16/05/2008
NEWS STORY
Jarno Trulli topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Paul Ricard, as all ten teams focussed on the Canadian Grand Prix.
While the start of the session was merely overcast, by mid-morning the rain was beginning to fall and by mid-afternoon the downpours were quite substantial, actually causing the session to be stopped for a brief period. Although conditions improved slightly at the very end of the day, buy that time many teams had already begun packing up. Consequently, the 11 drivers on duty only completed 351 laps in total, compared with 1144 (Wednesday) and 1245 (Thursday)
Having used the 2.232 miles 2d SC (Short) configuration on Wednesday and Thursday, as they focussed on next week's Monaco GP, today they switched to the 3.265 mile 1E V2 SC (short) configuration which best simulates the conditions - such as the heavy braking demands of the long straights, chicanes and hairpins - found in Montreal.
In the morning, like many of his rivals, Jarno Trulli had restricted running, using both the wet and extreme wet tyres. However, as conditions worsened, rendering further performance testing impossible, the Japanese team brought its programme to an early close, its driver still topping the timesheets.
"With the first two days of this week's test devoted to Monaco preparations we had scheduled an intensive programme today because Montreal is a very different type of circuit and we wanted to try out different aerodynamic and mechanical solutions," said the Italian. "You run less downforce in Montreal compared to Monaco so the car set-up is very different and we had planned a lot of work on this. It was frustrating that the rain came early in the day and meant that we could not collect any dry data."
"We were planning a full day concentrating on Montreal-specific aerodynamic and mechanical set-ups," added Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer, "but unfortunately the weather spoiled that. We initially fitted wet tyres to do a baseline run in the highest downforce specification we would run in Canada but the rain got worse. The next time we went out, just before lunch, we ran the extreme wets but Jarno reported too much surface water. Then, in the small time we got at the very end of the day, we ran a couple of systems checks. It was a frustrating end to the test but at least we collected a lot of data to prepare for Monaco over the first two days."
After completing a mammoth 193 laps on Thursday, Nelson Piquet remained in the R28 for Renault. The French team had planned to begin its preparations for Montreal but with such poor track conditions the team elected to remain in the garage for most of the day and the Brazilian only completed 60 laps.
Despite the low mileage, the team claims it has been a "productive test", with most of the objectives completed.
"Quite a frustrating day really," admitted Piquet, "but there was no point in doing lots of miles in the wet conditions. Fortunately we did a lot of laps yesterday and got most of our work done because we knew that it was likely to be wet today. So a good week overall and I think we are well prepared for Monaco next week."
"There was not much to be learnt today because of the poor weather," added Christian Silk, "but Nelson managed a couple of runs in the dry this morning and was pretty happy with the car on the longer circuit and everything was working well on the car. For a lot of the day it was too wet to be safe to run, but when it was safe enough we got out and did some basic set-up work in the wet, and gave Nelson some more wet weather experience."
Pedro de la Rosa was on duty for McLaren, the Spaniard finishing third quickest on the timesheets, having completed 53 laps. Despite the limited running, the Woking outfit described the day as "useful".
At Toro Rosso, Sebastian Vettel got on with driving in the morning, having his first run in the new STR3 in low downforce configuration. However, after just a few laps in the dry, the rain arrived.
"Sebastian then did a very good job of dealing with a new car in low downforce trim, without traction control on a wet track," explained Chief Engineer, Laurent Mekies. "However, the rain really intensified and the track was actually closed until late afternoon. By this time, we had already decided the best option was to pack up and concentrate on our Monaco preparation, so Bourdais did not get to drive today."
Felipe Massa was only able to do a few laps with dry weather tyres, before the rain began to fall, thereby causing Ferrari to throw its scheduled Montreal programme out of the window. Subsequently, in the middle of the afternoon, given the limit on the number of kilometres that the rules allow for testing and the worsening weather at the track, it was decided to end the test slightly ahead of schedule. Up to that time, Massa had done just 19 laps.
BMW planned to work on setup for the Canadian Grand Prix. In the early morning, Nick Heidfeld had the chance to evaluate different solutions for a medium downforce configuration of the F1.08. However, when the rain set in the team also took the chance to test the car on a wet race setup and performed several system checks.
Minutes before the lunch break the German had a minor off. The car sustained some damage to the bodywork and to the left front and rear suspension, yet the mechanics had the car repaired and ready for the afternoon session. However, due to heavy rain the German team decided not to risk the car on the track again.
According to the German team, despite the bad weather today the three-day test was "successful", having covered a total of 1,098 km and having had the chance to evaluate a number of new parts aimed to increase the performance of the F1.08 car in Monaco as well as in Canada.
Red Bull test and reserve driver, Sebastien Buemi describes his day: "It was very frustrating, because I have not had much mileage in a Formula 1 car so far this year, so I was looking forward to today. We got a couple of runs in dry conditions, but then as I was meant to be doing a long run test, the rain got much heavier and we decided the most sensible option was to stop running."
Giancarlo Fisichella was first out for Force India in the morning on the lower downforce aero package designed for the long straights of Montreal. The Italian put in one run before the rain, however a clutch problem led to a long stop in the garage and just as the issue was rectified, rain started to fall heavily. Fisichella took the opportunity to conduct some testing in the wet conditions before handing the car to Adrian Sutil just after the lunchtime break. Since heavy rain fell throughout the afternoon, the German completed just 13 laps to continue his teammate's wet weather programme.
"I did some running in the dry," said Fisichella, "but then we had a mechanical problem and had to come in, which was a shame as then it started raining. We could still do 31 laps in the morning to try out the wet set up and made some improvements to the balance in the wet, which could be useful."
"This afternoon was very wet until the sun came out towards the end of the day," added Sutil. "As such we started on extreme wets and got in a couple of runs to try out the wet set up. We did some starts and everything was OK, but with these conditions it is very difficult to draw any real conclusions."
"As we expected much of today was a wash out," said Chief Race and Test Engineer, Dominic Harlow. "It was possible to run dry tyres briefly at the start of the day with Giancarlo but unfortunately we had a mechanical problem that meant we lost some time in these conditions. The afternoon was also very wet, and Adrian could complete just 13 laps."
At Honda, Jenson Button's running was restricted to just 19 laps. With the RA108 in a lower downforce set-up, the Englishman began an aerodynamic evaluation in the morning session. Unfortunately the heavy rain showers throughout the afternoon, curtailed any further serious running.
"Unfortunately today has not proved to be as successful as Thursday due to the rain showers which limited our running to a few dry laps this morning," said Button.
"Unfortunately we had very little dry running today on the longer version of the circuit," added Steve Clark. "On a positive note, our reliability and productivity remain very good with Alex and Jenson completing over 1000km and 300 laps of the short circuit on the first two days."
Williams had Nico Hulkenberg on duty, the young German completing 35 laps, almost all of them in the wet.