19/09/2007
NEWS STORY
McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Jerez de la Frontera.
Having focussed on 2008 preparations without driver aids yesterday, today the Woking team concentrated on its challenge for the 2007 Drivers' World Championship.
The team worked through tyre evaluation with Bridgestone and set-up programmes for Japan, China and Brazil. The day also saw the Spaniard try a range of aerodynamic developments for the final three races.
de la Rosa, who was 0.68s quicker than his nearest rival, will be on duty for the third, and final, day of testing tomorrow.
Second quickest was Red Bull's Mark Webber, who, in addition to heading Ferrari and BMW on the timesheets, was one of the busiest drivers, completing 109 laps.
On the programme was a similar work sheet to yesterday, with some aero work and suspension geometry testing, aimed at the next three races, as well as some work looking to next year. The car ran reliably throughout the day and Webber will continue for the final day of the test tomorrow.
Having been at the foot of the timesheets yesterday, as his team concentrated on electronics for 2008, Luca Badoer was at the right end of the timesheets today, finishing third, albeit almost a second off de la Rosa's pace.
Luca Badoer worked mainly on the development of some mechanical solutions and on set-up testing aimed at the final three races of the season. The Italian completed 70 laps.
BMW did some general set-up work, tested aerodynamic parts and tyres. Aerodynamic developments for the next races and parts for the mechanical set-up of the car were also on the schedule. Nick Heidfeld also worked on the general set-up for the last three races of the season. The team completed its planned programme as planned and claimed to be "very happy" with the results.
Toro Rosso had Tonio Liuzzi on duty in the morning with Sebastian Vettel tasking over in the afternoon, however, things didn't go quite according to plan.
Liuzzi continued with the work he began yesterday, looking at car set-up, validating yesterday's work and achieving a satisfactory balance on the car, which will be a useful step forward for the final three races. In addition, some work was carried out focusing on the rear wing.
However, when Vettel took over for the afternoon, the day came to a premature end, as he was forced to stop out on the track because of a problem with the right rear wheel. The cause of the failure is under investigation, but it involved several hours work to change most of the rear end and so no further laps were completed. The German will be on duty again tomorrow for the final day of the test.
Jenson Button took over from Rubens Barrichello for Honda, as the Brackley based outfit continued with its revised car. The Englishman spent the morning establishing a good set-up before completing a series of aero evaluations in the afternoon session covering a total of 74 laps over the day.
Nelson Piquet continued his programme on the basis of the tests done so far this week, concentrating on aero tests at the beginning of the session and then continuing with brake testing, which the team had started yesterday. As on Tuesday he drove without any form of driver aids. According to the French outfit, in terms of mileage covered and the data recorded it has been a very successful day.
"We've done a good day's work on the very abrasive Jerez circuit," said Piquet. "It did me a lot of good to be back in the car because I always like to drive as much as possible. After 113 laps I said to myself, 'we've made a lot of progress as the programme's been completed.' We're continuing tomorrow on the basis of today's testing, and we hope to make another step forward and collect the maximum amount of data."
"We completed our programme without running into any problems with the car," added Christian Silk. "First of all, we worked on the aerodynamics and then on the brakes for next year, and finally on the control systems at the end of the session. The car behaved as we'd expected it would and confirmed our predictions. Tomorrow, the aim will be to cover as many kilometres as possible, so that we can return to the factory with the maximum amount of information which will then be analysed to help us move forward."
Ralf Schumacher continued Toyota's test, taking over from Franck Montagny as the team continued its preparations for the Japanese Grand Prix. He tried out different set-ups and completed a total of 79 laps despite some minor mechanical issues which interrupted his day.
Jarno Trulli will take over from Ralf for the final day of testing tomorrow and he will focus on finalising the car specification before the freight leaves for Japan.
"We have tried a lot of things on the car and by the end of the day we had made progress," said the German. "We had a couple of small delays due to car issues but nothing major. The stability and balance was difficult early in the day but we made some changes to the mechanical set-up and achieved a more workable balance. I was then able to do some aerodynamic comparison work in the afternoon. Our test here has helped us prepare for the Japanese Grand Prix and now I am looking forward to racing at Fuji Speedway."
"Ralf's programme was basically a continuation of the work Franck started yesterday," added Gerd Pfeiffer, "but we had a couple of small delays due to mechanical issues. In the morning we were working mainly on the mechanical set-up aimed at improving traction and in the afternoon we did some aerodynamic comparisons and gathered more data. Jarno will conclude the programme tomorrow and we will then make some decisions for the end of season races."
Nico Rosberg completed just 32 laps, having lost much of the morning, as test team manager Dickie Stanford explains: "Nico took over the reins from Kazuki for day two of running in Jerez. We were a little late getting started due to a hold up with some parts that were travelling over from the UK and Nico did a good job to get through most of his programme in the afternoon. He worked on systems checks with some 2008 parts and also signed off some components for the Japanese Grand Prix next week."
Tomorrow sees the final day of the test here, and indeed the final day of testing for the 2007 season.