Nico Rosberg was the fastest driver at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday.
But he admitted afterwards the team had to remind him to use his Kinetic Energy Recovery System at times.
Rosberg said: “Until now it’s been interesting because of the tyres, KERS, the rear wing. It’s just getting the hang of everything and learning how to cope with all the different situations.
“Sometimes it’s very complicated out there because my mind is concentrating on testing something, at the same time, I have someone shouting in my ear ‘You forgot KERS, you forgot KERS’!
“Once you forget it, you’re in a mess. It’s quite confusing sometimes.”
He said it was “very positive” to end the day fastest:
“We still have some problems but we are going in the right direction. We learned a lot today.”
Rosberg explained how difficult it was to keep the new Pirelli tyres alive during a long run: “You have to take it very easy at the beginning to save tyres for the end of the stint.
He admitted it was against his racing instincts to drive slower but said: “To be honest it’s very interesting because you need to be really aware of the situation and then it becomes a challenge to make the best out of it.”
He added: “We have always seen exciting races when the tyres have had a problem with degradation. So it’s probably going to be a good thing and some very exciting races.”
Quotes and additional reporting by Leandra Graves
2011 F1 testing
Image © Mercedes
OEL
21st February 2011, 9:40
Better to hear “You forgot KERS!” than “You forgot to turn!”
John H
21st February 2011, 9:41
Don’t forget to drive the car Britney! Honestly, there are too many gadgets in F1. Can’t we just have 4 wheels, and massive engine!?
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
21st February 2011, 9:43
How would you steer…? :)
OEL
21st February 2011, 9:44
Dragracing?
Hare (@hare)
21st February 2011, 9:47
That’s a tractor isn’t it? Combined harvester?
BasCB (@bascb)
21st February 2011, 10:29
No, thats tractor pulling!
Rex
21st February 2011, 19:46
Britney forgot to sing…
Jarred Walmsley
21st February 2011, 10:00
5 Wheels then
US_Peter (@us_peter)
21st February 2011, 17:56
A 5th wheel? Like for towing semi trailers?
Calum
21st February 2011, 18:10
4 tyre wheels, one steering wheel. ;)
karan01 (@karan01)
21st February 2011, 9:51
These guys are being paid a lot to drive. There are a lot of people willing to take their place.
Hamish
21st February 2011, 11:41
John H does have a very valid point however. Cutting edge of technology yes, but we must remember this is a sport. I don’t know about you guys but I think the biggest variable in sport should be the human input.
I find it rather sad that the aspect of the sport which has the greatest effect on overall performance is something that we can’t even see – downforce.
RandomChimp
21st February 2011, 19:42
Isn’t engineering human input?
Hamish
21st February 2011, 21:21
Well then is it a sport or a science?
Mr. T
21st February 2011, 22:27
I’d argue that Rosberg’s interview confirms that human input is still the biggest variable – it’d be great to see someone pass him because he forgot to push the KERS button or had already used it up.
Hare (@hare)
21st February 2011, 9:47
A small electric shock in the seat of his pants would sort that out rather soonish…. :)
Dr. Mouse
21st February 2011, 13:07
My motorbike instructor once threatened to hook some jump leads up to me, wired up to shock me when I had the indicators on, to remind me to turn them off.
Tiomkin
21st February 2011, 14:07
My old Yammy 250 of yesteryear had indicators that turned off after 10 seconds of use. Sad to hear that bike tech have gone backwards.
Mr. T
21st February 2011, 22:38
I think it’s much better to have the rider control when the indicators are on or off, and I wish the auto shut off was also taken out of cars. This is because it would force the rider or driver to maintain awareness of the signals they are showing.
Incidentally you can now get aftermarket motorbike fittings that beep while the indicator is on. I’m glad that the “10 second” indicator lights are a thing of the past though because some manoeuvres take much longer than this with the levels of traffic where I live.
Tiomkin
22nd February 2011, 0:02
You just turn them on again, it’s not rocket science. Plus you never get cars pulling out in front of you because you a wrongly indicating.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
21st February 2011, 9:55
I eagerly await the BBC intercepting a radio transmission to Rosberg saying “Dude. KERS.”, which would be right up there with Montoya’s deer incident in Austria for entertainment value.
Sush Meerkat
21st February 2011, 10:23
“its like a horse with horns!”
“yeah, I know”
thanks for reminding me.
Damon (@damon)
21st February 2011, 12:49
Oh dear…
slr
21st February 2011, 10:02
Is KERS mandatory?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
21st February 2011, 10:05
No.
Enigma (@enigma)
21st February 2011, 11:26
Lotus and Virgin (probably HRT as well) will start the season without it.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
21st February 2011, 18:05
…and most likely end the season without it as well.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st February 2011, 10:08
At least he admits to it. I like what he is saying about the tyres. I think Alonso said something like that about the refuelling ban last year.
Chalky (@chalky)
21st February 2011, 10:34
These drivers are too young to remember arcade games with a “Turbo” button.
….and I thought they were the “Playstation generation”? :)
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st February 2011, 10:48
“Remembering to use KERS a challenge for Rosberg”
I find this hard to believe coming from a man who no doubt has a strict and disciplined haircare regime.
