13/12/2006
NEWS STORY
Renault's Heikki Kovalainen topped the timesheets at Jerez today, as the final test of 2006 began in earnest.
The Finn was partnered by Giancarlo Fisichella, with the French outfit's objectives pretty similar to those of last week. The main priority was to add as much mileage as possible on the new 2007 gear box that equipped the two Renault cars this week. The other goal was to continue working on an important tyre programme with Bridgestone.
"We made good progress in all the different areas," said Kovalainen, who makes his F1 race debut next March, "especially regarding the tyre and the new gear box. We recorded good data which will be a good basis for 2007."
"I am very pleased as we covered a good number of laps and made excellent progress in our programme," added Fisichella. "It was a very positive day which will be very useful for the next two days."
"It was a good first day of testing," said test team manager, Christian Silk. "We completed our programme on both cars and enjoyed a trouble-free day which is quite satisfying as we are running the two cars with the new gear box this week."
Luca Badoer was second quickest, 0.441s down on Kovalainen, as he and Felipe Massa continued the programmes carried out at Barcelona and last week here at Jerez, namely the development of the new gearbox and mechanical components, in addition to adapting the car to the new tyres and engine reliability.
With Jenson Button sidelined, Christian Klien and James Rossiter will share testing duties for Honda this week.
Both drivers began the day completing long runs before the Austrian completed some electronics work and the Englishman ran through an aero evaluation, completing 53 and 52 laps respectively.
Klien then completed a short aero evaluation, followed by chassis set-up work over longer runs in the afternoon session, finishing the day with 123 laps. Rossiter also completed a chassis set-up programme over short runs with one longer run at the end of the day, completing 97 laps in total.
McLaren also focussed on the new Bridgestone tyres, as Pedro de la Rosa and Lewis Hamilton worked on set-up and wheel specification evaluation. For Hamilton today was the first time he had driven on the new tyres. Other work for the Woking outfit included proving components for the MP4-22.
Nick Heidfeld was the quicker of the two BMW drivers on duty as the German team focused on two tasks: getting more mileage on the new quick shift gearbox and to gaining further information about the Bridgestone Potenza tyres.
Heidfeld concentrated on set-up work, also testing some new components, while Sebastian Vettel started with set-up work also before carrying out an aerodynamic test in the afternoon plus a systems check programme including differential and traction control.
Tomorrow (Thursday), Robert Kubica will take over from Vettel. The main targets remain testing the gearbox and continuing the set-up work with regard to the new tyres.
Having been the sole team in action yesterday, Toyota today for its penultimate day of testing this year. Next season's Bridgestone tyres were again the focus of the day's work and Jarno Trulli got his first taste of the new rubber at Jerez. Franck Montagny was back behind the wheel again for a second consecutive day but suffered a frustrating morning when a minor issue needed time-consuming repairs. He returned to the car in the afternoon to continue where he left off yesterday, gathering more information on the new tyres and trying out different set-ups.
Trulli was able to go through his programme with no problems, completing almost 100 laps, and he will return to action again tomorrow, when he will be joined by Olivier Panis, who makes his final appearance in Formula 1 after 12 years.
"We had a normal test today and it went well," said Trulli. "I managed to complete a lot of laps and I was mainly trying different things on the car to find a good balance. It was my first time on the new tyres at Jerez and they are obviously much slower than last year's tyres were around here. There is a lot of work we need to do to understand them fully but so far so good."
"Today I was expecting a good day and it was not," admitted Montagny. "We stopped after three laps with a minor issue on the car, something we never had before and it took quite a long time to fix. I didn't go out again until the afternoon so we didn't have a lot of time to do the set-up work but we did the comparison work we wanted to do and that is a good thing. We carried on from yesterday but we still have plenty of work to do to find a perfect set-up on the car."
"It was a shame for Franck that the repair inside the fuel tank this morning took so long," said Pascal Vasselon, "but unfortunately a small issue sometimes takes a long time to put right. The mechanics worked hard to get him out on track after lunch and he was able to continue with the tyre testing he started yesterday.
"Jarno had a good day testing tyres and set-up and we are pleased with the information we got. Both drivers did some long runs and the tyres seemed quite consistent."
In addition to Montagny, Rossiter and Badoer suffered failures which cost them track-time.
Kazuki Nakajima was on duty for WilliamsF1 as the English team continued its policy of running just one car.
"Kazuki was driving on our first day back in Jerez and weather conditions were much more favourable than on his first run last Friday," said test team manager, Mike Condliffe. "The aim was for him to complete a sufficient number of laps to be able to qualify for a super licence, which he comfortably achieved.
"Towards the end of the session, he practised starts to familiarise himself with the procedure. He has had a very successful day and should be very pleased with his performance."
Takuma Sato will be on duty for Super Aguri for all three days this week. Today's programme comprised his initial evaluation of the 2007 tyres whilst running through a series of set-up changes, Honda engine programmes and targeting some longer runs at the warmest point of the day.
Red Bull and Toro Rosso were also on duty, with Michael Ammermuller doing the business for the Milton Keynes based outfit. The focus of attention, at least as far as the media was concerned, however, was the driver of the second Toro Rosso, three-time Champ Car champion, Sebastian Bourdais.
The Frenchman completed 80 laps, and was at pains to tell reporters that he is commited to Champ Car next season. His best time was 0.7s off Speed's best, though little should be read into that.