20/02/2008
NEWS STORY
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Felipe Massa topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Barcelona, as rain continued to compromise team's programmes.
Such were the conditions in the morning that few ventured out, however, as the day continued more and more drivers left the comfort of their garages, and though the rain ceased, the track remained wet for the entire session, with many parts of the track featuring patches of standing water..
Massa was joined by Luca Badoer, and while the Brazilian driver debuted some updated aerodynamics, the Maranello outfit's official test driver continued with development of the standard version of the F2008.
Completing just 40 laps, Massa was one of several drivers to spin off during the course of the day. Both drivers continue here tomorrow.
Red Bull, which had David Coulthard and Mark Webber on duty, had planned a Saturday final practice session, followed by all three sections of qualifying, followed by a race distance, however, like its rivals the Milton Keynes outfit had to amend its programme. Consequently, it was decided to scrub the race simulation and in the morning, while completing practice 3, the team carried out several pit stops before moving on to replicate qualifying, which they actually did twice.
Although the day had little value in terms of car development, it was still a useful exercise for the team to go through various routines, such as pit stops, in difficult conditions. Dryer weather is expected tomorrow, in which case, Coulthard and Webber will tackle a race simulation.
Renault also was forced to postpone its scheduled programme and wait until the afternoon when the conditions began to improve. The French team made the most of the day by checking the systems on the car and rehearsing various race procedures in the garage.
Fernando Alonso completed limited running in the wet, but like Tuesday the damp conditions meant the team was limited in what it could learn. His teammate completed just one lap, the French outfit not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, not with another test here next week and the Australian GP just a couple of weeks away.
"Another disrupted day and we did not do many laps," said the Spaniard, clearly frustrated. "It was too wet in the morning to do any running so we waited until the afternoon. We did some laps and tried some things in the wet and it was a chance to get used to driving without traction control and to improve the behaviour of the car in these conditions. Tomorrow the forecast is better - we have been waiting for these conditions all week, so fingers crossed."
"It is hard to be patient when you have spent two days waiting around for the weather conditions to improve," added Piquet. "I finished the day having completed only a single installation lap - a bit frustrating for me and all members of the team who had hoped that the track conditions would have improved by the end of the day. Tomorrow the track conditions will be better and hopefully we will be able to complete some proper work."
"The weather was same as yesterday," said Christian Silk, "and so again it was difficult to learn anything, and there was little point risking the cars in the tricky conditions. Fernando did some system checks in the afternoon, but as the conditions did not improve we ended the day early again. We will turn our attention to tomorrow and use the mileage when we feel we can get more out of it."
Williams had three drivers on duty, with Nico Rosberg completing 97 laps in his car, ending the day sixth fastest, and Kazuki Nakajima completing 33 before handing his car over to Nico Hulkenberg.
"We spent the whole morning practising pit stops with the race team and both race drivers," said Test Team Manager, Dickie Stanford. "We completed approximately 40 pit stops in total. Nico Hulkenberg then took over from Kazuki in the afternoon and continued set-up work on the car while Nico Rosberg ran through some systems checks.
The wet conditions really played havoc with the session for the second day in succession," he added, "but we're expecting a drier day tomorrow, during which we will again run all three drivers."
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock were on duty for Toyota. Trulli finished his programme with 46 laps of set-up and aerodynamics work. Glock's track time was limited to a single installation lap in the morning before some longer set-up runs in the afternoon. The German will return to the track in hope of a better day's testing tomorrow alongside third driver Kamui Kobayashi.
For the second successive day, rather than 'waste' mileage, McLaren opted not to run.
To check out our Barcelona test gallery, containing over 115 pictures, click here