15/05/2008
NEWS STORY
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets at Paul Ricard today as all ten teams continued their preparations for next weekend's Monaco Grand Prix.
Once again, the Finn worked on settings for the F2008 and on development of new aerodynamic solutions for high downforce circuits. The planned programme for the past two days was completed with no technical problems.
Tomorrow, the final day of testing here, Istanbul winner, Felipe Massa, will be on duty for the Maranello outfit.
At McLaren, Heikki Kovalainen took over from Lewis Hamilton, the Finn running the MP4-23 in Monaco-spec as he and the test team worked through the tyre programme and set-up work. Kovalainen was just 0.090s slower than Raikkonen and quicker than the best time posted by Hamilton yesterday. Pedro de la Rosa takes over for the final day.
Robert Kubica continued for BMW as the German team concluded its programme for Monaco. The Pole evaluated different aero and suspension specifications and tested tyres.
Although the short version (3.593 km) of Circuit Paul Ricard offers a significantly higher grip level than the streets of Monte Carlo, the team achieved good progress with the F1-08 car in high downforce configuration. The car ran without technical problems for the whole session enabling the team to finish the scheduled test program despite a rain caused break right after lunch.
David Coulthard was on duty for Red Bull, the Scot finishing fourth fastest despite being slightly delayed by a couple of technical problems. The programme included testing some new aerodynamic components as well as trying different mechanical set ups, using some new items on the car.
Overall, the team is reasonably confident that it heads for Monaco in good shape after these past two days testing. Tomorrow, however, its time to rip the wings off RB4 and set off for some low downforce work on a version of the Ricard track that features long Montreal- style straights. Sebastien Buemi is on driving duty.
Taking over the wheel of the RA108, Jenson Button continued the aerodynamic evaluation which Alex Wurz began yesterday. Once the track had fully dried out after the lunchtime rain-shower, Button completed a comprehensive tyre evaluation running both types of the Bridgestone soft tyres which will be used around the street circuit in Monaco next weekend.
The Englishman's lap tally was 155 laps as the team completed their preparation for the race. He will continue his running on the final day of the test tomorrow.
Sebastien Bourdais took over from Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of the STR3. The Frenchman spent the morning acclimatising to the new car as well as running a tyre comparison between the two types that Bridgestone will provide in Monaco and Montreal. Later in the morning, he began a race simulation which was successfully completed in the afternoon.
Also on the day's agenda, some of usual tasks with any new car - systems checking and calibration. Tomorrow, will be the first time both the Toro Rosso drivers try the STR3 in low downforce configuration as Vettel runs in the morning and Bourdais in the afternoon.
Jarno Trulli took over from Timo Glock for Toyota. His programme focused on finalising aerodynamic set-ups for Monaco as well as gathering information on the soft and super soft compound tyres that will be used. The TF108 ran smoothly with no mechanical problems, allowing the Italian to complete 120 laps and increase the team's understanding of the car in high downforce configuration. Trulli will be back in the car tomorrow.
"I went through the programme but I can't honestly say that I detected too much difference with the various set-ups that we tried," said Trulli. "It was the first time that I have driven the TF108 in high downforce configuration but there was not that much difference in feel. I'm not sure whether that is just a characteristic of this circuit."
"We ran a similar programme today as we did yesterday," added Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer, "except adapted to Jarno's set-up. We experimented with some different brakes and a range of different wings and aerodynamic settings. We had no mechanical problems and thankfully the rain that arrived around lunchtime did not affect our running in the afternoon. We completed the schedule and tomorrow we will turn our attention to preparations for Montreal on a different circuit layout."
Nelson Piquet took over from Lucas Di Grassi and completed another busy day in the R28, clocking up 193 laps by the close of play. The team initially began working on an aero programme in the morning, before switching to R&D work in the afternoon. The Brazilian remains in the car for the final day of running tomorrow.
"We got through quite a lot today," said Piquet, "and fortunately it stayed dry for most of the day, which meant I was able to complete a lot of laps. But it's difficult so simulate the conditions we will have in Monaco next week, and so we mainly concentrated on putting miles on the car and evaluating a couple of new developments that we have, as opposed to set-up work."
"As the high mileage shows we had good reliability today and we completed our programme as planned," added Christian Silk. "This morning was spent getting Nelson used to the circuit as well as doing aero development on the car, which went well. Then, in the afternoon we did some work on R&D. Everything worked very nicely and so overall a good day's running for us."
Kazuki Nakajima was on duty for Williams, the Japanese driver, who finished ninth on the timesheets, completing 129 trouble-free laps.
At Force India, Adrian Sutil took over from Tonio Liuzzi for the morning's run, while Giancarlo Fisichella drove in the afternoon to have the opportunity to evaluate the new aero package that will be introduced for the next race of the season.
The German completed 66 laps in the morning and tested the supersoft and soft tyre compounds available for the race. His fastest lap was a 1:07.104. Fisichella continued the programme in the afternoon, completing a further 64 laps.
Fisichella will be first out in the car tomorrow morning, while Sutil will take over for the afternoon to bring the test to a close.
"This morning went without any problems," said Sutil, "and we ran through our programme to prepare for Monaco. We tried the tyre options available for the race and again with the softer tyre we struggled to get the temperature into them on the first lap. There is some bad graining and it's not easy to drive, but we have managed to work with them better than we did in Turkey. The aero package for Monaco feels good and, although you can never completely tell how it will perform on a different circuit with different corners and surfaces, it does make you more prepared and you can predict in certain circumstances what it will do. Tomorrow we will move to the longer circuit and the Canada package with longer straights and some more chicanes."
"We made some progress today with the Monaco set-up," added Fisichella. "We had some problems with understeer and tyre graining at some points, but this also happens during the race too, so we could prepare for it. We didn't have any major problems and could put a lot of mileage on the parts for next week, so it looks good."
"Both race drivers used the day for Monaco preparation working on general setup, tyre evaluation and getting another read on some of the development items that were started on the first day," revealed Dominic Harlow. "No major problems aside from a light rain shower at lunchtime. We will move to work on Canada simulation tomorrow, but always with an eye to the weather.'
Tomorrow, the final day of testing here, the teams will use a circuit configuration that best prepares them for Montreal, the race after Monaco.