13/11/2007
NEWS STORY
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Michael Schumacher's return to an F1 cockpit might have been "half for pleasure, half for technical reasons", but when testing got underway at the Circuit de Catalunya today it was strictly business as usual as the German dominated proceedings.
The seven-time champion, who has not driven an F1 car in anger since Interlagos 2006, completed 63 laps of the 2.892 mile circuit, posting a best time of 1:21.918.
The day marked the beginning of preparations for the 2008 season, and with new rules regarding a standard ECU and the banning of traction control, it was a day when many were 'testing the waters'. Not Schumacher however, who proved that even after a year away he still has the wherewithal to give his rivals a hard time.
As Ferrari worked mainly on the electronics of the F2007 and on development of new components aimed at next season, Schumacher was joined by Luca Badoer, who finished second on the timesheets. Tomorrow, the German is joined by Felipe Massa.
Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett were on duty for McLaren, as the Woking team, like its rivals, focused on running without driver aids on the MP4-22. Despite the number of red flag stoppages during the day; the team was able to complete its scheduled running.
As he got used to the new electronics, and the lack of traction control and other aids, Heikki Kovalainen quickly found his mark. In the morning, the Finn worked on setting up the balance of his car, and in the afternoon he did a number of long runs to test the new ECU's reliability.
"I was very happy to back driving today," admitted the Finn. "Since Brazil I haven't been out on the track for several weeks so I was pretty impatient this morning. I have to say that driving without any assistance, as was the case today is really great. You have to pay attention to your driving, your reaccelerating, your tyre wear and behind the wheel it's fun. We did a good job on our first day back. The car reacted well to our set-up changes and I think that between now and Thursday we'll make a lot of progress."
"The day went off well," added Christian Silk, the French outfit's Test Chief Engineer. "We've progressed and I think everybody was happy to back out on the track again. We're going to do our utmost to prepare for next year's season in the best possible conditions, and our first day's been very encouraging. We're going to continue along the same lines tomorrow and Thursday and we hope to make further progress."
Robert Kubica was the quicker of the two BMW drivers on duty, his best lap over a second better than teammate Nick Heidfeld's. Apart from some teething problems with the new electronics, and the numerous several red flags, it was a productive day for the German team.
In common with most teams, the main item on the programme for Red Bull was the new common ECU, and this task fell to Karun Chandhok, who spent the day running checks on the new systems. David Coulthard ran his RB3 with the 2007 electronics, but with the important difference that the electronic aids no longer allowed for 2008 - traction control and engine braking - were turned off, while he worked on evaluation of developments destined for next year's car.
Williams had its (newly announced) 2008 driver pairing on duty, with Kazuki Nakajima being the quicker of the two. The pair, driving interim FW29Bs, opened the winter programme with a "constructive" first day concentrating on component development. Neither car suffered any major faults, and both drivers will be back on duty tomorrow.
Ninth quickest was Jarno Trulli, who was joined by Franck Montagny, as the Japanese team deliberates as to who will partner the Italian next season.
Trulli until 11am to begin serious running as he was suffering from a fever. Montagny was scheduled to test the standard engine control unit (ECU) for the first time on track but teething troubles delayed the start of his session.
Several red flags interrupted the Italian's running while Montagny's crew worked hard to rectify his problem and allow him to begin work. The Frenchman was able to do some solid running in the afternoon, putting 2008 items to the test as well as gathering information about the standard ECU.
Trulli's programme of evaluating elements of the 2008 car went according to plan until just over an hour from the end of the session, when an engine problem left him stranded on track and effectively finished his day.
"It was nice to be back behind the wheel," said Trulli, "apart from the fact I was a bit sick today with a fever, so it wasn't the best way to get back in the car. But we managed to go through all of my programme and we looked at developments for the 2008 car, working without traction control and looking at other test items. In general it was a smooth day apart from my engine problem at the end, which was a shame. We have two more days remaining so we will continue to work hard and try to make as much progress as possible."
