12/02/2009
NEWS STORY
The three teams on duty in Bahrain suffered another frustrating day today, with just two laps completed in total as sandstorms continued to lash the track, meaning that the medical helicopter was unable to take off.
The circuit remained in silence for much of the day and the three teams - Ferrari, BMW and Toyota - taking part in the test remained in their garages.
"Another extremely precious test day has been lost," said Ferrari in a press release. "There are just over twelve test days left before the start of the 2009 Championship. Tomorrow the Scuderia has planned the test session with Kimi Raikkonen behind the wheel, but it is still not clear what the weather will be like. The forecast is not very optimistic."
"I've never seen a sandstorm in the desert before," said Jarno Trulli who completed one lap, "so this is a new experience for me. It's obviously a pity that we have been stuck in the pits both yesterday and today. I went out for an installation lap in the morning and the track was covered in dust. My first test in Portugal was also heavily disrupted by the cold and the rain so I'm itching to have a real run in the car. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to do more work."
"Again, we have been unable to run today because of the lingering effects of yesterday's sandstorm," added Dieter Gass. "The conditions improved slightly during the day but we could not test because the medical helicopter was unable to land at the nearest hospital. We will return tomorrow in the hope of getting back onto the track."
Robert Kubica, was on duty for BMW, also completed one lap, following which the only thing the German team's engineers could do was run a number of system checks with the car up on its stands in the garage.