24/02/2007
NEWS STORY
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McLaren topped the timesheets on the third day of testing at Sakhir, ahead of a two day break before the teams begin the final pre-season test before the 2007 World Championship gets underway.
The best time of the day was posted by world Champion Fernando Alonso, with teammate Lewis Hamilton just 0.100s behind, as the Woking team continued its development programme, making the most of the warm ambient and track temperatures.
Both drivers had on-track stoppages during the course of the day, Alonso with a hydraulics issue that was rectified by the team to allow the Spaniard to return to the circuit during the session, while Hamilton had an engine failure just an hour before the end of the session. However, according to the team the engine had completed over 1,200km and survived beyond its contingency mileage.
"It has been interesting to get the MP4-22 on track in consistent weather conditions," said Alonso. "We have been able to get a fuller understanding of the car and how it works in the warmer temperatures, including looking at areas such as the cooling system, which has been productive.
"It was also a chance for me to see the latest performance upgrades and we have useful feedback from the developments that have been incorporated. It was great to see some of the work that has been done on the test track and at the McLaren Technology Centre on the car, as we progress towards Australia. We have another three days next week in Bahrain and have to make the most of that time. There is, as always in Formula 1, still work to do."
"Alongside the overall test plan, which has seen us cover final sign-offs on elements such as software and the Melbourne specification, our time in Bahrain is also focusing on the Bridgestone Potenza evaluation in the higher temperatures," added Hamilton. "I haven't driven on the Bahrain track since 2004, so it is also really useful to get some laps in prior to the Grand Prix."
Behind the two McLarens were the two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, both over 0.7s off Alonso's pace. The Italian team's programme centred on a long run test for the 056 engine, running over the distance of a double race weekend, comprehensive Grand Prix simulation, including pit stops, electronics, various set-up changes and comparison of various mechanical components.
After three days both drivers had completed their planned programmes. Massa had reached the mileage limit on his engine even before the lunch break and only got back on track towards the end of the afternoon, while Raikkonen finished his long run at the end of the day.
Heikki Kovalainen spent the day fine-tuning his preparations before the opening race of the year in three weeks' time. He concentrated on set-up evaluation with the car, conductive comparative tests to find an optimum handling balance and analysing the behaviour of the Bridgestone Potenza tyres.
Across the garage, Nelson Piquet Jr completed his pre-season work with further mechanical set-up testing, with the goal of evaluating as many different alternatives as possible, in order to collect data on chassis handling and tyre behaviour.
"After initially working on endurance and reliability this week, we then moved on to a set-up programme," said Christian Silk. "Everything went as well as we had hoped, and we completed our programme without any problems. This circuit is very different to those we have run on so far this winter, and our engineers have managed to complete a greater amount of testing than at any other session.
"Our car has been very reliable," he continued, "and has responded well to the different set-up options we have studied this week. Both drivers were very focused for all three days. For Heikki, it's an advantage to gain further experience on the circuit where he will compete in his third Grand Prix. As for Nelsinho, it was a good chance to work with the race team. We have had some encouraging results this week, and we will look to build on them next week with Heikki and Giancarlo."
Both Honda drivers spent the morning concentrating on aero evaluations and chassis work. Button continued his aero programme into the afternoon session with Barrichello running through a full race simulation.
"This week we have continued our programme of set-up work on the car and assessed some new aero parts which we are running for the first time," revealed the Englishman. "We also completed a number of race distance simulations which went smoothly. We have one final test now before the start of the season so I'm looking forward to next week and having some more new parts to test."
"It's been a good week for us," added Barrichello, "and we have completed all the mileage that we had planned. The car proved reliable and it also seems to work well in the hot temperatures so we have been more competitive here. We have still got some fine-tuning to do on the car as the balance is not quite there yet, so next week's test will be important to help us resolve this before the season starts."
"The first Bahrain test this week has given both Jenson and Rubens the opportunity to test some new aerodynamic developments which will be used for the first race of the season in Melbourne," said Engineering Director Jacky Eeckelaert. "Both drivers also completed full race simulation exercises in the hot track temperatures which has provided useful information for us. The test programme has gone well and we look forward to continuing the development with further new parts arriving for next week."
