05/04/2006
NEWS STORY
On the second day of testing at the Vallelunga track, on the outskirts of Rome, it was former World Champion, Michael Schumacher, who set the pace.
It was a cooler day today, with ambient temperatures reaching only 18 degrees C. The wind also picked up along with some lunchtime rain showers.
Schumacher drove the 248 F1, while Luca Badoer used the (regulated) V10 powered F2004 which Marc Gene drove on Tuesday.
Michael concentrated on development of new components and on an endurance test of the V8 power unit, while the Italian focuses on tyre development work for Bridgestone.
Jenson Button joined Anthony Davidson this morning and spent his early laps acclimatising to the car and the circuit as this is the first time that he has driven at Vallelunga. Jenson spent the remainder of the morning session working through a chassis set-up programme.
Davidson continued his running today with an intensive tyre evaluation, completing 97 laps in the morning session. Once the circuit had dried out from the lunchtime showers, Anthony continued the tyre programme, completing a further 61 laps in the afternoon.
Jenson continued to work on the chassis set-up programme that he began this morning, completing 44 laps this afternoon, for a total of 108 laps in total.
WilliamsF1's sole runner, Alexander Wurz, was the slowest today, posting a best time 2.2s off the pace. It was the Austrian's first time at the Rome track.
"We spent the morning testing new suspension parts on both the front and the rear of the car and carrying out some tyre warm up tests," revealed test team manager, Mike Condliffe. "The afternoon saw Alex complete tyre comparisons for the forthcoming race at Imola."