"Obviously we didn't run as much as we expected this morning," admitted Montagny, "but at least in the afternoon we were able to start our programme and learn a few things. It was good to be driving again after quite a long break and I think we made some progress understanding the new ECU. My car has several 2008 items fitted so it was quite different to the 2007 car, but it felt well balanced and I was quite happy with it towards the end of the day. We will run a similar programme tomorrow and try to learn more."
"Today has been a productive day," said Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer, "even if it has also been a difficult one. We had several new elements on the cars looking forward to next season, including the standard ECU and other items for 2008. Jarno was not feeling well today but he completed the work we had planned for him before he suffered an engine problem towards the end of the afternoon. Franck's car used the 2008 engine control unit and we needed to do a bit of work in the morning to get him out on track. Nevertheless, he gathered important data in the afternoon and we will continue where we left off tomorrow."
Sebastian Vettel was joined by his 2008 teammate Sebastien Bourdais as the Italian team got its 2008 preparations underway.
The task of running the new ECU fell to Sebastian Vettel and, according to the team, it was an encouraging day's work, with a high mileage completed on a brand new system. His programme also included testing new brake material and new front and rear suspension.
Bourdais ran a car with 2007 electronics, however, to simulate some aspects of the 2008 package, the traction control and engine braking systems were not operational. He was delayed by a couple of mechanical problems in the morning, before getting on with his programme which also included evaluating new aero elements.
Both drivers, indeed, all the drivers present, ran the (hard) Bridgestone tyre used during the Spanish GP, held at this track back in May.
Fired up by Monday's announcement that Ross Brawn is to take over from Nick Fry as Team Principal, Honda had James Rossiter and Andreas Zuber on duty.
Rossiter began at the wheel of the RA107, which was running in the team's interim livery of 'Honda Championship White'. The Englishman spent the morning working through a systems check for the new electronics. He continued his work through the afternoon, concentrating on longer runs, to complete a total of 69 laps.
Zuber is the first of the three young GP2 drivers to be put through their paces in the Honda Young Driver Programme this week. The Swiss driver spent his early laps acclimatising to the car and track conditions. His programme continued in the afternoon with longer runs before finishing the day with a short qualifying run.
Luca Filippi will have his turn in the same car tomorrow, followed by Mike Conway on Thursday, while Jenson Button will be back at the wheel of the RA107 tomorrow after a rigorous pre-winter training programme. The Englishman will complete the final two days of the team's test programme.
Anthony Davidson was Super Aguri's sole representative as the Leafield outfit ran a hybrid car. The Englishman spent the morning evaluating the new MES controls system and then completed a programme of electronic system check analysis, continuing the development work in the afternoon.
Propping up the timesheets, albeit resplendent in its new burgundy and white livery (above), was the new Force India team, which had Roldan Rodriguez and Giedo van der Garde on duty.
Both drivers used (former) Spyker F8-VII cars fitted with the 2008 standard electronics package, and focussed on accumulating data on this new system.
Adrian Sutil will take over one chassis for tomorrow's programme, while Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien will share the second car.
"There is obviously a tremendous amount of work to understand and re-optimise the cars around the new system," said Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer, "and we feel today was a very positive start. Giedo and Roldan did exactly what was asked of them today, completing more laps between them than any other team here, and laying the foundations for the rest of the week's programme."
"I think the test was pretty good," said Rodriguez. "It was my first real day of testing after the 50km shakedowns I have done and at first I felt it was not easy to go to the limit. Overall though I think it went pretty smoothly and we got in lots of running. We now know where we are with the new electronics, which is positive for the rest of the test."
"It was a good day today," added van der Garde, "especially considering we were running without traction control and anti lock. At the beginning of the day the car had a little understeer, but we worked hard over the day and we can be pretty happy with the way it went as it's not easy to get used to the car's handling. Although we didn't use new tyres or do any low fuel runs, we did get lots of information on the electronics package, which was the goal for today. It's been a while since I've been in the car as the last time was in Spa, but I soon got used to it again and I'm pleased with what we achieved."