15/05/2007
NEWS STORY
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McLaren's Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets on the first day of testing at Paul Ricard today, giving further hope to those who believe the World Championship leader can score his first ever Grand Prix win next week at Monaco, where he has already stood atop the podium following wins in F3 and GP2.
Conditions were perfect for much of the day, but at times gusting winds caused problems.
With the next race around the streets of Monte Carlo, it was time for the teams to sample the 'super soft' Bridgestone tyres not used thus far this season. Monaco will see the soft tyre selected as the 'prime' and the super soft as the 'option'. The early part of this week's test, therefore, has most of the teams working on tyre evaluation with the super soft likely to be used in Monaco qualifying, where grid position is all-important due to the added difficulty of overtaking around the street track's tight confines.
The Woking team's test began with a focus on set-up work and tyre evaluation for the Monaco Grand Prix on the 2.232 mile 2D SC (short) configuration. Alongside this, Lewis and the test team spent time on the mechanical development of the MP4-22.
Second quickest, albeit 1.22s off the pace, was Ralf Schumacher, who retired from last Sunday's race at Barcelona. The German enjoyed a trouble-free day as he got to grips with the new compound.
"The main focus of my test is to concentrate on detail work for Monte Carlo," said Schumacher. "The car was quite 'oversteery' early in the day and that wasn't helped by the strong gusting winds that, at one point, were moving me over a couple of metres on the main straight. You sometimes get that on a motorway overtaking a lorry on a windy day but it's not a nice feeling at 200mph! People talk about the strong Mistral wind in this part of the world and I certainly experienced it today. Sometimes the wind was so strong that you barely got top gear on the straight but when conditions were calmer we had a productive day, trying a number of set-ups as well as evaluating the super soft and soft tyres for Monaco."
"We had a good day with no reliability issues and got through our programme," revealed test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "Ralf was happier with the set-up later in the day and it has provided a good base for what is an important test. With Monaco coming up we have also been running the super soft and soft Bridgestone tyres. We have a busy schedule to get through, which Ralf will continue tomorrow while Franck Montagny takes over on Thursday and Friday."
Nelson Piquet completed his programme for Renault without any problems. The Brazilian concentrated on preparing for the race in Monaco, and continued to make progress with its planned development programme.
"I am pleased to be driving an F1 car here," said the Brazilian. "I know the circuit well from GP2, and it was interesting to see how it looked from the cockpit of the R27. I ran a lot today, just like in Barcelona last time out, and that's always a good thing. I think we made good progress, it was a positive, encouraging day for the rest of the week."
"We made good progress, without any problems at all," added Christian silk, "and Nelsinho did exactly the job we wanted from him, without any mistakes at all. We worked on the electronic systems, and traction control development; the results were interesting. We will continue preparations for Monaco tomorrow with Heikki."
Red Bull continues to make good progress, and with teammate David Coulthard scoring points at Barcelona last weekend, Mark Webber will be keen to open his account at Monaco next week. Fourth best time today, appears to indicate that the Australian could be on target. His Scottish teammate takes over tomorrow.
Fifth quickest was Nico Rosberg in the Williams, the British team also showing signs of improvement last weekend.
"We've been running through a substantial test programme today," said Dickie Stanford. "Nico completed a considerable 128 laps on the modified, Monaco-based track and experienced no problems with the car. We will carry on with our planned schedule tomorrow with Alex driving."
Right behind the German was Barcelona winner Felipe Massa in the Ferrari. The Brazilian started preparing for Monaco by working on set-ups and on the development of aerodynamic and mechanical components. Massa completed 94 laps on his way to posting a best time 1.57s off Hamilton's best.
Christian Klien began Honda's programme. He spent the day focusing on a series of evaluations with the latest aero configurations for the car. Rubens Barrichello will take over the car tomorrow for the second day of testing on the Monaco configuration circuit.
GP2 Race 2 winner, and championship leader, Timo Glock was on duty for BMW. The German worked mainly on the set-ups for Monaco. In addition he did some systems work, and tested some new mechanical components.
Robert Kubica will take over driving duties tomorrow and will continue working on set-ups for Monaco as well as evaluating the two tyre compounds.
Following an historic Spanish Grand Prix, where Takuma Sato scored the team's first ever World Championship point, Super Aguri's was back in action with new signing James Rossiter undertaking testing duties. The team completed balance work for Monaco and long runs in the afternoon to gather data for the softer tyres available for the forthcoming race. Takuma Sato will continue the test tomorrow.
"It has been a great first day," said Rossiter. "It felt good to be driving again having last driven in February and I thoroughly enjoyed it! After quickly getting to know the team and the car, we worked on finding good car balance and running with the Monaco wings in the morning. In the afternoon we did longer runs evaluating the tyre options for the next race and we had good reliability. The team is very professional and we worked well together, so overall it was a very good first day for me."
Scott Speed only completed 53 laps in the Toro Rosso, the American encountering a number of mechanical problems. Three-time Champ Car champion, Sebastien Bourdais is back in action for the Faenza-based team tomorrow, the Frenchman having last tested in December 2006. It is widely thought that Toro Rosso has an option on his services for 2008, the Frenchman having made no secret of his desire to enter F1.
Propping up the timesheets, 3.7s off Hamilton's pace, and 1.3s behind Speed, was Fairuz Fauzy in the Spyker. The Dutch team prepared for Monaco by evaluating set-ups, brakes and the soft Bridgestone Potenza tyres. Adrian Sutil will drive tomorrow morning, before Christijan Albers takes over in the afternoon.
"Today was a good, positive session," said Fauzy. "We went out just before lunch and did 10 laps to check the balance of the car, then focussed on getting a good set-up for Monaco in the afternoon. We put some new tyres on, but unfortunately I had a small problem on my quickest lap so the time isn't really representative of the progress we made. Our pace over the longer runs was pretty good - quicker than the Toro Rosso cars - and much better when we fitted new brakes, so that's encouraging for the team."
"Fairuz ran through a combination of set-up and brake system tests along with some set-up solutions appropriate to the demands of Monaco," said Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer. "The windy conditions made performance testing tricky, but we were pleased with the progress especially considering that set-ups that work well in Monaco are not always what are needed for a fast lap time on the smoother track surface here. Overall we were pleased with how the first day went and Fairuz did a thorough job."