12/03/2009
NEWS STORY
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Brawn GP - the team which has risen phoenix-like from the ashes of Honda F1 - continues to impress as Rubens Barrichello topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Barcelona, for all but a couple of teams the final test before Melbourne, indeed, the end of the 2009 season.
Once the heavy fog which delayed the start of today's running had cleared, Barrichello ran through a full 66-lap race distance with pit stops using both tyre compounds. The car proved reliable once again with the Brazilian setting competitive lap times over the three stints. The afternoon saw the veteran complete a series of qualifying simulations during which he set the fastest time of the week - a 1:18.926.
The team will resume testing at Jerez on Sunday for the final three-day test before the start of the 2009 season.
"I'm very pleased with the mileage that we have achieved today," said Barrichello, "and the completion of another full race distance. The qualifying exercises were also very useful in enabling the team and I to get fully up to speed and ready for Melbourne.
"The car has proved fast and reliable throughout the week so we go to Jerez feeling positive and pleased with the results of our first test outing."
"We are extremely pleased with the inaugural test of the car," added Ross Brawn, in what must be a masterpiece of understatement. "The team made a very late start to our pre-season testing programme with only seven days in which to run the car before the first race in Melbourne, therefore our focus has been on reliability and achieving as much mileage as possible. Both of these aims have been successfully achieved this week.
"That the car has run so reliably 'out of the box' is a tribute to the strong team that we have at our factory in Brackley," he continued, "they have done a great job during a very difficult period. The car is performing to our expectations and the feedback from Jenson and Rubens has been positive with both drivers completing full race distances.
"We have three further days of testing in Jerez next week to complete our preparations for the first race and I look forward to seeing how the car progresses from here."
Second quickest was Nico Rosberg in the Williams, the German completing 120 laps on the way to posting a best time 0.848s off Barrichello's pace.
"After an initial delay due to the fog, we spent our last day in Barcelona completing another useful session working mainly on the optimisation of set-up around the slick tyres," said Sam Michael, "something that will be key to this year's championship.
"We have made progress over the four days and now look forward to our final test in Jerez next week where we will sign off some more parts for Melbourne. The lap times are close at the moment making it difficult to predict the order... and that's great for the sport!"
"We've put in a lot of laps this week," added Rosberg, "and have definitely made good progress. Our schedule has mainly focussed on mechanical and aero testing, of which there was lots to learn because there are so many new concepts and designs this year. It's difficult to judge where everyone is because the times are quite close, but we have one more test next week which will be an advantage."
While Brawn and Williams will be in action at Jerez, as will McLaren and Renault, Toyota completed its preparations for the 2009 season today. Timo Glock put in yet another full session of work on set-up. He finished the day with 128 laps, pushing the team's total for the week past the 500 mark. On his very last lap he stopped out on the circuit with a mechanical problem that the team will now investigate.
"This was another useful day to round off our good winter of testing," said the German. "We did more work on set-up and long runs and everything went well until the very last lap! Still, overall the car feels strong and we seem to have good pace so we can look forward to Australia. Of course we'll only see the real results on Saturday in Melbourne but everyone at Toyota can be happy with our work so far. We've madefine progress so roll on the first race."
"After the fog cleared this morning, we had another good day's work to finish our winter programme," added Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "Timo made the most of the conditions, putting in a lot more laps of set-up on the TF109. He stopped on his last lap so we will now have to investigate the cause. But overall, given this year's in-season testing ban it was important that we had a positive winter and that's exactly what has happened. We have made the most of the limited time, the TF109 has been quick and consistent so we can head to Melbourne with confidence."
Sebastian Vettel was at the wheel of the RB5, as Red Bull completed its final day of testing. The Austrian team tested some development parts, but mainly concentrated on final set-up work ahead of the first race.
"Overall this week's test has gone pretty well," said Ian Morgan, Head of Race Engineering. "We've been pleased with our reliability throughout the winter, but looking to performance it's hard to know where we stand until we get out on the track in Melbourne. We're looking forward to it and can't wait to start racing again."
Fernando Alonso completed his third day behind the wheel of the R29 to round off a productive week of work for the French team.
