30/04/2005
NEWS STORY
Jarno, what was your testing schedule for the day on Wednesday?
Jarno Trulli: It was a typical tyre-testing programme concentrating mainly on the rubber for the next race, at Barcelona. We also worked on shock absorbers and general set-up for the Spanish GP. Everything went well and I managed to work through the programme.
Will Barcelona pose different problems for tyres?
JT: Yes. At the circuits we have raced on so far, the rear tyres have been the limiting factor. At Barcelona, however, the left front tyre gets a lot of load because there are many long, fast corners. That has not changed, of course, but since last year the track has been resurfaced. The first time we tested there in the winter, the surface was very slippery. More rubber has gone down since then but it will still be different to last year.
Ralf, what was your main aim for the test?
Ralf Schumacher: I was initially concentrating on shorter, low-fuel qualifying runs. My qualifying runs with heavy fuel have been fine but I feel I can improve my low-fuel runs. It is quite a delicate balance to make the car work to its maximum at the beginning and the end of the lap and the more knowledge you gain about it, the better your potential.
Was it a successful day?
RS: It was a reasonable test. We had a couple of technical issues but we still got through some important work for Barcelona and we should be okay. Unfortunately I had to cut short my low-fuel runs because I had some longer stints to do for tyre evaluation. So that part of the programme wasn't totally conclusive and I will have to wait until the next test at Paul Ricard to learn more.
Were you also working towards the Barcelona race?
Olivier Panis: No. I was concentrating on preliminary work on the tyre choice for Silverstone as well as doing some shock absorber evaluation. I also tried some new front and rear wings and did some general set-up work.