Kimi: We've improved in all areas

Kimi Raikkonen made his 2015 bow at Jerez on Tuesday and the Finn immediately gave the new Ferrari the thumbs up.

Having watched new team-mate Sebastian Vettel top the timesheets on the opening two days of pre-season testing, Raikkonen stepped into cockpit of the SF15-T on the penultimate day.

Although he couldn't match Vettel in terms of posting the fastest time, he still managed to be just 0.205s behind pacesetter Felipe Nasr of Sauber and also racked up 91 laps.

It was no surprise then that Raikkonen was pleased how proceedings went.

"It was a positive first day, a lot of improvements in areas where we had difficulties," the Finn said. "And obviously it's just a first day, and unfortunately the weather was pretty bad today. Somehow the circuit stayed damp for most of the day, but I think we had good running and we got some mileage.

"The whole package is quite a bit better than how we finished last year. Now we've improved in all areas.

"It's just the first day, the first day, and there are a lot of things to do, and a lot of things to try and improve, but it's definitely a positive start and we have something to work with."

Needless to say that Raikkonen knows you can't read too much into the pre-season timesheets.

"It's too early to speak about results. Like I said we had a good, positive first day, and Sebastian had a good couple of days," he said.

"We'll try to do our best, and I'm sure if we keep doing our work as a team we'll push forward as a team with two cars, improving things, we can get some good results.

"Time will tell. We definitely going in the right direction, for sure, that's the good thing. We'll have to wait and see in the races."

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Mixed day for Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo made a troubled start to day three in Jerez, but things were pretty smooth later in the afternoon.

The Australian completed only 48 laps on Tuesday after he had some issues with the power unit of his Red Bull RB11 early in the day, forcing him to spend a lot of the morning session in the garage.

The mechanics opted to change the power unit and, although he was more than two seconds off the time of pacesetter Felipe Nasr of Sauber at the end of the day, he produced a solid display for the rest of the afternoon with several long runs.

"Although we were limited with running today, we got some long runs together and that was encouraging," Ricciardo said. "I was happy to do some 10-15 lap runs as that’s always where you get a better understanding of the car. Every lap we do we understand something more about the car or the driveablility of the Renault power unit. So it was a decent afternoon.

"In terms of where we’re at, it’s impossible to know about the pace because we don’t know what people are running, but I think the consistency today was good, we put a few laps together in the end, so a few positives to take away from today."

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Williams ready to win races – Massa

Felipe Massa believes the revitalised Williams team is now ready to challenge for victories.

Massa echoed the view of team mate Valtteri Bottas who said the team have made great gains in the last 12 months.

“It’s a different team,” said Massa. “It’s a lot better team, much more prepared, much more experienced.”

“So everything is different, the team is a lot more prepared in a much better shape compared to how we start last year. We had a good car, we had a fantastic season the development was great but I think the team is a lot more prepared, which is good.”

Williams came close to victory on more than one occasion last year, and Massa now think they could win under the same circumstances. “I think so,” he said. “Not many races – maybe one race.”

Massa spent his first day at the wheel of the FW37 today and said he was especially pleased with the improvements made to the car’s rear end stability.

“That is what I feel better than how we finished the season so I think that’s the most important point that I felt today,” he said. “Not just me but even Valtteri yesterday and the day before I think it’s the first point to trying to have an easier car, a better car in this situation.”

“Too early” to judge Ferrari pace

Both Ferrari-powered cars have topped the first three days of running so far at Jerez but Massa, whose Mercedes engine is not yet being used to its full, cautioned against drawing conclusions about their rivals’ performance.

“It’s too early to say,” he said. “We didn’t see anything for the moment, we just saw the first days of testing and we saw that it’s still a long way to go.”

“I think maybe if these guys that was doing a quick lap time like Ferrari, for example, if they until the last Barcelona being impressive in terms of lap time maybe we start to think about ‘are they going to be there?’ But it’s too early.”

