Young Drivers Test – Day 1: Magnussen Finishes on Top
Kevin Magnussen finished the first day of young driver testing at the top, driving the McLaren MP4-28 on the British Silverstone track.
For the first day of young driver tests, Danish driver Kevin Magnussen stood out by finishing at the top of the standings. The member of McLaren’s young driver program outpaced Paul di Resta’s Force India VJM05 and Antonio Felix da Costa’s Red Bull RB9.
Great performance also by James Calado for his debut with Sahara Force India, he takes 4th position and sets a time quite close to that of Paul di Resta, who has much more experience than him.
While the day went well for most drivers, some encountered a few issues, notably Alexander Rossi, who experienced a hydraulic problem with his Caterham CT03, preventing him from setting a truly fast lap. Max Chilton also faced some problems with his ECU, which forced him to spend a good part of the afternoon in his garage.
In terms of track attendance, it’s once again Kevin Magnussen who leads with 100 laps completed. He is followed by Antonio Felix da Costa, with 82 laps in the Red Bull, and Davide Rigon, who completed 76 laps in the Ferrari F138.
Note also a change of program on the Red Bull side, which had to revise its schedule because it had chosen to have its main drivers, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, and Daniel Ricciardo drive for a day and a half, with each driver having half a day, while the FIA had only authorized one day with main drivers. The Austrian team therefore had to revise its program, which cost Mark Webber his planned half-day. Tomorrow morning, we will see Antonio Felix da Costa, in the afternoon it will be Sebastian Vettel driving, while on Friday, Carlos Sainz Jr will drive in the morning and Daniel Ricciardo in the afternoon.
On the Lotus side, there’s also a change of plan for Friday this time as Kimi Räikkönen will not be driving after all. The Enstone team believes that the track time was not sufficient to carry out useful work. It will be Nicolas Prost, the team’s development driver, who will drive instead of the Finn.
Following the problems encountered, Daniel Juncadella has earned the right to drive for an additional half-day, which will be Thursday afternoon at the expense of Pastor Maldonado.
Ranking of the first day of the 2013 young drivers test:
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
1 | Magnussen | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:33.602 | 100 | |
2 | di Resta | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:33.774 | +0.172 | 58 |
3 | Felix da Costa | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:33.821 | +0.219 | 82 |
4 | Calado | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:33.986 | +0.384 | 27 |
5 | Juncadella | Williams F1 Team | 1:34.098 | +0.496 | 55 |
6 | Cecotto Jr | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:34.193 | +0.591 | 75 |
7 | Frijns | Sauber F1 Team | 1:34.236 | +0.634 | 72 |
8 | Prost | Lotus F1 Team | 1:34.810 | +1.208 | 72 |
9 | Rigon | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:34.874 | +1.272 | 76 |
10 | Rossi | Caterham F1 Team | 1:35.651 | +2.049 | 69 |
11 | Ellinas | Marussia F1 Team | 1:36.676 | +3.074 | 36 |
12 | Chilton | Marussia F1 Team | 1:38.347 | +4.745 | 27 |
Unofficial lap times
