Sauber leads as mechanical issues strike several Tuesday at Jerez

By Feb 3, 2015, 11:39 AM EST
3 Comments

On soft tires and with even more laps added to its successful Monday at Jerez, Sauber and driver Felipe Nasr will take away the headline from today’s third day of Formula 1’s first 2015 preseason test.

Nasr set Tuesday’s fastest time of 1:21.545 on Pirelli’s soft tires. He did the time during the afternoon runs, after trailing another Ferrari-powered entry – the Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen – in the morning session.

Raikkonen clocked in second in his first day of running in the new SF15-T, with a best time of 1:21.750 after 92 laps. New teammate Sebastian Vettel led both Sunday and Monday’s sessions.

While the pair of Ferrari-powered drivers grabbed the headlines, others encountered mechanical woes that limited their running at times.

Nico Rosberg stopped during the morning session at Turn 10 with engine trouble, with the Mercedes AMG Petronas team confirming it was an engine shutdown that caused the W06 to stop on course. Despite the issue, Rosberg banked 93 laps before lunch and ended Tuesday with a day-high 151 completed, and third on the timesheets.

Fernando Alonso completed the most number of laps yet in the Honda-powered McLaren MP4-30 with 32 done on the day, primarily in the morning. Alonso caught an issue for this car on one of his out laps in the afternoon – with the team confirming a loss of cooling water pressure. The team opted to replace the power unit and it ended his day’s running with an unrepresentative best time of 1:35.553.

Engine gremlins limited Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull-Renault to just 48 laps completed. Pastor Maldonado, now in the Mercedes-powered Lotus, missed the start of the day’s running with a telemetry issue but got back out later in the afternoon and still banked double that number of laps with 96.

Nasr had a spin early in the day, going wide in Turn 8 and going into the gravel. Meanwhile Maldonado also stopped on track later in the afternoon to join Nasr and Rosberg as red flag instigators on the day.

The fourth and final day of the first preseason test occurs on Wednesday in Jerez, before further tests occur in Barcelona later this month. You can see Wednesday’s lineup here.

Jerez Day 3 – Final Results

1. Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:21.545 (108 laps)
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:21.750 (92)
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.982 (151)
4. Felipe Massa Williams 1:22.276 (71)
5. Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:22.713 (96)
6. Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:23.187 (136)
7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:23.901 (48)
8. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:35.553 (32)

Texas starting lineup: Felix Rosenqvist back on pole; Scott Dixon qualifies second

By Apr 1, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
0 Comments

FORT WORTH, Texas — For the second consecutive year, Felix Rosenqvist will lead the NTT IndyCar Series starting lineup to the green flag at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Arrow McLaren driver is hoping the third time will be the charm at the 1.5-mile oval, where he has run extremely well but has only a career-best 12th in five starts.

“We’ve always been good here, but this is a whole different confidence level compared to last year,” Rosenqvist told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “Let’s try to wrap it up (Sunday).”

In 2020, Rosenqvist was competing for a podium when he crashed with 10 laps remaining at Texas.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for speeds from Saturday’s time trials

INDYCAR AT TEXAS: Schedule, start times, how to watch on NBC, Peacock

Last year, he started first on an oval for the first time in his career but finished 21st because of a broken halfshaft.

“It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks, and naturally, I’ve always been OK here,” Rosenqvist said. “It was the first oval that made sense to me. Every year I’m building on that. But looking at the results, they don’t represent the speed I normally have.

“I don’t want to jinx anything, but I hope tomorrow is going to go a bit better and some luck our way would be nice. It’s been feeling super good. Arrow McLaren has been mega every session, so just keep it rolling.”

Arrow McLaren qualified all three of its Chevrolets in the top five, building on a second for Pato O’Ward and fourth for Alexander Rossi in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The March 5 season opener was a disappointing start for Rosenqvist who was squeezed into the wall by Scott Dixon on the first lap.

Dixon, a five-time winner at Texas, will start second Sunday, followed by Rossi and Josef Newgarden. O’Ward will start fifth alongside Takuma Sato, who will start on the outside of the third row in his Chip Ganassi Racing debut.

During nearly four hours of practice and qualifying (including a special high-line session), Saturday’s lone incident involved Conor Daly.

The Ed Carpenter Racing driver spun three times but stayed off the wall and in the frontstretch grass. Aside from a front wing change and new tires, there was no damage to his No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet during the incident midway through the 30-minute session in which drivers were limited to the high line.

“I hadn’t really had a moment before, but it snapped really aggressively,” Daly told NBC Sports after final practice. “Not ideal, but I do know my way around correcting a spin it seems like. I drove NASCAR last weekend and that seemed to help a little bit. I drove in the dirt a lot in USAC Midgets and seemed to be able to save something but not ideal or what we wanted to have happen.”

Daly will start 25th of 28 cars alongside teammate Rinus VeeKay in Row 13. Carpenter qualified 18th.

“Our three of our cars were clearly looking for something. Mechanical grip is for sure what we need. Qualifying we actually expected to be a lot better, but we found an issue there. We’ll see what happens. This race can change a lot. I’m confident in the team to hopefully figure some things out for tomorrow.”

Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine and speed):

ROW 1

1. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Dallara-Chevy, 220.264 mph
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 219.972

ROW 2

3. (7) Alexander Rossi, Dallara-Chevy, 219.960
4. (2) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevy, 219.801

ROW 3

5. (5) Pato O’Ward, Dallara-Chevy, 219.619
6. (11) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 219.508

ROW 4

7. (10) Alex Palou, Dallara-Honda, 219.480
8. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 219.355

ROW 5

9. (18) David Malukas, Dallara-Honda, 219.256
10. (26) Colton Herta, Dallara-Honda, 219.184

ROW 6

11. (28) Romain Grosjean, Dallara-Honda, 219.165
12. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Dallara-Honda, 219.146

ROW 7 

13. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Dallara-Chevy, 219.100
14. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Dallara-Chevy, 218.892

ROW 8

15. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Dallara-Chevy, 218.765
16. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Dallara-Honda, 218.698

ROW 9

17. (77) Callum Ilott, Dallara-Chevy, 218.427
18. (33) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 218.375

ROW 10

19. (78) Agustin Canapino, Dallara-Chevy, 218.367
20. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Dallara-Honda, 218.227

ROW 11

21. (06) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 218.196
22. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 218.103

ROW 12

23. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Dallara-Honda, 217.676
24. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 217.611

ROW 13

25. (20) Conor Daly, Dallara-Chevy, 217.457
26. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Dallara-Chevy, 216.880

ROW 14

27. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Dallara-Honda, 216.210
28. (30) Jack Harvey, Dallara-Honda, 216.103