20/09/2007
NEWS STORY
Pedro de la Rosa continued to set the pace at Jerez de la Frontera today, topping the timesheets on the final day of testing for the 2007 World Championship season.
Today's programme for the Woking team saw a continued focus on aerodynamic development and set-up work. The Spaniard, who this time last week was giving evidence at the WMSC hearing in Paris, completed 68 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:19.617.
Second quickest, and just 0.038s off the pace, was Luca Badoer in the Ferrari, who concentrated on development work of some mechanical solutions for the final three races of this season and on electronics.
Meanwhile, at Fiorano, Marc Gene carried out the shakedown of the cars that the Italian team will use in the forthcoming Japanese Grand Prix, which takes place at the Fuji circuit on Sunday 30th September.
Once again, Mark Webber was posting competitive lap times, as the Red Bull team worked on car set-up aimed at the final three races, as well as evaluating some aerodynamic modifications. Steady progress was made throughout the morning, although mechanical problems brought the day to a premature end.
However, according to the team, looking at the three days overall, the RB3 racked up plenty of miles, bringing home plenty of data that should come in useful over the final trio of races.
Nick Heidfeld completed 94 laps as BMW worked on the set-up for the forthcoming races in Fuji, Shanghai and Sao Paolo. The German also completed some development testing for the 2008 season.
All in all the team evaluated the Jerez test as very productive, and now feels well-prepared for the final overseas races.
Renault's programme aimed at completing the test work begun earlier in the week, which included the necessary preparations for the final races of the season but also work for 2008, notably looking at on-board software and driver aids.
Nelson Piquet carried out driving duties for all three days of the test, and once again completed the most laps of the drivers present, with a total of 120 laps, which equates to 531 km. He thereby completed his technical programme, and collected a significant amount of valuable information for analysis back at the factory.
The Brazilian spent the morning conducting control systems work for 2008, prior to completing aero and set-up testing in the afternoon. He finished the day with fifth-fastest time.
"I really enjoyed my testing this week," said the Brazilian, "and it was good to get three full days. I always aim to get the maximum from the experience every time I step into the car, and I think we did a good job this week. We did a lot of laps, and reached some interesting conclusions."
"This was an encouraging test," added Christian Silk. "We completed our programme without any major problems, and we did some good tests that are relevant for the final three races as well as next year. Nelson did a good job, made progress throughout the three days, and I think it was a good step for him to complete a full three-day test on his own."
Jenson Button continued his running this morning when he once again focused on aero comparisons covering 48 laps. James Rossiter took over driving responsibilities for the afternoon, completing the planned test programme with further aero evaluations alongside suspension and general set-up work.
"As it was the last test of the season this week, we focused on preparing the car for the final three races," said Button. "Both Rubens and I ran the car in different aero configurations to establish the best package and after a day and a half in the car, it was clear which direction we should be taking. It is always fun going to a new circuit so I am looking forward to the challenge of Fuji, although I am personally saddened at the absence of Suzuka this year as it is one of my favourite race tracks."
"It was good to be back with Honda," added Rossiter, "and I am pleased to have contributed to the test programme this week. I spent the afternoon acclimatising to the car and then working through a series of set-up and suspension evaluations to assist the team in their preparation for the final three races."
"In Jerez this week, we completed some fundamental aero evaluations to verify the correlation of our wind tunnel data with the track data," said Engineering Director, Jacky Eeckelaert. "Both Rubens and Jenson tested different front wing and barge board configurations which will also assist us in developing our car package in 2008. This package has not been specifically developed around the RA107 but we are pleased with the initial feedback from the test in that the data correlation looks very good and we can therefore now put all our efforts into the development of the RA108. James Rossiter also tested new damper configurations this afternoon which gave positive results and will form part of the package for the forthcoming races."
Jarno Trulli took over driving for Toyota, the Italian focusing in particular on aerodynamic and mechanical set-up. Good progress was made in the morning to fine-tune the package but strong winds intervened early in the afternoon which limited set-up work.
"It was a good day without many interruptions," said the Italian. "We worked on both aerodynamic and mechanical set-up in the morning, found some good solutions and had a productive test up until lunch time. But then the wind came up in the afternoon and we had to change the focus to items where consistent track conditions were not so important. But we have gathered enough information to be able to study the results and hopefully make a step for the final three races."
"This morning, Jarno carried on the programme Ralf had started yesterday," said Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer, "and by midday had made strong progress and was happy with the car handling and balance. But then, unfortunately, some strong winds blew up and that made conditions more unpredictable and we could no longer carry out meaningful comparison testing. We therefore switched emphasis for the final part of the afternoon. Overall we have had three solid days and collected a lot of data."
A productive day saw Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel complete 82 laps. This morning, when track conditions were at their best, the time was spent focusing on car set-up to suit the German, rather than going in search of quick lap times. Then, in the afternoon, strong winds had a significant effect on car performance.
Nevertheless, the team carried out useful work, both in terms of set-up and some aero testing centering on changes to the front wing. In addition, some running was done with the car in 2008 configuration - essentially running the car without traction control and engine braking.
Propping up the timesheets was Nico Rosberg in the Williams, the German completing just 32 laps. However, Test Team Manager, Dickie Stanford, seemed satisfied: "Once again we concentrated on some more systems checks with Nico and encountered no major problems," he said. "In the afternoon, we carried out some set-up comparisons for the next few races and started our development work for 2008."
The next scheduled test takes place at Barcelona from November 15.