11/12/2004
NEWS STORY
Jarno Trulli: "After all the rain of last week it was especially good to see the sun shining on the first day of testing here this week. That meant we could finally get through some of the programme that we have long been planning on the new dry compounds for 2005. On all three days I worked on tyres, putting in a lot of laps as requested by Michelin to check for degradation. On the last day we did some work on suspension. Overall I think it's gone well, and we've had some good running in these winter tests so far. Now I hope we can put all those pleasing results into the new TF105 car, which we will run for the first time in the second week of January."
Ralf Schumacher: "We've enjoyed excellent weather at Jerez this week, which has been very important because we struggled to achieve anything significant in the wet here last week. We've been working mainly on tyres and brakes and we've got through the plan without any problems. On the first two days we did some set-up work and long runs on tyre casings for next year. I had an engine problem on Wednesday, but it didn't really harm our programme because it was at the end of its life anyway. Apart from that it has been a trouble-free week. On the last two days we tested more tyre compounds for next year, doing some more long runs on Friday."
Ricardo Zonta: "I spent Friday doing long runs testing tyres for next year. I put in a lot of laps to test durability over race distances. Over the weekend I will be testing wet tyres on the track that will be artificially dampened. Michelin have brought so many wet tyres here that we will need two days to cover the programme. After that I'll stay in Europe until the end of next week, visiting Toyota for our Christmas party. Then I'll return home to Brazil for Christmas."