07/12/2005
NEWS STORY
 |
Montagny quickest as Ferrari V8 shows pace
Renault's Franck Montagny, running a (restricted) V10, topped the timesheets on the first day of testing at the Circuito Jerez de la Frontera today.
However, centre of attention was Marc Gene in the 2004 Ferrari fitted with the V8 power-plant. The Spaniard finished the day second quickest, just 0.219s off Montagny's time.
Gene was joined by Luca Badoer, who was running a 2005 car fitted with a V10 engine modified to conform to the 2006 technical regulations. However, the Italian's day ended early due to a mechanical failure on the right front corner of his car.
Montagny was joined by Heikki Kovalainen. The Frenchman completed a morning of set-up work, developing his work from Barcelona and continuing to make good progress on understanding chassis performance with V8 power. Subsequently, his work focused on tyre testing for Michelin and some brake testing.
The Finn's first test of the winter saw him acclimatize himself to the simulated V8 power levels, prior to beginning working on set-ups. After this, he completed a suspension development programme.
"We had a very good day's testing," said Christian Silk, the team's chief test engineer, "completing more work than we had initially planned for and making good progress with our programmes for the week. Heikki began understanding the demands of running with V8 power, while Franck continued strongly with the programmes he began last week in Barcelona."
Anthony Davidson and James Rossiter were on duty for Honda, both driving 'concept' cars.
Davidson spent the morning working on set-up work for the chassis and the engine, completing 51 laps. He followed this by running through a tyre evaluation programme in the afternoon session.
Rossiter completed a shakedown run in a brand new chassis 078-08, followed by an aero evaluation. He also completed a Michelin tyre programme in the afternoon
Jenson Button will take over from Anthony tomorrow (Thursday), with James continuing in the second car.
Narain Karthikeyan made an impressive debut with WilliamsF1, the Indian finishing fifth quickest, 0.82s off Montagny's pace, and 0.3s ahead of 2006 driver, Nico Rosberg. However, the former Jordan driver was the cause of two red flags, one the result of a spin and the other following a mechanical failure.
"Narain spent some time familiarising himself with the car, carrying out long runs, systems checks and calibration work," said Sam Michael. "Nico concentrated on stabilised temperature runs, mechanical and aero set-ups.
"It was another productive day during which we gained valuable mileage with the mechanical components on the interim FW27C," he added.
McLaren had Pedro de la Rosa on duty, in addition to DTM Champion, Gary Paffett,
Following the Barcelona test last week work continued on development and assessment of the Mercedes-Benz V8 engine and Michelin tyres.
Tomorrow, Paffett is joined by Alexander Wurz.
Ryan Briscoe made his return to the cockpit of a Formula 1 car for the first time in a year when he tested for Toyota. The Australian, a regular test driver for Toyota until 2004, was drafted in as a late replacement for Olivier Panis, who was unwell.
Briscoe was making one of his first appearances in a race car since his accident at Chicago in this year's Indy Racing League but he reported no ill effects after nearly 80 laps.
Ralf Schumacher put in a solid morning of work on the new TF106, continuing the good start he made with the car at last week's debut test at Barcelona. But his day was curtailed after lunch when he reported some discomfort in his back. In order not to risk aggravating the problem, the team decided to end his test early. Jarno Trulli will now travel to Jerez to test alongside Briscoe tomorrow.
"Apart from one day in an F3 car, this is my first time back in a race car since my IRL accident," said Briscoe, "and it feels great.
"I only found out two days ago that I would be driving so it was a bit of a surprise call. But I did about 80 laps today with no physical problems at all so I'm really happy. It was good fun to be back behind the wheel of an F1 car again. There's nothing like it.
"I know everyone in Toyota's test team and they are good people to work with," he added, "so I felt really comfortable out there. I'm glad to be of help to the team and I've enjoyed getting the feel of the new car. It didn't take long to get back into the swing of things and we did some work on tyre pressures and temperatures. We didn't quite finish the programme because of an engine failure at the end of the day but we got most of it done and I'm happy with the first day of work."
"Today was a productive first day of testing," said Mike Gascoyne. "Ryan's programme was mainly set-up work, running on the reference tyre and getting used to driving a F1 car again after driving in America for the last year. Ralf was pretty pleased with the car and the balance and he looked very competitive this morning. Unfortunately he aggravated a minor back injury which meant the team decided to cut his testing short. It's not a major problem but it was causing him some discomfort and we did not want to make the problem worse. The only mechanical problem was Ryan's engine failure at the end of the day. This was an engine that had already done a lot of miles, so it's not a particular concern. Overall our first impressions of our new package continue to look positive."
MF1 began a two-car test with Christijan Albers and Thomas Biagi driving. For his first proper test in an F1 car, Biagi spent time familiarising himself with the EJ15B car and completed 90 laps. He focused on the electronic software development and Bridgestone tyre development.
Christijan Albers was at the wheel of an interim EJ15B V8 car for the first time and conducted all the necessary system checks.
"We have run the V8 car for the first time today and we did not have any major issues with it which is positive," said technical director, James Key. "The installation that we did for the interim car has been good, the engine has performed as we expected and hoped and has proved reliable. We have a few issues we have to solve for tomorrow but nothing fundamental.
"Christijan's feedback has been very useful. He picked up on a few things which we can work on tonight to improve his set-up. We also have some work to do with Bridgestone on the new tyres for next year in the next few days. Thomas has done a great job today with some good lap times. He did not have any problems adapting to an F1 car and has contributed well to our efforts today. All in all, we are pleased with the progress," he added.
The test will continue tomorrow with Tiago Monteiro and Belgian driver Jeffrey van Hooydonk.
To check out the Midland F1 livery picture gallery, click here