17/02/2009
NEWS STORY
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Kimi Raikkonen topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit this week, however, the day was not without its problems for the Finn and his team.
The day started well with a series of runs dedicated to different set up configurations; just after 11:30 the F60 began to suffer a problem with the KERS' cooling circuit and the Finnish driver had to return to the pits. Up until then, Raikkonen had driven 40 laps.
The stop to repair the KERS system took more than three hours, with the Finn not back on track until 15.20. Nonetheless, there was one positive aspect to be taken from today's scare, the way in which the team handled the KERS failure.
During the winter break lots of analytical work has been carried out and the Italian team has been well trained as far as KERS is concerned. Today, this training was put to good use. The team followed all procedures with particular regard to safety. Obviously Raikkonen would have preferred to stay out on track but this incident will be a useful experience for the future.
The problem resolved, Raikkonen completed another 67 laps as he concentrated on long runs interspersed with pit stops. Once again the day ended with practice starts on the grid.
Jarno Trulli was in the cockpit for Toyota again, carrying out work on set-up, tyres and suspension. For the third day in a row the Italian ended up with the most mileage out of the three cars in action. Timo Glock is in action for the last two days of the test.
"This has been a very good test for us," said Trulli. "I've covered well over 2000km in three days and I feel happy with the car. It seems competitive and reliable so a start like this gives us a solid base for the season ahead. There is still a lot of time before the first race and there is plenty of scope for teams to make big steps between now and Melbourne. So we will have to keep pushing hard to keep up the momentum in the factory and at the remaining tests. Still, so far so good."
"The second week of this test continues to go very well," added Pascal Vasselon, "and today we were able to complete another full day of work on the TF109. Our programme included set-up, suspension and tyre comparisons and we made it through everything we had planned without any problems. The reliability of the TF109 is impressive and helping us make the most of the sessions. We look forward to more of the same over the rest of the week."
For BMW, Nick Heidfeld concentrated on set-up, trying various specifications of dampers and torsion bars. He also did a couple of practice starts in the morning and at the end of the session.
In the morning the car stopped on the track when a standard kill switch accidentally cut off the main electronic control unit and engaged the automatic fire extinguishing system. With some modifications to the switch linkage - and a cleaned up car - Heidfeld resumed testing.
"Today I drove the new BMW Sauber F1.09 in warm weather conditions for the first time," said the German, "so the most important thing for me was to learn more about the general balance of the car. Overall it was a good day because I tried a lot of different set-up solutions. I already feel happy about how the car reacts to changes."