10/12/2008
NEWS STORY
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Toro Rosso continued to set the pace at Toro Rosso today with three drivers topping the timesheets. However, as previously pointed out with some teams running with more 2009-spec components than others little can be read into the times.
Sebastien Buemi had one car for his exclusive use all day today while Sebastien Bourdais and Takuma Sato shared the other. A damp track in the early morning meant the team was able to complete its assessment of the 2010 Bridgestone rain tyres, with Buemi also getting his first ever run on this year's intermediate rubber.
The conditions meant that Bourdais stayed behind the wheel longer than planned, so that Sato only ran for the last 90 minutes of the day. However, the Japanese driver was soon on the pace, as he carried out performance and long run testing, assessing various set-up options on the 2009 slick tyres.
Once the track had fully dried, Buemi also switched to slicks and tried various setup options to suit next year's tyres, happy with the balance he found on the car. He also did a tyre comparison between the "soft" and "medium" compounds available, the latter performing consistently on this high wear track.
Unfortunately, the Swiss driver's day ended slightly ahead of schedule, after a trip across a kerb caused slight damage to the car. It will be fully repaired in time for tomorrow, when Buemi and Sato drive for the final day of this test session.
For McLaren, Heikki Kovalainen got his first taste of slick tyres, low downforce and KERS when he began his 2009 testing programme in the MP4-23K. The Finn was on the pace immediately, adapting well to the interim car and able to provide good feedback to his engineers.
Pedro de la Rosa focused on the 23A, concentrating on aerodynamic work with the team's first attempt at running a 2009-configuration nose (below). The team claims the evaluation was "extremely positive". Tomorrow, the drivers will switch cars as they conclude the three-day programme.
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Kimi Raikkonen continued with investigating various set-ups on the F2008, fitted with slick tyres and reduced aerodynamic downforce, as well as experimenting with a few new components aimed at next season, all this while continuing with an engine endurance programme. The Finn completed a total of 89 laps.
Halfway through the afternoon, Felipe Massa arrived at the circuit and immediately got down to work. The Brazilian, driving an identical car to his team-mate, completed 27 laps before the end of the session, which means he is well prepared for the rest of this test. Both drivers continue here tomorrow.
Fernando Alonso returned to the cockpit of the R28 for the first time since the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, and the first time since he re-committed to the team with which he won his two titles. The Spaniard sampled slick tyres with a car set up to best simulate 2009 settings, and despite a brief interruption to the programme in the morning, when he went off, the team completed its objectives for the day.
"It was a good day and I'm happy to be back in the car," said Alonso. "Unfortunately I damaged the car a little bit in the morning and so we lost some running, but the team did a good job to repair the car quickly and I was able to run almost all of the afternoon without any problems. It was nice to run on the slick tyres as they are more grippy, but when you lose the downforce from the car they don't feel massively different to grooved tyres."
"It's good for Fernando to be back in the car and to get some experience on the 2009 tyres," added Christian Silk. "Fernando learnt a lot about the tyres and the engineers learnt a lot from his feedback and setting the car up with him. On the technical side we continued with a similar programme to yesterday, putting mileage on the car and managed to achieve the main objectives for the day."
Nico Rosberg was on duty for Williams, where set-up work and slick tyre development in preparation for 2009 was the programme for the day.
"Fortunately, it stayed dry all day today which allowed us to clock up the mileage while continuing our '09 development and set-up programme," said Dickie Stanford. "The FW30B modified chassis covered 540 kilometres without encountering any problems and Nico will finish testing the scheduled items tomorrow on the final day of this week's test."
BMW ran two interim cars featuring a modified 2008 chassis, with some bodywork complying to the 2009 regulations. Robert Kubica drove the car fitted with KERS for the first time. However, his day came to a premature end when his car stopped halfway through testing with a mechanical problem. Because of this, the chassis was slightly damaged and the necessary repairs took up the rest of the day.
Nick Heidfeld concentrated on development work on the F1.08B-03 fitted with the conventional engine. He worked on the set-up of the car, collecting more data on the slick tyres as well as the revised bodywork.
"It was a productive day," said the German. "With the weather being much better, we were able to catch up on some of the development time we lost yesterday. My 87 laps today with a problem free car gave us the opportunity to try a number of different options."