David Coulthard finished eighth quickest, almost 0.8s ahead of his Australian teammate.
"Generally over the three days, we made good progress, culminating in both David and Mark completing the equivalent of a race distance each today," said Head of Race and Test Engineering, Paul Monaghan. "David also posted some competitive times, while Mark was working on different aspects of the car's performance.
"As far as cooling and brakes are concerned, we look in good shape and, although we still have some reliability concerns, I think we can sort these out before tackling the next three days of testing here."
Having topped the timesheets yesterday, today Nick Heidfeld was down in tenth position, just ahead of teammate Robert Kubica. Both drivers used the morning session to do some aero work, comparing different front wings, and also carrying out set-up tests. The Pole also conducted a comparison to evaluate different tyre compounds.
In the afternoon session plans for longer runs were once again cut off by red flags, while an unplanned engine change on Heidfeld's car also cost time. Kubica's programme for the second half of the day was testing different damper settings and new aero parts which both brought positive results.
Finishing twelfth on the timesheets was Anthony Davidson in the 'interim' Super Aguri, the Englishman having his final track-time before he takes to the track in Melbourne in three weeks. His programme focused on build-up scenarios with Melbourne in mind, and a qualifying run, grid simulation and race run were all successfully orchestrated.
"It has been a positive test for the team and we have continued to learn about the new Bridgestone tyres," said the Englishman. "It was interesting having two different compounds here and we found good car balance with both types. I feel that we have been competitive with our lap times, especially on the longer runs, and with the reliability of the car. As the track grip improved it seemed to suit the car more and more, and this gives me a good indication of rubber levels that we will see over the race weekend."
"We wanted to ensure that Anthony ran a good number of laps during his final test before the season opening Grand Prix in Australia," said Sporting Director Graham Taylor. "This was achieved and he seems happy with the balance of the car and his testing so far."
At Toyota, Franck Montagny replaced Ralf Schumacher to partner Jarno Trulli as the Japanese team made more progress on fine-tuning the TF107.
The Frenchman's programme required several long runs as he looked to complete at least a race distance while the Italian focused on set-up options with the new aerodynamic package.
Trulli's progress was interrupted by gearbox control issues during the morning and he caused a red flag at midday when he stopped on the circuit, but Montagny racked up the laps before lunch thanks to some trouble-free running. He managed more than a race distance in the morning alone and both drivers were busy in the afternoon gathering data which the team will now study before testing resumes in Bahrain on Tuesday.
"We wrapped up the first part of the Bahrain test in a positive way," said Dieter Gass, "putting a lot of miles on both cars without major problems. We had a planned engine and gearbox change over lunchtime on Franck's car. That took a bit more time than we expected but nevertheless he completed the programme as planned which was good. Jarno also went through our programme and found some interesting bits in terms of the set-up. We will now have to analyse the work we have done this week and focus a little bit more on performance during the next test."
"The positive thing from today was that we did a lot of miles," said Trulli, "almost twice a race distance and this should be very helpful to us. Unfortunately my lap times were not that good but that was more because we were concentrating on long runs rather than qualifying simulations. It has been a reasonable day and the laps I did helped us evaluate several things on the car, including our new aero package."
"It was an interesting day because both of the cars did over a hundred laps," added Montagny. "This morning we were able to do a race distance with no problems. Unfortunately my fastest lap time was not great so that was disappointing but step by step we will find that. It was more important that we completed our programme and did a race distance on the new gearbox. We also worked on some aero things in the afternoon and now we will see how that all comes together next week."
Scott Speed, who was subsequently confirmed as Toro Rosso's second driver for 2007, took over from Tonio Liuzzi. This week's test was the first proper run for the STR2, and the American's first time in the car.
"We are still very much in the early stages of development, learning about the car and how to work with it," said Chief Engineer, Laurent Mekies. "This meant that for the first two days, we did not cover as much mileage as we would have liked, but this is inevitable when learning about a new car. But by the third day, we managed to increase our number of laps and pick up some speed, as we worked on aero and mechanical set up, as well as evaluating the two types of tyre Bridgestone will make available to us for the race here in April."
To check out our pictures from today's testing at Sakhir, click here