24/02/2005
NEWS STORY
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BAR's Jenson Button was the pace setter as pre-season testing drew to a close at Valencia today.
Following yesterday's atrocious conditions, the weather today was only marginally better, however, the three teams on duty still managed to get in some last minute laps.
Although the Englishman topped the timesheets, it wasn't all good news, far from it. With just over a week to go before the first race of the season, the Brackley outfit suffered yet another engine failure - an event which will prove costly from Melbourne and beyond, in light of the new regulations. That said, it's understood that the engine was not the latest-spec unit due to be used in Melbourne.
With so little time before the season gets underway, and having 'lost' Wednesday, it was a case of last minute 'cramming' for Button and his team, the Englishman trying out a whole raft of aerodynamic evaluations - none of which could be seriously tested due to the wet conditions.
Second quickest, albeit 1.3s adrift, was Nick Heidfeld, who had a relatively trouble-free day, other than one minor technical failure.
Olivier Panis was hit by flu, which resulted in Jarno Trulli having to take over the sole Toyota TF105. The Italian suffered a bizarre problem in the morning, when, through no fault of the hapless driver, bits of bodywork fell from the car, necessitating a return to the pits. Such an incident will be most unwelcome next week.
When testing resumes after Melbourne, nine of the team have agreed to a limit of 30 days testing activity until the end of the season in October. That said, cynics are waiting to see which team is first to break the agreement.