27/08/2005
NEWS STORY
With McLaren heading home, having completed its test programme in two days, Renault was able to dominate proceedings on the final day at Monza. Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella topped the timesheets, though neither was able to match the blistering pace demonstrated by Juan Pablo Montoya on Wednesday and Thursday.
That said, the team suffered a number of technical problems throughout the morning, which strictly limited track-time. However, a productive afternoon saw the French team complete its test programme, with further work on set-ups, tyres and brakes.
"We had a difficult morning," admitted Christian Silk. "The circuit was in poor condition, and we were delayed by a number of niggling problems until mid-afternoon. However, the mechanics and engineers did a great job to prepare the cars, and we collected a lot of good data this afternoon, completing our preparations for the race in Monza. It has been a very professional session, and we feel we are well prepared for the forthcoming race."
Other than a light rain shower in the morning, conditions were ideal, with air temperatures reaching 28 degrees C.
It was another day of mixed emotions for Toyota. Although Jarno Trulli set the third fastest time, albeit 0.933s off Alonso's best, for the second successive day Ricardo Zonta, again driving the 'development car', failed to post a time.
"With the development chassis we were running it for the first time and gathering some data that we can analyse at Cologne before doing further tests with the car," said chief test engineer Gerd Pfeiffer, diplomatically.
"There were a couple of small issues that we wanted to address and so it was a case of data gathering rather than trying to do mileage. We will do some more work with the development car in upcoming tests," added Zonta, equally diplomatically.
Ferrari had Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer on duty once again. The Maranello drivers concluded preparation work for next week's Italian Grand Prix, centred mainly on tyres and aerodynamics. Badoer also successfully completed the endurance run begun over the past few days.
Anthony Davidson joined BAR at Monza for the final day, taking over from Jenson Button. The Englishman spent his early runs finding a good balance before running through a repeat of the aerodynamic evaluation which Button completed on Thursday.
Takuma Sato had a frustrating morning as his engine failed during his first run of the day. However, the mechanics changed his engine which enabled the Japanese driver to go back out and complete a further 25 laps before the lunch break. He continued the tyre evaluation programme in the afternoon with a final lap tally for the day of 94 laps.
Adam Carroll continued to put more mileage on the 2006 development car, completing 81 laps.
"Monza is now the only high speed, low downforce circuit on the F1 calendar," said chief test engineer, Mark Ellis, "so our test this week has been highly specific to the race next weekend. Our testing has been aimed at optimising the chassis, aero and tyres to the demands of sustained high-speed running, at speeds of over 360kph. We have had a productive two days including proving the latest specification Honda engine, completing more than two race weekends mileage"
Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg were on duty for WilliamsF1, both drivers working on set-ups in addition to developing the FW27's traction control and evaluating tyre compounds and structures. The drivers also performed a number of practice starts.
"Nick & Nico finished off a successful test in Monza today," said Sam Michael, "compromised only by a rear suspension problem, which we quickly isolated the cause of and subsequently found a solution to.
"Over the three day test, we finalised wing settings and mechanical set-up for the forthcoming Grand Prix as well as finalising our tyre compound choice with Michelin."
After two days with his 'new team', Felipe Massa was back with Sauber for the final day of testing. The Brazilian completed 86 laps, posting a best time 0.318s quicker than he set in the F2005.
"In the morning the track was wet, but nevertheless we were able to sort out the Monza race specification for Felipe's car and finished our tyre selection work in the afternoon," said Paul Russell. "In the course of the day we had to change the engine as it has reached it's mileage. Although this interrupted our schedule we could still complete our programme.
"This was the final test this season for us, and also the last one we did with Felipe and the Ferrari crew.
"Overall it was a good test and we gained decent results. Therefore we believe to be quite well prepared for the Italian Grand Prix next week."
Narain Karthikeyan drove the EJ15B, which teammate Tiago Monteiro will drive at Monza next week. The Indian completed 75 laps, and 'pace-wise' was in touch with Carroll, Badoer, Rosberg and Massa, as the Silverstone team appears to have solved the car's cooling problem.
Minardi concluded its two-day test with Christijan Albers taking over driving duties from team mate, Robert Doornbos. The Faenza squad's technical staff once again focused on chassis set-up work, tyre evaluation and the assessment of new aerodynamic components.
"We had a really good day today," said Albers, who finished fifteenth, of fifteen. "We made a big step forward, especially considering that this is the first time I've run at Monza and I didn't know the track. We started this morning recording immediately a good lap time and we have improved on this during the day by working intensively on the car. Traffic at the end of the session did not allow me to achieve a time as quick as we could have, but it's important to know that the car has the potential to go quicker. I think we can consider ourselves definitely satisfied."
"It has been another good day for Minardi," added team manager Massimo Rivola. "We covered a lot of laps, and again carried out work on different aerodynamic packages and assessed various tyre options. Considering Christijan was not feeling 100 per cent well today, he did the usual professional job we've come to expect. In total, we've covered 1000 km over the two days of this test without encountering any significant technical problems, which seems to indicate we've made a good step forward in terms of reliability. It has definitely been a useful test, and sets us up well in terms of our preparations for next weekend's Italian Grand Prix."