04/02/2005
NEWS STORY
Michael Schumacher wrapped up this week's Valencia test by posting the fastest time of the day, albeit 1.204s slower than Kimi Raikkonen's 'running on empty' lap on Thursday. The German, driving the F2004, completed a mammoth 121 laps.
Also on duty was Rubens Barrichello, who drove the F2004 M, he completed 100 laps.
The Italian outfit's technical programme for the day was more or less the same as on the two previous days, with Bridgestone tyre development for Schumacher and set-up and electronics work for Barrichello.
Second quickest was Jenson Button, who was joined by Enrique Bernoldi and Young Driver Programme participants, Adam Carroll and Alan van der Merwe.
Though Bernoldi suffered an engine failure, Button's pace was encouraging, though the Englishman's schedule was compromised by a gearbox problem.
Nick Heidfeld was the quicker of the two WilliamsF1 drivers on duty, as the Grove outfit concluded its first scheduled test with the FW27. Mark Webber focussed on chassis set up, while Nick concentrated on tyre testing.
Jarno Trulli finished fifth fastest, despite a reoccurrence of the hydraulics problem that cost him track-time on Thursday. That said, the Italian was one of four drivers to complete a hundred laps or more.
"These Valencia tests have been the first time we can get a real idea of how the TF105 works," said the Italian. "This was also the first week that the other new cars have started running so we can now start to get a better idea of where we stand.
"The car has been pretty reliable and it also seems to be quick and competitive. Our best times compared quite favourably with the others, but there are still some problems with consistency over longer runs. We still have three weeks to go before we leave for Melbourne so we will now investigate what's happening and we hope to resolve that as soon as possible."
Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta were also on duty for the Japanese manufacturer. The Brazilian merely shook down a TF105 ahead of a simulated wet test at the weekend, while the German remains upbeat despite being consistently off the pace of his Italian teammate.
"It's been a pretty good test and I've made some progress with setting up the car," said Ralf. "We had one or two reliability problems during the week but mechanically the car is good and it seems to compare quite well with the others.
"Most of the cars were generally putting in times within about half a second of each other. So we're pleased with what we've seen so far and we appear to be pretty competitive. But exactly how competitive we'll only find out in Melbourne when everyone brings what they think is the best package they have."
Conditions for the final day of testing at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valencia Ricardo Tormo were much the same as yesterday, with bright sunshine and temperatures nudging 17 degrees C.