21/02/2011
NEWS STORY
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Ferrari's Felipe Massa topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Barcelona, posting the fastest time of the entire four-day test.
After yesterday's mixed conditions, today was far more settled, with bright sunshine for much of the day only giving way to cloudy skies late in the afternoon.
Massa worked mainly on a comparison of the various types of tyre Pirelli brought here, running with different fuel loads and with different car set-ups. The Brazilian covered a total of 121 laps, his quickest time of 1.22.625 - posted at the very end of the session - being over half-a-second quicker than anything else seen here this week.
"The outcome of testing up to the end of today has been positive," Massa told reporters. "We really did a lot of kilometres and I think our team actually completed more than anyone else. Both myself and Fernando did a real and genuine race simulation and we tried all the types of Pirelli tyre with different fuel levels.
"Where are we compared to the others? I don't know," he continued, "and until we are all doing the same things at the same time, in other words at the first race, then we won't know for certain. The Red Bull is definitely very quick and that's a fact. Today, we did a good lap time and I think we are not off the pace: however, yesterday Rosberg was quick for example and you definitely cannot rule out McLaren and some other teams."
After spending yesterday on race simulation work, it was back to business as usual for Red Bull today, with Mark Webber completing 69 laps as the team evaluated development components on the RB07.
"Today we got through quite a lot of work in evaluating some development components on the suspension, brakes and aero package," explained head of race engineering, Ian Morgan. "We got through the whole programme without any difficulties so, all in all, a useful day's work."
Summing up the Barcelona test, he added: "We set out a pretty ambitious schedule for this test and I'm pleased to say that we managed to get through almost all of it. Obviously, the weather yesterday hampered us a little but even then we got some wet weather running in, which helps us understand the tyres a bit better. Overall, I think we are quite pleased with the progress we've made here."
"Not too bad today," said Webber. "We had a few niggles here and there but we did well and that's been the case over the whole weekend. We had a very productive test, no question about it. We have a whole raft of data to go through, so we'll see where the next test is and get ready for that."
Sebastien Buemi - who ended the day third fastest - carried out a programme similar to the one followed with Jaime Alguersuari, a mix of short and long runs using all the types of Pirelli tyre with the exception of the medium. In addition, the Swiss driver also worked on car set-up work and brakes.
"This has definitely been a productive four days for us with a good number of laps completed," said Giorgio Ascanelli. "We addressed all the technical issues that came to our attention at the previous test in Jerez, although as you move forward and make progress, you always discover new problems. But 90 trouble-free laps today means that this is a positive end to our time in Barcelona."
"Today went well and I am happy with what we achieved," said Buemi. "We got through the entire programme we had planned and did enough laps to improve our understanding of the various types of Pirelli tyre. Along with the two other drivers, we gathered a lot of data over the past four days here in Barcelona and it will be important to analyse everything very carefully to find the right way to move forward in terms of reliability and performance, when we tackle the final pre-season test session. The team, at the track and back at the factory worked well to deliver a car reliable enough to do plenty of laps, which is always the most important thing at this point in the year."
A new front wing was fitted on the Renault R31 and the team carried out aero mapping to assess its effectiveness. It's understood that first impressions were positive, as the team completed its first race distance simulation and declared itself pleased with the feel of the car on high fuel.
"In the morning we were not able to do most of our programme because we had an issue with the KERS," revealed Nick Heidfeld. "It's a shame because track time is so limited, but it's obviously better to have problems during testing before the season starts. In the afternoon we started the race simulation, which went reasonably well. We were using different tyre compounds and tried both scrubbed and new sets. We learned a lot by running the car on high fuel and have lots of useful data about the degradation rates. Then, at the end of the day, we returned to the set-up work."
"It was a difficult morning because we lost time with a KERS problem," added Alan Permane. "We managed to resolve the issue before lunch and started with our set-up programme. For the afternoon our target was a race distance. We pretty much completed the mileage we needed to, apart from a couple of laps due to a red flag. We ended the day with further set-up work and found some good directions."
At McLaren, Lewis Hamilton wrapped up the Woking's team's programme spending the day focusing on tyre development over a series of long runs.
Clocking up an impressive 107 laps - MP4-26's biggest single-day mileage - the team worked through a lengthy tyre development programme, eschewing outright lap times in order to more fully understand how the Pirellis behave throughout a race stint.
"It was very encouraging to log over 100 laps with MP4-26 today," said test team manager, Indy Lall, "an impressive conclusion to our four days in Barcelona. We're still working through a very lengthy development programme - today wasn't about pure performance, it was about conducting a disciplined series of long-runs - but it's been a positive end to our test here."
Although Pastor Maldonado was able to complete 121 laps and post the sixth fastest time, the days was not without its problems fro Williams as Sam Michael explains: "It has been another productive day but it certainly didn't start out like that!" said the Australian. "We had a problem with the KERS cooling system just before the session opened, so we had to disable KERS for the day. Pastor then spent the morning doing some mapping runs for Cosworth and running some new exhaust components for aero to check temperatures for the last test aero upgrade that is coming - all of that worked okay. In the afternoon we completed a race simulation with no problems.
"Overall it has been a productive test," he continued, "although we still have some reliability issues to work on. The final winter test will now be held back here from 8 March and we will be bringing our first race upgrade package."
"We did 121 laps so it's been a great day," said Maldonado. "We tried lots of things on the car this morning and this afternoon we did a race simulation. The car felt great. We need to work to understand a little bit more about the balance on the longer runs but I am happy as the car is getting better each time we go out."
