14/06/2008
NEWS STORY
Renault's Nelson Piquet topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Barcelona, as nine teams brought their Magny-Cours preparations top a close.
Conditions were overcast this morning, but the track remained dry and the sun came out for the afternoon, allowing all the team to complete their scheduled programmes.
Piquet remained in the R28 for his second day of running as he completed the French outfit's final preparations for the French Grand Prix. The team was able to continue with its aero evaluations and suspension set-up work, and also took the opportunity to complete some qualifying simulation in the afternoon.
"Once again we completed the work that we had planned without any problems and we learnt a lot of things," said the Brazilian. "We continued with the programme we started yesterday by putting some new things on the car that the team hope to run in the coming races. I also had the chance to do some qualifying simulations in the afternoon, which went well. It's nice to be top of the times, but it doesn't really mean anything."
"It was a trouble-free day," added Christian Silk, "and like yesterday we were able to do lots of running with Nelson covering over 100 laps. That has given us lots more data, which we will analyse in the coming days so that we can approach the French Grand Prix in the best shape possible. Overall it's been a positive three days here in Barcelona."
Second quickest, 0.326s off the pace, was McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa, who completed 82 laps. The Spaniard was the cause of one of five red flags of the day when he suffered a problem with his front win shortly before the end of the session.
Having set the pace on Thursday and Friday, today, Luca Badoer could only manage third quickest, finishing 0.604s off Piquet's pace. The Italian brought to a close the busy programme planned for this test, which looked especially at the development of new aerodynamic solutions, as well as experimenting with different set-ups on the car.
"It was a generally positive test," said Badoer. "We were able to work continuously and without any major technical problems. We saw interesting results from some new components, which might prove useful in the forthcoming races. On top of that, we also got through everything we had planned in terms of engine reliability work."
Mark Webber took over at Red Bull, the Australian's programme a continuation of the work initiated by Sebastien Buemi and David Coulthard, evaluating some new aero and mechanical components.
"Mark, who ended up fourth fastest, validated the results we had seen yesterday and despite some persistent drizzle, we got some good answers and worked through our entire programme," said Chief Test Engineer, Ian Morgan. "We are pleased with the progress made with the mechanical and aero items and we also did over our target in terms of mileage for the three days, so we are looking forward to the French Grand Prix."
Timo Glock continued his schedule of work begun on Friday, testing both aerodynamic and mechanical developments on the TF108. The German was satisfied with an uninterrupted day's running where rain threatened but delivered only a few light drops. However, with the end in sight and at the conclusion of his last run of the day, Glock suffered an unspecified issue with his engine.
"Following on from our strong result in Montreal it has been a good two days of testing," said Glock. "We have been able to evaluate some braking and aerodynamic work as well as some mechanical changes in preparation for Magny-Cours. The changes we made to the car were positive and I was able to gather more data today in addition to what we learned yesterday. There were no problems until the very last run of the day when I had an engine issue."
"It has been a varied test," added Gerd Pfeiffer, "starting off with an opportunity for Kamui to gain some more mileage in the TF108 and contribute to our development programme on Thursday. He learned from the experience and then Timo took over for the remaining two days. We collected a lot of data relevant to both aerodynamic and mechanical development on the car and I would like to thank the team for all the hard work this week. We made good progress and will be aiming to add to the points scored by both cars in the last race."
For BMW, Nick Heidfeld tested various solutions to make the F1.08 better suitable to his personal driving style. He evaluated different setup options making considerable progress. Some time was also used to reconfirm Robert Kubica's previous testing results concerning the general setup of the car.
Heidfeld and Kubica completed 410 km and 852 km respectively over the three days test in Barcelona, allowing the German team to not only collect valuable data with regards to the next race but evaluate different setup solutions for the intermediate future as well.
Rubens Barrichello continued his running in the RA108. The schedule for the morning saw a continuation of the chassis set-up programme, which carried on in the afternoon, along with a suspension evaluation.
"We had a good two days in Barcelona this week," said the Brazilian, "and were able to cover a lot of mileage. Without any major new test items, we focused on set-up
work and I'm happy with the progress that we made. We were able to improve the car mechanically which gives me a good feeling going into the French Grand Prix next weekend."
Nico Hulkenberg was back on duty for Williams, the German completing 60 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:21.674, 1.598s off Piquet's pace. A minor off saw Hulkenberg cause on of the other red flags of the day.
Sebastian Vettel took over from Sebastien Bourdais, but it was the same programme Toro Rosso, who have tested for only two days this week. The main item on the agenda was a completely new aero package and, like Friday, the team got on with the job of understanding how it worked and its effect on the car's handling.
"We tried various set-ups with the French race in mind and continued with evaluation of new suspension components," said Chief Engineer, Laurent Mekies. "We feel we have made a step forward but we won't really know where we are until we get to Magny-Cours. Despite a couple of problems over the past two days, we nevertheless managed to successfully complete a long run programme too.