The World Champion Joins The Testing Force

By Sam Cooper
January 21 2009

After a fairly long length of absence from driving a Formula one car since his, some say lucky, from his world championship winning drive back in early November. At the start of the day, the track was still damp -although not as wet as it had been over the past two days, as the day wore on, the track dried out allowing Lewis to bolt some slicks, and give the MP4-24 its first dry test.

Over the past two days, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes formula one team opted to run their 2008 rear wing, to give the car greater downforce in the tricky slippy conditions - although this author wonders if it was worth it, as McLaren's rivals were testing out their 2009 cars, with the thinner rear wings.

For McLaren, todays test went with a slight hitch, concerning the engine, resulting in the engine systems being shut down temporarily. Although, the problem wasn't severe enough to warrant an engine change,

Hamilton managed to complete the third fastest time, however, since we don't know what fuel each of the teams are using, it is hard to say who has this upper hand at present. Lewis Hamiltons comments on the new car are shown below.

"It was good to be back working with the team - it felt like I’d hardly been away because it was easy to slip back into the routine. It’s amazing to think that, while I’ve been to Woking throughout the winter, I haven’t properly driven a Formula 1 car since the Brazilian Grand Prix two months ago, but everything very quickly felt normal today."

"This first test was all about just getting used to the new car and the new regulations and about giving my feedback to the engineers; it wasn’t about setting a fast time. I’m pleased to report that the car feels good, we’ve made lots of progress over the winter and I’m looking forward to developing the car ahead of the Australian Grand Prix."

"It’s going to be an extremely busy winter. I’ve only been in the car for one day and our usual job list for the weeks ahead is already enormous. With the limitations on testing during the season, and the few sessions we have over the next two months, this is going to be an intense time and absolutely critical for every team."