27/02/2008
NEWS STORY
 |
Jarno Trulli posted the fastest time on the final day of pre-season testing at Barcelona today, his time being the second quickest of the year at the Spanish track. However, before anyone starts rushing to the conclusion that the Japanese team may have finally broken into the big league, it should be noted that the same thing happened last year, only it was at Jerez.
The good weather continued for the last day of official winter testing before the start of the 2008 season, and Toyota used the time available to carry out final preparations for the Australian Grand Prix, now just over a fortnight away.
Trulli and Timo Glock worked on fine-tuning set-ups and finishing off their groundwork for the first race. The Italian set the fastest time of the day during a qualifying run while the track was at its best in the morning. He finished with 83 laps while his German teammate managed 65 after a more disrupted day.
"That was another positive day," said Trulli. "We made some progress in understanding the car and the set-up. Even though this is only a test, it's nice to see the mechanics and the guys smiling because today's times are good motivation. There is still room for improvement but this shows the team has done a good job over the winter tests. Of course we won't know the real running order until Melbourne but I'm quite confident for the season. It's definitely looking much better than last year so I'm happy for the team."
"Today was a frustrating day for me," admitted Glock. "I didn't find a way to set up the car to my driving style and the pace suffered as a result. It's strange that on the first morning we had okay pace then it's been dropping off during the week. Perhaps the problem is the hard tyre but we will have to analyse all the data. At the moment it doesn't bode well for Australia but we have a couple of weeks to turn things around."
"Given the mixed weather we faced here last week it was important to complete more running over these three days," said Pascal Vasselon. "This week shows that our preparations for Melbourne have been going very well. After Jarno's satisfying long run yesterday we did some very fruitful qualifying simulations today so we feel ready for the first race. Timo was more unfortunate to have a small off at the start of his qualifying simulation, compromising his run plan today. But we have done enough mileage so far over the winter to be confident that we can head to Melbourne without any major concerns."
Second quickest, either having fully recovered from his neck ache or the result of seeing Sebastian Vettel's blistering performance on Tuesday, was David Coulthard.
Today was the Scot's turn to try the latest aerodynamic updates on RB4 that Mark Webber ran for the first time on Tuesday. As for the Australian, he concentrated on fine-tuning the package and set-up work prior to Melbourne.
"This was the last test session until after the Bahrain GP and in many ways, for those of us on the test team, it feels like the end of a season that has run pretty much non-stop since the end of last year," said Chief Test Engineer, Ian Morgan. "The result of all the hard work is that the cars go to Australia having completed a high mileage, showing good reliability and what seems like an encouraging level of performance. Now it's a case of getting to Melbourne to see where we really are."
Third quickest, and once again suggesting that Williams is on the verge of a serious step forward this season, was Nico Rosberg, who was partnered by Kazuki Nakajima. Between them, the Grove duo completed over 200 laps, with the Japanese driver being one of the busiest.
"Today marked the end of a long, but productive winter test period," said Sam Michael, "and Nico and Kazuki have worked hard all week on the finishing touches. All of the systems on the FW30 have been checked thoroughly and we've signed off the performance parts ready for the first race. The car has completed numerous race simulations on the track, but we won't know its true competitiveness until the first few races. Thank you to all of the people who have put in a great deal of effort to get the FW30 to the level it is at now. We can't wait to get to Melbourne to see how the field forms up and to get racing again!"
"We've had a very successful test and run through lots of items," said Rosberg. "We also ran the new aero package for Melbourne which really was positive. Reliability-wise, we're looking pretty good, I think, we've definitely moved forward. The aero department has made some good progress over the winter and they've done a nice job. I want to thank the test team for working so hard, as they always do over the winter. Toyota has also done a good job for us, providing a nicely controlled engine which is an asset with the ban of traction control. I'm now looking forward to getting to Australia. It should be a lot of fun, but it's going to be close in the middle of the field so we'll have to see how we do."
