17/05/2007
NEWS STORY
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Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets on the third day of testing at Paul Ricard, as the focus switched from preparations for next week's Monaco Grand Prix to preparing for the north American races.
Today and tomorrow, the teams will use the 3.265 mile 1E V2 SC (Short) configuration which best replicates the circuits to be raced on next month, particularly Montreal.
The track which hosts the Canadian GP could not be more different from Monaco's slow corners and high downforce set-ups. The long straights, chicanes and hairpins of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve demand lower downforce but good braking stability as well as the ability to ride the kerbs well and make quick directional changes.
Conditions were overcast for much of the day, with strong winds and even a rain shower in the early afternoon.
Raikkonen's, who retired from last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix while running third, worked on finding the best set-up, comparing the different types of tyre and on development of mechanical and aerodynamic components. The Finn, who suffered an electronics glitch in Spain, lost much of this morning's session with a similar problem, though the exact cause has not yet been identified.
Second quickest, and causing paddock insiders t o do a double-take when checking the timesheets, was Scott Speed in the Toro Rosso. The American spent the day assessing Bridgestone's 'super soft' tyre, which Toro Rosso has not previously tried. He also worked on set-ups, running in a low downforce Canadian GP configuration.
For Renault, Heikki Kovalainen concentrated on setting up his R27 working mainly on aerodynamic tests. He completed his programme without any problems and by the end of the day he had covered a total of 89 laps, some 458 kilometres, and set the third-quickest time. Tomorrow, Giancarlo Fisichella will take over for the French team.
"It was interesting changing circuits today because of the new braking points, trajectories and another level of downforce," said the Finn. "It was a pretty busy day, but we completed our programme and we got through all the points we had to review. I now feel ready for Monaco and the races to come."
"We thought that this morning's wind would interfere with our test schedule," admitted Christian Silk, "but finally we got through a lot of work. Heikki said that he was happy with the car and we soon began our general preparation programme for Canada and the races to come. Tomorrow, Giancarlo will continue the work begun today and that'll bring us to the end of a marathon four-day test session."
Robert Kubica started the day defining a baseline set-up for a medium downforce configuration. He then tested different downforce options. As with most other teams, part of today's programme for BMW was the comparison of the two tyre compounds for the two forthcoming races. In addition, Kubica made several practice starts. Nick Heidfeld will take over for the final day.
Having topped the timesheets at lunchtime, Mark Webber had slipped back to fifth by the close of play, despite clipping 0.5s off his best time from the morning. Apart from more suspension testing, the RB3 was run with Canada GP downforce levels. David Coulthard will return to duty for the final day.
Franck Montagny took over from Ralf Schumacher for Toyota, as the team focused on set-up for Montreal, as well as work on the brakes. Late in the day, the Frenchman damaged his car at the chicane, stopping out on track and consequently bringing out the red flags. According to the team however, the damage was "slight" and Montagny will be behind the wheel again tomorrow.
Alexander Wurz was seventh quickest in the Williams, the Austrian just 0.5s off Raikkonen's pace. Kazuki Nakajima will be on duty for the Grove outfit tomorrow.
Pedro de la Rosa joined McLaren as the Woking team ran its aero packages for the two north American races, which both feature long straights, with hard braking zones. In addition, the team focused on tyres, with de la Rosa also looking at brakes and set-ups for the north American double header.
Rubens Barrichello and Christian Klien were on duty for Honda, the Brazilian running in the morning before handing over to his Austrian teammate. Separated by 0.207s, both Honda drivers were over a second off Raikkonen's pace. The Brackley outfit continues to try various aero options, however, the day was marred when Klien suffered an engine failure shortly after beginning his programme.
James Rossiter (above) was the busiest man today, the Englishman completing 114 laps as Super Aguri completed its planned programme of preparation for Canada.
Working through an aero and tyre evaluation programme, Markus Winkelhock completed 226km in the morning for Spyker before Christijan Albers took over in the afternoon. However, the Dutchman was only able to put in 16 laps before a minor mechanical problem curtailed the day's running.
"Markus Winkelhock began today's programme with some very useful initial work on Montreal aero set-up," said Dominic Harlow. "He completed 43 laps before Christijan took over the car for the afternoon. Unfortunately we had only begun his programme when a mechanical issue on the car resulted us having to end the session early. The cause is fully understood and it can be corrected immediately, but it is frustrating for Christijan and the team to lose out on some valuable test time. Still it is problems like this that we are here to uncover and fix as well as looking for performance improvements, and we expect to conclude the test tomorrow with another busy and productive day."
"I could only do a handful of laps this afternoon on old tyres," said Albers, "so it was very difficult to get some information. Markus did a lot of laps in the morning, so I was hoping to follow on from this, but we had a problem and had to stop. It was a real shame as it was so positive yesterday and I think we could really have got into the 1.30s with new tyres and low fuel, which would have made us much more competitive compared to the others."
!I was really happy to be back in the car after so long away," admitted Winkelhock. "The last time I drove for a long run was the end of October last year and apart from a 50km shakedown that's been it. I felt good immediately, but I was a little aggressive at first but when I got used to the tyres and the track configuration, it was a lot smoother and the lap times improved. We tried out some different aero packages and did some long runs to get a good baseline, but I think everything was good - it has been good preparation for this weekend when I'll be racing the Audi!"
Adrian Sutil will drive take over for tomorrow's final day of testing.