17/02/2006
NEWS STORY
Kimi Raikkonen saved the best for last at Valencia today, posting the fastest time of the day and the fastest time seen at the Spanish track since February 2005.
The Finn was joined by Pedro de la Rosa as the two continued the Woking outfit's pre-season preparations.
Raikkonen's best lap, 0.982s slower than the fastest time posted at Valencia in 2005, also posted by the Finn, was almost a second quicker than anything else seen today.
"It has been an encouraging week," said the Finn. "I have covered good mileage in the MP4-21 in dry track conditions and worked through a number of development programmes with the team. Next week I will be in Barcelona for my final test before going to Bahrain, I have three days in the car there and I am looking forward to carrying on with the work from this week."
"I would say that the MP4-21 is definitely improving at the moment," added de la Rosa. "We made a step forward this week and are looking to carry this momentum forward into the next test in Barcelona. I had two days in the car, including the shakedown on Tuesday, and covered over 860km."
Renault had another productive day, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen completing 244 laps between them.
Giancarlo spent the day working on exploring set-ups with the R26, completing the team's first day of detailed set-up work this winter. A minor hydraulic leak delayed his programme in the middle of the day, but he nevertheless completed 83 laps.
Kovalainen completed 161 laps, split between a race distance during the morning and tyre evaluation in the afternoon. He did not encounter any technical problems.
"We finished this session on the right note," said Christian Silk, "a high-mileage day with competitive performance from both cars. Giancarlo completed our first full day of detailed set-up work, and although we had a minor problem with the car, this was quickly solved and we found some very promising directions for the future. As for Heikki, he once again ran trouble-free and did plenty of miles on his tyre programme. Overall, we had a good week: we have discovered some promising development directions, and completed nearly 3000 km."
David coulthard wrapped up Red Bull Valencia test, with the fourth best time of the day, though he only completed 34 laps. The Scot's programme was similar to yesterday's, concentrating on chassis set-up, control systems and tyres.
Technical Director, Mark Smith, described Valencia as "a very positive and encouraging week of testing."
"We have made progress throughout the week," he added, "and we now have a much better understanding of the car. Next week, we move to Barcelona for the final test before the opening round of the season and so we will be concentrating on race distance simulations and race preparation, including pit-stops, complete with refuelling."
Midland was also present for the final day, with Tiago Monteiro and Adrian Sutil on duty.
The Portugues driver encountered a day of mixed fortunes: a minor incident in the morning resulted in the team having to work hard to get the car back on track in the afternoon. Fortunately, this enabled the team to complete more useful set-up work and tyre development.
"Today was not quite as productive as some of the days we've had this week," admitted Monteiro, "but that's the nature of the sport. It was a tough run for me, and we had to deal with a few problems.
"On a positive note," he added, "we have a much better understanding of the new compounds Bridgestone is giving us, and that is what we will have to concentrate on in Barcelona next week, in preparation for Bahrain.
"This week has been very useful," added James Key. "We've made more progress with the set up and have a much better understanding of the car. We have also made a great step forward with the tyres.
"The last two days have been difficult, mainly due to the limited time we've had on track. However, we're confident we have a handle on the few issues we had to resolve yesterday.
"Tiago is thankfully okay after a small off this morning," he added, "and the guys did a very good job getting the car back on track again for the afternoon.
"Heading into Barcelona next week, a track we are very familiar with, will give us an even better chance to look at development."
Weather
Air temperature: 8-21 C
Track temperature: 7-22 C
Sunny and warm