"We've now finished all of our testing before the season starts," added Nakajima, "and it's gone really quickly for me! The test this week in Barcelona has been really positive. The weather wasn't ideal on day one, but we managed to finish what we wanted to do. Personally, it was good practice for me to do the two race distances we covered as well. I feel ready for the season and I'm looking forward to actually racing now. Thank you to all the guys who've worked so hard over the winter to get us to where we are today, we're certainly heading in the right direction."
Fourth quickest was McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, though we believe little should be read into the fact that both the Woking team and its Maranello rivals are not topping the timesheets today. The Finn, who was partnered by Lewis Hamilton, completed 87 laps, posting a best time 0.508s off Trulli's best.
"As is always the case at the final full test of a winter season, it has been a busy week for the team," said Martin Whitmarsh. "Our engineering team placed high expectations on the team from a programme perspective, and the improving weather conditions during the three days has enabled the team to complete all the requirements. Today the focus on track was similar to yesterday with a concentration on longer runs.
"Both the test and race teams were present in Barcelona, with the latter completing their process of familiarisation with the MP4-23. This included race simulations, qualifying runs and pit stop practices as we make our final preparations for the start of the season.
With the cars leaving the McLaren Technology Centre for Australia on Thursday 6th March, we are taking the opportunity in the early part of next week to conduct some final straight line aerodynamic work in Menorca. Prior to this we have covered approximately 14,275 test kilometres over 21 days of intensive development. The pace of work on the test track and back at base in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart has been outstanding, and it will continue at this rate building up to and during the season."
Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso finished sixth and seventh for Renault. Both drivers completed set-up programmes in the morning and then long runs in the afternoon, which provided another chance for the mechanics to run through pit stop drills. Both drivers completed over a 100 laps, with Piquet covering the most of any driver with 128.
Now the team's attention turns to Melbourne and the new season. Both drivers will travel to Australia at the end of next week to complete some fitness training and to acclimatise to the time difference. Meanwhile, back at the factories in Enstone and Viry Chatillon, the team will continue working hard on the development of the R28.
"We had a large programme to complete over the three days," said Christian Silk, "and we were quite ambitious with what we were working on. For the most part we managed to complete everything we wanted and we have completed all our homework in time for Melbourne. "Between now and the first race we need to tidy up the cars as much as possible; get all the new parts on the cars that we have looked at during testing to get them into race specification. Obviously we still have a lot of work to do from these three tests because we've had three tests back-to-back and not had much chance to analyse the data and understand what has happened. So that is what will happen back at the factories; there will be an element of thinking about what has happened over these tests and taking using that information for the first race."
You have to work your way down to ninth on the timesheets before you find the name of the World Champion, however, we seriously doubt that Kimi Raikkonen will be losing any sleep. The Finn, and teammate Felipe Massa, were both running different programmes. Massa was working on set-up, using up the remaining kilometres of engine life in his car, while Raikkonen had a race simulation on his agenda, which he completed despite several interruptions caused by red flags and one precautionary stop to carry out a check on the car at the start of the afternoon.
The Maranello outfit will next be on track on 6th March at Fiorano, where Luca Badoer will carry out the shakedown of the cars that will be used in the Australian Grand Prix.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil brought the debut test of Force India's new aero package to an end. Again, the team's performance over the day was encouraging, with the Italian posting the 12th fastest time of the day and the German the 16th.
The team continued its simulation of a race weekend, with set up and qualifying work in the morning and long race-distance runs in the afternoon. Again red flags punctuated the session, but Force India managed to complete its programme for both the day and the test. The team will now go back to its Silverstone base to finalise preparations for the opening race of the season in Australia in just over two weeks.
"It's been a good day," said Fisichella, "and once again we did over 100 laps. We completed a race distance and, apart from the red flags, everything is going well. I am quite happy because first of all the car balance was very good and then the times were very consistent. We are quite close to most of the other people, which is also encouraging. The team did a good job and I am very happy with the atmosphere now."