Tom L.
21st February 2011, 12:30
More to the point, Rosberg can speak five languages and was offered a place to study aerodynamics at Imperial College, London… if one of the most intelligent drivers out there is having issues remembering everything, there’s obviously an issue!
mateuss
21st February 2011, 14:31
Intelligence and speed of thought doesn’t necessarily go hand in hand. And also, the more you understand something(the more intelligent you are) then the more confusing and complicated ‘it’ becomes, therefore the more intelligent you are the more depressed you can potentionaly get, this interesting phenomena is studied in psychology.
electrolite (@electrolite)
21st February 2011, 12:37
“You forgot the conditioner! You forgot the conditioner!!”
Tiomkin
21st February 2011, 14:09
2 in one for the win!!
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
21st February 2011, 11:19
I am thinking what will be the penalty if a driver uses his rear wing before he comes close to a 1 second to the car in front?
LosD
21st February 2011, 11:26
Black flag and huge fine to the team I’d guess, since that should only happen if the system was tampered with.
Kimi's Ice-Cream
21st February 2011, 18:30
Unless it’s you know who
Hamish
21st February 2011, 11:43
I believe it is all electronically regulated.
McLarenFanJamm
21st February 2011, 12:12
The FIA control it electonrically. Until the drivers are within one second of each other, the wing can’t be operated
OmarR-Pepper (@)
21st February 2011, 13:23
Yeah, asecond, but I wouldn’t be surprised if on any race, Lewis “accidentaly” has a two or three seconds span and wins the race. Then the marshalls would “investigate” it after the race, until nothing happens in the end…
Am I wrong? and what about overtaking the Safety car? and the tow in Nurburgring? and the hit to Webber in China last year? and the scandal on blocking Petrov in Malaysia? and… and… AND?
Alianora La Canta
21st February 2011, 12:12
Given that the ability to use the button is controlled by Race Control, the penalty will likely be that Charlie Whiting will get a telling-off…
BBQ2
21st February 2011, 13:22
Not possible, the DRS is controlled by the ECU which is under FIAt control.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
21st February 2011, 11:34
You can’t use the DRS more than a second behind, WasiF1. It’s functionality is controlled by the stewards. Actual use is at the drivers discretion.
Bäremans
21st February 2011, 12:10
“Dude, Kers” -> Brilliant!
But I don’t think those speed junkies will forget about buttons that will increase their speed during actual races or quali runs, when there are no distractions from testing anymore.
The driver who loses position/points because of this…
Eggry (@eggry)
21st February 2011, 12:51
“Use the Force!”
Hare (@hare)
21st February 2011, 18:32
‘Niko, I am your father…’
‘ no seriously Niko, its Keke here, press the damn KERS button…’
Lucas
21st February 2011, 13:07
I hope in the future, F1 cars have 3.5-litre 1,483 hp V12 engines that rev to 20,000rpm. I can imagine they would go like the clappers, F1 are going in the wrong direction these days, in 2006, we went down from a 3.0-litre V10 to a 2.4-litre V8, in 2013, we will have 1.6-litre Turbo four-cylinder engines. Pretty soon, the cars will be pedal powered!
Tiomkin
21st February 2011, 14:13
And still the cars go faster and faster…
vjanik
21st February 2011, 14:40
actually most of the lap records are from 2004. since then the regulations pretty much slowed the cars down. (obviously new tracks have lap records that are more recent. but schumi’s ferrari from 2004 would beat those times)
teams have to compensate for the loss of power (smaller engines) and increased weight (due to the baning of exotic materials) with higher downforce. Last year the downforce was at its highest level but the cars were not as fast. this is also probably the biggest reaseon for the lack of overatking. cars hit the limiter on the straights and the turbulant air is much more pronounced. current F1 cars are underpowered meaning drivers have it much easier than before. once the give them more power or less downforce, the best drivers will shine.
its a shame that the financial crisis and ecomentalists have affected F1 so much. hopefuly the future will be more bright for the sport.
JohnTheMan96
21st February 2011, 23:04
The Ferrari 2004 and Mclaren 2005 are the two fastest cars ever build. Montoya hit 372.4 Km/h at Monza in 2005, which is roughly 15 Km/h faster than modern cars, even with Kers and the F-duct.
So yeah, F1 is getting slower.
Palle
22nd February 2011, 3:58
There is no correlation between high top speed of racing cars and the number of over-takings in the races. On the contrary seems more to be the case: The higher the top speed, the lower the number of over-takings.
Those few who just wants 4 wheels and a BIG engine have greatly missed the point about F1 – they should rather waste their time on some other type of motor sport.
Regarding a 4 cyl. 1,6 litre turbo engine: The BMW M12 F1 engine of the 1,5 litre with turbo in the 1980ties was quite powerful, up to 1300 BHP in Qualifying at 5,5 bar pressure. Back then some of problems was inadequate Engine Management systems causing reliability problems and the lack of variable geometry turbochargers caused narrow rev bands of torque.
welshieF1
24th February 2011, 9:23
who would be quickest around say Monza, Hamilton + Mclaren ( or any other top F1 combination ) or Franchitti + Indy car ( or any other) ??????????????