19/09/2008
NEWS STORY
 |
McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Jerez de la Frontera, the final major test of the 2008 World Championship season.
While Thursday's running was limited due to rain in the afternoon, today's weather was ideal all day, with sunshine and temperatures reaching 32 degrees C.
The Woking team was able to complete its programme for the week, with the focus remaining on aero development work for the upcoming races and the KERS evaluation programme. de la Rosa completed 90 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:18.992.
Second quickest was Nick Heidfeld, who continues to deputise for Robert Kubica. The German team, currently third in the Constructors' Championship, continued to focus on the four remaining races of the season.
"Today I concentrated on the mechanical and aerodynamic development of the car", said Heidfeld after completing 98 laps. "We found some promising solutions to improve the set-up of the car."
Despite Thursday's rain, the Munich team was able to finish its test programme as planned, without any technical problems, including the so called "Young Driver Day" on Tuesday.
Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi, was once again behind the wheel of the Renault R28 for his third day of work. Having lost so much track time due to yesterday's rain showers, the French team ran a busy programme to make up for lost time with di Grassi clocking up over 100 laps. He continued with the aero programme and completed some set-up work with the upcoming races in mind.
"It was another hot day, but it was much better than yesterday," said the Brazilian, "and we were able to do lots of laps. I felt even more comfortable with the car and we have definitely improved it a lot during the week. We worked on lots of different things, including some set- up work and new tyre runs in the morning, and in the afternoon we evaluated some parts to be used in the last few races."
"It was a better day for Lucas and the team and nice to give Lucas another full day of running," added Christian Silk, the French outfit's Chief Test Engineer. "He's done a very good job for us this week and was competitive throughout the day with consistent lap times and gave the team good feedback. The car ran well today giving us lots of results and data, which will be useful for the forthcoming races and for next year."
Having set the pace on Thursday in the Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel was on good form today on his return to Toro Rosso, his first time back behind the wheel for the Faenza outfit since his famous victory at Monza.
The German had a busy programme to work through, most of it centred on aerodynamic and set-up work aimed at the final four races of the year. He also evaluated some suspension and power steering options, as well as some testing aimed at 2009 car systems. Despite some strong wind in the morning and a slower track, the day produced positive results.
"At this, the final session of the season, our main test topics were trying out some new components on the car and the evaluation of two drivers, Sebastien Buemi and Takuma Sato," said Team Principal, Franz Tost. "On Wednesday, Red Bull young driver Buemi was in the cockpit and, as expected, he did a good job. On Thursday, Japan's Takuma Sato was behind the wheel. Unfortunately, he was only able to run in the morning because the rain arrived at lunchtime. Despite only completing a few laps, Sato also put up a good performance. Although those two days were something of an audition for a 2009 seat with Toro Rosso, Red Bull is in no hurry to make a decision at this point in the year, when we are concentrating on doing well in the final four races."
At the end of the session, Vettel posed for a team photo with the test team crew, as this will probably be his last test session with the Faenza outfit.
Having driven the Toro Rosso on Wednesday, today Sebastian Buemi was back on duty for Red Bull. The day was primarily dedicated to aero work and evaluation of several new components for the final four races of the year. Apart from a small delay with a mechanical problem, the day was productive and the high number of laps made up for time lost during the first two days.
"Definitely the best of the three days," said Chief Test Engineer, Ian Morgan. "Basically, Seb hardly got out of the car and every time he came into the pits, we put something new on for him to try. Hopefully, the race team can see the results in the coming flyaway races."
Timo Glock returned to work for Toyota as the Japanese team eyes fourth place in the Constructors' Championship. The German carried out a programme of aero comparisons for the coming races including Singapore and Japan as well as work on brakes and other systems. He had a busy, though trouble-free day and finished with well over 100 laps.
"That was a hectic day of testing because I carried out a lot of work for the different kinds of racetracks we have coming up," said Glock. "We got through a lot of laps, finishing our programme without issues. It's good that we had consistent weather today but it was still a bit tricky because yesterday's rain on this new surface meant that there was only one line and the rest was really dirty. Nevertheless we made useful progress and gathered information that will help us in the final part of the season."
"Following yesterday's interruptions, today we had a much busier day of running," added Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "Timo's programme included work on aerodynamics for the coming races along with brakes and other systems. We had no technical problems and we collected a lot of useful data. Overall it has been a positive week despite the intervention of the weather yesterday. We have made good progress and we can head into the last four races with confidence."
After two days testing in the RA108, with an eye on the final four races of the season, Alex Wurz today drove the car with the team's KERS development system in place. He completed 51 laps, evaluating the KERS system at various levels and gathering data.
"It was good to spend three days in the car this week," said the Austrian, "as we were able to achieve a great deal of beneficial work. For the first two days in the RA108, we concentrated on aerodynamic and set-up evaluations, and the car performed quite well on the new track surface in Jerez.
"Today we ran our KERS system which was a very interesting and promising experience," he continued. "Every time that we run with KERS, we learn more and start to fully understand its possibilities. It's such an interesting challenge and one that we look forward to developing further over the next few tests."
"We have had a good test this week," added Ross Brawn, "achieving some positive results which will assist our efforts both this season and looking ahead to 2009. Along with aerodynamic and set-up work with the RA108, we completed an engine settings evaluation which should have benefits for the remaining four races.
"The test was also a critical stage in our development of KERS. Although installed in a 'mule' car, the KERS system was fully functioning and very close to 2009 specification. Alex was able to give an invaluable input into the track behaviour of our KERS system and highlight several areas we need to focus on. A very valuable test and I am extremely pleased with the performance and the progress we have made with the system."
Having completed 102 laps, Nico Rosberg finished eighth on the timesheets, like Wurz and the Honda, over 3.5s off the pace.
The next scheduled major test gets underway at Barcelona on November 17.