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Nico Rosberg fearful over German Grand Prix crisis

Last year’s Formula One World Championship runner-up hopes there is resolution to new contract.

Nico Rosberg believes it would be massively disappointing to lose the German Grand Prix, as he thinks it is a “fundamental” part of the Formula One calendar.

Bernie Ecclestone said on Monday that the Hockenheim event, scheduled for July 19, looked unlikely as the circuit had a contract for 2016 but not for 2015, when the Nurburgring was scheduled to host it as part of the alternating deal.

German event is ‘legendary’

The German Grand Prix has been a part of the calendar since the 1951 season, having been absent only if the first year of grand prix racing.

Mercedes driver Rosberg said the news that his home race could be dropped are very bad news for the sport, given the involvement of German drivers and companies in Formula One.

"For me for as long as I can think the German Grand Prix is legendary, like the British Grand Prix," said Rosberg.

"It's such a fundamental part of the F1 season. It's very disappointing to hear that it's not fixed yet.

"For me but also for all the German fans. There's so many motor racing fans in Germany and it has such a large representation in the sport, with me, and Sebastian [Vettel], and Mercedes, etc. Germany is a big part of F1, so I hope it works out.

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Boullier pleased with McLaren progress

McLaren's Eric Boullier is adamant that the major electronic problem that cost the team the first two days in Jerez has been resolved.

Fernando Alonso ran 32 laps today, before he was sidelined by a completely different issue.

“After the last laps of Jenson [yesterday] we believed we had fixed the issues,” he said. “But sometimes you just open the Pandora's box and you pick up one [problem], and then another one is coming. This morning it was just a relief to see the car getting out of the garage at 9am and running actually faultlessly for a few hours.

“The reason we didn't run this afternoon was different, it was a component which created a water cooling leak, we had to take the engine off, open everything to change it, because it's in the middle. We could have run maybe half an hour at the end, but we decided to stop the day and make it properly for tomorrow. But the main issues are now away.

Less than 50 per cent done testing programme

Asked how much of the planned programme had been completed he said: “Not enough, obviously we are maybe less than 50% . but it's better than nothing, but operationally we have covered everything that we wanted. The good thing is that the car is running as you saw this morning, 10 laps in a row, so we have no design concept or conceptual issues or architectural issues. Cooling is working, everything is fine.”

Although Alonso ran only in the damp the team learned a lot.

“The driver comments were very, very positive. Fernando said the car is really reacting well, the car is really stable, and you could see a couple of times on the pitwall checking in Turn One, with Mercedes driving at the same time, and you could see the car was really stable on the entry, and this is just a sign.”

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Mercedes taking different approach to test - Vettel

Sebastian Vettel has played down his time-topping laps on both the first and second day of testing in Jerez, claiming Mercedes are still favourite.

The German says Mercedes have yet to chase an actual competitive lap time, instead focusing on longer runs and insists they would still be favourites even if they hadn't completed any running here.

"I think generally we had a different approach today than Mercedes," he explained. "They didn't do as many laps as yesterday, but even without any running here they would still go in as the favourites.

"It's still very early to tell [how competitive we are] because in the end it always depends how you compare to other people. Some people didn't show much, others, if you look at Mercedes, are running a slightly different approach with more longer runs and extreme long runs. In that regard it's difficult, but speaking about the feeling inside the car, I'm quite happy and I think we definitely have a good platform to start working from and move on to, so that's the target in the next couple of weeks."

Lewis Hamilton meanwhile has described the Mercedes W06 as a step forward despite completing fewer laps than Nico Rosberg thanks to a water leak.

"It feels pretty much the same, feels like we've got more downforce, so I think we have taken a step," he said. "How big? I can't say.

We weren't out there trying to do fast lap times. It's good we've had such good running over the first two days, good reliability. But we will continue to work on that which is the foundation we want to improve on.

"As for the water leak, I can't tell you too much about it. The team will work on it overnight and the car will be fine for tomorrow."