The fog initially delayed proceedings, however, as conditions improved later in the morning the team was able to get down to its technical programme, which involved evaluating components to improve the mechanical balance of the car. Despite losing time in the afternoon, Alonso was still able to complete 64 laps.
"We had a problem at the beginning of the afternoon and so we lost some track time," said Alonso, "but overall I think it was an interesting day and we improved our understanding of the car. We tried some new development solutions and so today was not about outright performance but simply exploring new ideas for developing the car into the season. We have one more test to go in Jerez, but overall I think we are ready for the first race in Melbourne."
"We had quite a lot to get done this week and the programme evolved as we went along, just as it always does," added Christian Silk. "As we continue to get to know the car it becomes apparent what areas we need to look at and what areas we can find performance in. The car ran very well all week and the team is working well together as we had the entire race team here preparing for the first race. We've got one more test to go when we will introduce some final developments prior to Melbourne."
Felipe Massa was back on duty for Ferrari, the Brazilian comparing different set-ups for the F60 and testing new solutions for the car's development.
"I think that we've done some pretty good work in this session," said the Brazilian. "Obviously there were some minor problems on the second and third day, but yesterday I drove the distance of one and a half races all in one go without getting out of the car and also today I drove many miles.
"Over these 20 days of tests we were able to improve our car a lot in every respect," he continued. "Today we're where we thought we would be before the start at Melbourne. As far as the performance is concerned I'm really satisfied with our competitiveness compared to all the others, except obviously Brawn GP, who were unreachable for all of us.
"Right now we're not the fastest car on the track," he admitted, "we'll see how it works out in Australia."
For BMW, Robert Kubica did a race simulation that included start procedures and pit stops. After the lunch break the Pole continued to evaluate different solutions for the F1.09's set-up in preparation for Melbourne. Today he covered 134 laps, bringing the car's total mileage for the four Barcelona test days to 2,162 kms.
"Our final pre-season test was very productive," said Willy Rampf. "We worked on the mechanical set-up of the car as well as the aero configuration. In addition, we also improved our KERS. Our second goal was to prepare for the season's first Grand Prix in two weeks in Melbourne. We simulated a proper race day on Tuesday with Nick Heidfeld and today with Robert Kubica, each covering a complete race distance without any technical problems. That tells us a lot about the reliability of the F1.09."
Lewis Hamilton continued for McLaren, and once again the Woking team was at the wrong end of the timesheets, along with Toro Rosso and Force India.
The day was spent focusing on mechanical set-up - successfully developing MP4-24 and learning positive directions for improvement. The team now travels back to Jerez for its final pre-season test before Melbourne.
Having driven over two race distances yesterday, Sebastien Buemi completed his programme this morning, continuing with development work on the car. The team then decided to switch drivers, putting Sebastien Bourdais back in the car for the afternoon. This was because the Frenchman had driven on the first two days, when technical problems had seriously restricted his running time. Therefore he was given this opportunity to put in more laps, now that the initial teething troubles on the car had been sorted out.
Splitting the two Toro Rossos was Giancarlo Fisichella who brought Force India's programme to a productive close with a simulation of a race weekend. After the delayed start the Italian conducted initial set-up checks before launching into qualifying runs before the lunchtime pause. In the afternoon Fisichella moved onto longer runs and put in a full race distance.
The team now heads back to its Silverstone base to consolidate the data gained over the two tests and begin its final preparations for the Australian Grand Prix. Tonio Liuzzi will conduct a shakedown of the second chassis at Silverstone on Tuesday.
"It's been a good day," said Fisichella. "We went in the right direction with some set-up work and the car was very reliable so we could really start to work on the balance. It's not so bad we just could do with some more aero grip. We didn't do the best lap time when the circuit was at its peak in the morning otherwise we could have improved the time, perhaps a 20.5, but overall I feel comfortable. It's quite encouraging, we now know where we need to improve."
"It was a very good conclusion to the eight days of testing," added James Key. "Over the week we have completed more than 2,000km and have a very strong basis to start the season from. We don't have any major concerns and the car is now very reliable so we can really start to look at areas that will improve performance. Giancarlo ran a second race distance without any issues and tried both tyre compounds. In more representative temperatures today they behaved very well and seemed to be good over longer runs. The drivers seem to be happy and, with this in mind, we can concentrate on seeking out the improvements that will move us forward."