Now, that is how you make an impression in a new machine. TRIDENT rookie Kean Nakamura-Berta fired himself straight to the top of the leaderboard on the opening day of post-season testing in Jerez, putting down a blistering 1:31.169 to lead the field after a full day of hard running.
Here is the thing about testing timesheets: they rarely tell the whole story, but the margins at the absolute sharp end were stunningly tight. Nakamura-Berta's benchmark lap was just 0.002s faster than Campos Racing's Mattia Colnaghi, while Ernesto Rivera slotted into third place, a mere 0.011s off the pace. The British rookie showed strong pace throughout the daylight hours before finally asserting himself late in the afternoon session.
Speaking in the paddock after debriefing with the team, the driver was honest about the massive step up into the Formula 3 car. "Overall it was a very productive day," he said. "We were learning loads of new stuff with this new car, and obviously the jump to F3 is massive, so it's just been a big learning day."
Getting a handle on the machinery required mastering some specific traits of the car, particularly extracting peak performance from the rubber. "One lap on the peak to get the tyre into that working optimal temperature is quite difficult," he explained. "That's been a key thing for me, at least today. I really struggled the majority of the day to do it, and towards the end we started to find a good rhythm."
Beyond the lap times, the sheer character of the venue left a mark on the rookie driver. Calling the circuit insane and super fun, he highlighted the demanding nature of the heavy braking zones and high-speed sections as a brilliant proving ground for development.
Looking ahead to Day 2 in Jerez, TRIDENT still has a selection of Medium and Hard tyres remaining in the allocation. But don't expect the team to get entirely carried away by the glory of topping the first day. With incredible historical data from past drivers to compare against, the focus stays firmly internal. As Nakamura-Berta put it, they will keep to their plan, check the timesheets occasionally, and keep learning as much as possible before the season kicks off—with Barcelona also looming next week.
