16/05/2007
NEWS STORY
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Having set the pace on Tuesday, Lewis Hamilton once again topped the timesheets at Paul Ricard today, as all eleven teams continued their preparations for next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
The Englishman improved on his best time from yesterday by 0.085, however, his rivals, most notably Felipe Massa, closed the gap, getting to within 0.141s of the McLaren driver.
Conditions for much of the day were ideal, except for the occasional strong wind and cloud. Once again, the teams were using the 2D SC Short configuration.
Hamilton continued to focus on the MP4-22's aero package, in addition to tyre evaluation and set-ups. The World Championship leader completed 133 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:05.614.
Bahrain and Spain winner Felipe Massa was second quickest, having been pace-setter for much of the morning. The Brazilian continued with finding the best set-up, tyre evaluations, including the super-soft option, and development of aerodynamic and mechanical components. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen takes over the F2007 tomorrow.
Third quickest was Robert Kubica, fresh from his fourth place at Barcelona. The Pole started the day working out a baseline-set up. He then evaluated aerodynamic modifications on the car. The team also did development work on the electronic systems. In the afternoon he concentrated on set-ups.
With neither driver having encountered any problems, tomorrow (Thursday), Kubica will continue on the longer version of the Paul Ricard track, testing a medium downforce package in preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix.
David Coulthard took over driving duties from Mark Webber for Red Bull, the Scot focussing on tyre evaluation, aerodynamic and suspension work. Mark Webber is back on duty tomorrow.
Following his points finish at Barcelona, Takuma Sato returned to work today, and will be delighted to have finished fifth quickest, thereby emphasising Super Aguri's improving form. Although the team had a small set back in the morning, 115 laps were achieved whilst evaluating the Monaco aero package. The Japanese team also tested both tyre options satisfactorily. James Rossiter will continue testing duties for the team tomorrow.
Heikki Kovalainen was back in action for Renault, as the World Champions continued with the test programme begun by Nelson Piquet yesterday. The Finn, who completed the most lap (151) concentrated on car set-ups and also conducted several aerodynamic tests.
The Finn will be driving again tomorrow, when the circuit will be changed to a Canada-style configuration (long straights and tight corners) to prepare for the sixth round of the 2007 championship.
"It was an interesting day of ahead of next week's race," said Kovalainen. "We worked on the car set-up and the tyres, and the car reacted well to the different changes. I think our testing yesterday and today will give us a good basis for the opening practice sessions on Thursday in Monaco."
"We completed a trouble-free day without any difficulty, and ran through a wide range of set-up solutions that we wanted to test," said Christian Silk. "I think the data from today looks good, and will be a good basis for our work in Monaco and at the next races. It was a busy day for Heikki, and the engineers now have to analyse the data to make the most of the work he completed today!"
Rubens Barrichello finished seventh quickest, just 0.902s off the pace. However, his best time was posted in the RA107 running the current aero package, while a new package, which included new sidepods and front and rear wings, saw him lapping up to half-a-second slower.
Alexander Wurz took over from Nico Rosberg, the Austrian finishing 0.962s off the pace.
"Alex spent the session finishing the Monaco set-up programme," said Dickie Stanford. "Tomorrow, the circuit will be modified to reflect the Montreal track layout and we will be converting the car accordingly this evening so we can work on preparation for the race there. Alex will be on duty again."
Toyota's programme centred around aerodynamics as well as the different electronic maps that will be used on the streets of the Principality next week. Lap times were not the priority, according to the team, and Ralf Schumacher again enjoyed a positive day with no reliability concerns. Franck Montagny will take over for the final two days on Thursday and Friday.
"Monaco is a very different kind of track to the four circuits we have been to so far this year," said Schumacher. "Today I finished my aerodynamic and tyre programmes and also worked on the different traction control maps that are used where there is a premium on acceleration out of slow corners. We have got through a lot of work over the past couple of days, which is important when the competition is so tight."
"Ralf has had a good test and we did all that we needed to do for Monaco," said test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "It is the first time that we have run the extra wings and flaps that you have in high downforce trim and there was also a lot of electronic work to concentrate on. We had good reliability again and the emphasis today was not on setting quick times but on doing a comprehensive programme. I think in general we can be happy but the proof is always the result at the end of the race."
Sebastien Bourdais made his return to the wheel of an F1 car today, the Frenchman in action for Toro Rosso. There were no mechanical problems, hence the large number of laps (142).
The programme consisted of evaluating tyre compounds and doing long runs, while also evaluating a couple of new aerodynamic and mechanical components. Scott speed is back on duty tomorrow.
Adrian Sutil and Christijan Albers were both on duty for Spyker, the German in action in the morning before handing over to his Dutch teammate.
'Both race drivers tested today," said chief race and test engineer, Dominic Harlow, "running again on the Monaco simulation short track layout. They ran a similar programme, working on set-up and control systems developments and comparing the tyres available for the race. The engineers made good progress in improving the car behaviour in the low speed corners.
"Tomorrow Markus Winkelhock will test after we have changed the specification of the car overnight to suit the Montreal simulation circuit layout that will be used for the remainder of the test."
"I think today was OK," said Sutil. "I think in just half a day we found a lot of good information and have a very good idea of the direction to take for Monaco. We checked out control systems and both tyre options available for the race, the soft and super-soft. The soft was fine, but on the super-soft I found that after one lap they had gone off and it was difficult to find a balance. I think Christijan improved on this in the afternoon, but I think there is still some more work to do on getting it exactly right. I'm back in the car on Friday and hope we'll be better on the different circuit layout."
"I took over from Adrian just after lunch and went as quick as him almost straight away," added Albers. "Unfortunately we had some minor mechanical issues, but the programme went well and I think we got some really good information for Monaco. We ran consistently and are getting closer and closer to the pace in front. Although we're still not quite as quick, we are moving step by step closer to them.
"For me too, I am much more comfortable in the car," he continued, "and I hope the line of development will get even steeper now we've overcome this. I'm back in the car tomorrow and I hope for more, getting even more comfortable and going quicker. Even though we're using a different circuit configuration tomorrow and testing for Canada, there are still some corners that we used today so I think we can really build on our work. Thanks to the test team for all their efforts, I think today's gone really well."