Following on from yesterday's programme, Adrian Sutil worked on tyre evaluation, running the supersoft Pirelli tyre for the first time this test, and further fine-tuned the set-up and balance of the VMJ04. The German, who completed 64 laps on his way to posting the seventh best time of the day, also used the KERS system for the first time.
"A very productive day in general for us," said Sutil. "We made some good progress with the balance and we've now got a basic set-up that feels smooth and easy to drive. I also got a run on the supersoft tyres, which we didn't manage to do yesterday. Of course we also put the KERS on the car. It ran reliably and allowed us to complete the full test programme: very promising for this point in testing. It's still early days for the system but we have got ourselves into a good rhythm and can feed this back into the factory to get some more performance for the next test."
"A good final day's testing concentrating on KERS set-up, reliability and also some aero tests that remained on our programme," added Dominic Harlow, the Silverstone-based outfit's circuit engineering director. "Adrian also looked at some ride height sweeps and a few procedural checks. It's been a productive four days for the team and overall the car seems to be performing reliably and according to expectations in all the major areas."
Sergio Perez continued for Sauber, the Mexican's main focus for the day being set-up work. "It was another positive day," he said. "I learnt a lot, in particular about the tyres. They kept changing, but now we have the final spec for the beginning of the season, so it was good I was able to run them today to learn how to maximise their potential. We did a lot of work over the two days, so I'm quite happy."
"It's always good to use this track as a reference," added the team's technical director, James Key. "You get a far better idea about what your car is doing and where its strong and weak points are. Today we spent most of the time working on the set-up of the car, and we tried some new test items. We have to look at the data, but certainly we found some new directions. We also found some useful directions with the different compounds of tyres between the start in the morning, which was cold, and the afternoon when it was quite warm. The temperatures, the set up and the tyre compound are all very closely linked. There's a lot of factors to consider, and we were able to learn more about all of them. Now we head off to the next test where we will introduce onto the car the first part of the update for the start of the season."
Jerome D'Ambrosio was back in action for Virgin, having opened the test for the Russian team on Friday. This team got its programme off to a positive start in the morning as the Belgian focused on set-up runs, pitstop practice and practice starts.
Late morning however, a gearbox problem surfaced which confined the MVR-02 to the garage. However, a major effort by the team saw the car back on track mid-afternoon, allowing D'Ambrosio to complete 50 laps in total. Whilst the lap tally was less than previous days, the team is encouraged by what has been a very productive test overall with very positive mileage achieved.
"It was a shame not to have more time in the car today," said the Belgian, "but I have to say that I'm happy with my last test day in Barcelona. The car has improved a lot if we compare it to the first day of testing, and that is a good sign. The immediate focus will be working through all the data we have gathered and I'll be spending time in the simulator later this week to ensure we keep moving forward."
"We lost a bit of running but we have to be happy with what we've achieved at this test," added John Booth. "It has been extremely productive and the lessons learned will improve our performance significantly in readiness for the first race of the season. What we take away from this test most of all is just how far we've come as a team in the space of just 12 months.
"This time last year, a problem like the one we encountered today would have brought us to our knees," he admitted, "but it's a measure of the strength of our operation now that we came back from this setback and got ourselves out on track again in such a short space of time to bank crucial development mileage. We have gathered an enormous amount of information to review and feed back into the development cycle. With the landscape having changed significantly with regard to the season opener, we will use the extra time to review every aspect of our racing operation to ensure that we are fully prepared and ready for when the lights do go green."
At Mercedes, Michael Schumacher's programme included aerodynamic evaluations, further race weekend preparation work and set-up development, particularly focusing on longer runs. The German also continued his familiarisation with the KERS system.
"We've had another busy day," said the seven-time champion, "focusing on set-up work and improving our understanding of the car. The reliability was good, which gave us a solid platform to work from, and we made progress in terms of finding set-up directions. On the performance side, this isn't the package we will start the season with, so we are not drawing too many firm conclusions. Overall it has been a productive test for us in Barcelona as we continue our pre-season preparations."
"We have had a good test in Barcelona and made significant progress with our testing programme," added Ross Brawn. "Michael and Nico have both completed race weekend simulations, which have been extremely valuable to develop our understanding of the behaviour of the car and tyres on different fuel loads, and to use KERS and the adjustable rear wing in realistic situations. The reliability of the MGP W02 has been encouraging at this test which now allows us to turn our focus to the performance developments we have to come."
A car failure brought Team Lotus' programme to an early close, Jarno Trulli having completed just 18 laps when he crashed at Turn 9 (Campsa). Though the car wasn't badly damaged the team lacked the spare parts needed to continue.
"It was not his fault," said Mike Gascoyne, "it was caused by a car failure and we were missing a part we needed to put the car back together which meant we had to cut day four short.
"Despite this I still think there are a great deal of positives to take from the test in terms of the pace of the car and the fact that we are on top of the reliability issues," he continued. "With that in mind we leave here with work to do but still on target for where we want to be. We will wait to see where the next test will be held and with the time we now have back at the factory we will be working hard to make sure we run through our complete programme at that test."
"It's obviously disappointing to have the test cut short like this but these things happen in motor racing," added Trulli. "We started the day well and until the accident happened I had picked up where I left off yesterday - the car has good balance, pace we can build on and has the potential to help us take the fight to the midfield, so I'm leaving here feeling confident about the season ahead and am looking forward to the next test, wherever that will be."
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