"We did a lot of laps today," added Sutil, "and it was good to have some long runs and a race simulation. Unfortunately the longer stints were not so good, mainly we were struggling a little bit to find the right tyre pressures. The most important thing though was that we did a full race distance and when we come back here it will be in completely different conditions. The Qualifying simulation in the morning went well and I am convinced for the next outing in Melbourne we will be fine. I am confident.'
"A reasonable end to the test," said Mike Gascoyne, "although we did have slightly more problems than on the other two days. Our main aim was to do a full race distance with both cars, which we managed to achieve in the end despite the red flags and an exhaust problem on Giancarlo's car. Overall the race pace was very good, particularly Giancarlo's, and was competitive over the three days. We have actually made a step forward and we know we have got another substantial improvement for Melbourne, so well done to all the team for its hard work. We will now go back to the factory to get ready for the first race of the season."
Both BMW drivers were well down the timesheets, but like their rivals at Maranello and Woking, for the German team today was no doubt more about fine-tuning that impressive lap times.
Once again, Kubica and Heidfeld worked on the set-up of the F1.08 evaluating the latest aerodynamical updates for the upcoming race in Melbourne. Both drivers also conducted several practice pit stops and starts. In the morning Nick Heidfeld did a precautionary stop on the track because sensors were indicating a gearbox problem.
Looking ahead to the Australian Grand Prix Nick Heidfeld said: "Since the rollout of the F1.08 we made significant progress. I can't wait for the first race to start."
"Everybody in the team worked flat out to improve the car," added Kubica. "We are already in a quite strong position, and there is still a lot of potential in the car."
Sebastien Bourdais brought Toro Rosso's programme to a close, completing 98 laps, which means that over the three days of the Barcelona test, the team has completed around 1500 kilometres: an impressive statistic, given that only one car was used.
"The reason for the high mileage is that we did around a race distance each day and today, we again concentrated on race weekend procedures, which will be new to Sebastien when we get to Melbourne," explained Chief Engineer Laurent Mekies. "Also on today's agenda was fine tuning of the gearbox control systems."
Once again, propping up the timesheets, and giving cause for serious concern to its many fans, were the Hondas. While Jenson Button and Alex Wurz completed 198 laps, both drivers were over 2.9s off the pace, and over a second off the next placed driver (Heidfeld).
The Brackley duo spent the morning working on the set-up and handling of the car, alongside a race start programme, before working through a further race simulation exercise in the afternoon.
"Our focus this week was to run through the requirements of a race weekend with qualifying and race practice to ensure that we are well prepared for the start of the season," said Button. "Our main aero updates and some new mechanical developments will arrive for the Jerez test next week and we have a great deal to do there to ensure that we are in a position to be competitive for Melbourne. We have been doing a lot of work to overcome our handling issues but the pace and the lap times are not there yet."
"The focus of our test programme this week was to run through qualifying and race scenarios in preparation for the start of the season with our race drivers, pit crew and equipment," said Steve Clark, Head of Race & Test Engineering. "Running the car over a race distance and tightly timed practice sessions highlights any reliability concerns and ensures the team are familiar with the car and its workings. This all went well with race practices on all three days and qualifying simulations on Monday and Tuesday. We also completed an evaluation of revised suspension settings on Wednesday morning to address the handling concerns that the RA108 has been experiencing, which produced some positive results. We now have a three-day test in Jerez next week, where we will be running with a completely revised aerodynamic package, to finalise our pre-season preparation."
Despite the ideal weather conditions, the day was punctuated by red flag stoppages, the first coming at 09.25, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton. Other stoppages were down to Glock (one stop and one spin), Heidfeld (two stops), Sutil (one stop), Bourdais (a spin) and Trulli, who stopped on track with twenty minutes of the session remaining.