11/07/2007
NEWS STORY
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the quickest on the second day of testing at Spa Francorchamps.
Heavy overnight rain meant that the track was damp when the session got underway this morning. And though conditions improved throughout this morning, further rainfall in the afternoon meant that few drivers were able to improve on their earlier times, while the teams had to alter their programmes.
Massa continued with the work programme begun yesterday, which centred mainly on finding the best set-up for the car and on the development of new components. Due to the weather conditions in the afternoon, the Brazilian was unable to improve on the time he posted earlier in the day, however, this was still enough to keep him at the top of the timesheets. Kimi Raikkonen takes over tomorrow.
With Lewis Hamilton setting the pace on Tuesday, Fernando Alonso upheld McLaren honour today, posting the second fastest time of the day.
Over the course of the morning, as the track dried, the Woking team was able to complete its systems and set-up programme. The morning also saw the aerodynamic schedule concluded to positive effect, as the championship leaders focussed on components around the front of the car.
After the rain showers in the afternoon, the team focused on damper work. With further rain forecast for tomorrow and no possibility of an extension of the test to Friday, McLaren will prioritise the work for tomorrow overnight to make best use of the available track time.
Third quickest was Renault's Heikki Kovalainen as the French team continued its preparations for the Grand Prix in September, as well as pursuing the technical development programme for the coming races.
The Finn made the most of the dry conditions in the morning, during which he was able to complete a set-up programme, allowing him to find a stable handling balance with the car. Despite the rain in the afternoon, which disrupted the planned programme, the team made the most of the conditions to fine-tune the car's handling in the wet, which was all the more important because rain is often a factor at the Belgian race.
"I raced at this track in GP2 a couple of years ago," said the Finn, "but the first time in an F1 car is always a bit different, no matter which circuit it is. The car balance was good straight away, and I think we have a good baseline to work from at the GP weekend. We then tried to get the most out of the changing track conditions by working on tuning the set-up for the wet conditions, particularly focusing on the control systems. That was a good programme, and we found some interesting things. In spite of the changeable weather, I think we got the most out of the day, and the results were encouraging."
"The poor conditions certainly cost us track time today," admitted Christian Silk, "but it was important to prepare for the possibility of rain during the race weekend in September. We did different length runs, on different tyres, in different conditions to learn as much as possible. Heikki got to grips with the circuit revisions very quickly and was quite pleased with the car balance and handling. We will be looking to complete a busy day of work tomorrow with Giancarlo, our last day of this test, as we try and make up some of the time we lost today."
Ralf Schumacher ventured out onto the circuit shortly before 11 to begin the programme of work on the engine, coolers and other systems. Following the afternoon rain shower the team opted to do some wet running. However, there was too much variation in track conditions to allow any meaningful conclusions to be drawn. After yet another shower at 4pm the team carried out only a few practice starts to wrap up the day. The test concludes tomorrow with Jarno Trulli at the wheel.
"When it rains here like it did today it can be dry in one part of the circuit and wet in another," said Schumacher, "making it difficult to draw comparisons. Still, over these two days we've completed some positive work despite the weather. The car performed well overall so we can look forward to the race here with confidence. We were quick in Silverstone and this track has similar characteristics with a lot of high speed corners so it should suit us when we come here in September. The next race is at the Nürburgring, which is a completely different type of track, but we will obviously push as hard as we can to achieve a good result there too. Over the last few races I've become increasingly comfortable with my set-up and the whole team is working hard as we chase a successful second half of the year."
"It was a bit much to expect two rain-free days around Spa," admitted test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer, "so today's weather came as no surprise. The track was damp in the morning so we delayed going out until the racing line was dry so as not to waste mileage. We eventually put in about 20 laps of work on systems in the morning before the rain arrived over lunch. As the afternoon progressed it became clear that the conditions would not improve so we decided to do some wet testing. Before long the track was wet in some areas and dry in others and that made it difficult to do any more productive work. On a day like this no one will have achieved a lot but we will hope for better conditions tomorrow when Jarno will complete the test for us."
Adrian Sutil took over the wheel of the Spyker, the German completing 49 laps as he ran through a programme of aero development and set-up for the forthcoming Belgian Grand Prix.
Demonstrating the improved pace of the F8-VII, Sutil was only two seconds off the pace of Massa's Ferrari over the 7km lap, the fifth fastest time of the day, and set increasingly competitive lap times when the circuit was drying out.
As previously reported, Christian Klien will take over driving duties for the team tomorrow.
David Coulthard continued with the Red Bull, though the conditions hampered the team's progress on aero work, which was on the agenda along with testing new mechanical components.
That said, it was a useful opportunity to evaluate the Bridgestone wet weather tyres and the RB3 enjoyed a trouble-free day. Mark Webber takes over for the final day of testing here.
As Honda prepares to load Christian Klien to Spyker, Jenson Button was on duty for the Brackley based outfit. When the weather permitted, the Englishman worked through an aero programme alongside chassis set-up work. Rubens Barrichello will join the team tomorrow.
Sebastien Bourdais was back in action for Toro Rosso, taking over from Tonio Liuzzi today. Despite the conditions, the Italian team carried out aero work in terms of assessing downforce levels for this track, as well as some work on brakes. The changing conditions also provided a useful opportunity to try out the Bridgestone wet and extreme wet tyres.
Unfortunately, an hour was lost at the end of the day when the car stopped on track with a mechanical problem. The Frenchman continues tomorrow.
Once again, Nico Rosberg was at the wrong end of the timesheets, the German completing 54 laps on his way to posting the ninth quickest time of the day.
"The whole session was severely hampered by the rain today," said Dickie Stanford. "We spent most of the day carrying out our usual set-up preparations just waiting for dry spells and the opportunity to send the car out. As a result, we lost a lot of track time. Alex will take over from Nico tomorrow so we will spend the evening converting the car and praying for better weather for our last day in Spa!"
Super Aguri was another team frustrated by the conditions, which meant very little chassis balance work could be concluded, though a good amount of electronic system analysis was achieved. Takuma Sato takes over driving duties for the final day tomorrow.
Propping up the timesheets was Robert Kubica, who had a frustrating day. Like many of the other drivers, the Pole waited for the conditions to improve in the morning, but subsequently lost time due to a gearbox problem. This happened when the the other drivers were setting their quickest lap times in the dry. In the afternoon, he worked on a rain set-up, testing extreme weather tyres and wet weather tyres. At the very end of the session, he practiced starts in the wet.