14/04/2006
NEWS STORY
Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Barcelona. The Finn posted the fastest time of the year at the Spanish track, outpacing his Italian teammate by 0.376s.
For his second day in chassis, Fisichella remained focused on set up changes and tyre development. Meanwhile, Kovalainen completed a substantial tyre programme including numerous long runs in the afternoon to analyse the new Michelin products in these conditions.
"It was a successful conclusion to our test," said Christian Silk. "We worked well with good progress on the tyres in particular. The team did a great job throughout this session and worked all the hours needed to get the job done. We will continue developing the chassis and the aerodynamics of the car for the next races and we will be on track at Silverstone in two weeks to continue our development programme. We all know that these test sessions are a vital part of winning races afterwards!"
Although 0.760s off the pace, Jarno Trulli demonstrated that Thursday's pace was no flash-in-the-pan by posting the third fastest time. The Italian, along with teammate Ralf Schumacher, concentrated on long runs, collecting data on set-ups, aerodynamics and tyres.
"We continued testing the tyres today, doing a lot of long runs," said the Italian. "With each test the tyres are improving and today we confirmed what I said yesterday, we have made a huge improvement in the handling of the car. We are consistently making progress and getting quicker in comparison to the first races. In general, I feel more comfortable about the car fitting my driving style, especially now when we are heading into the next race. Imola was never really kind to the team, but nevertheless, our times show that we can get more out of the car and we are ready to show our potential."
"We worked on a typical tyre-testing programme as well as some set-ups today," added Schumacher. "We were trying to get through some long runs concentrating mainly on the construction for the coming races. Unfortunately I spun out late in the day, but we still were able to get a lot done. The car is showing progress and we are determined to maintain the upward momentum that we currently have. Next week in Imola, we will see where we stand and we are aiming to improve on our results we have had so far."
"This week's testing went very well," said test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "The warm weather was advantageous in allowing us to get a lot of testing done. We finished most of test programme on aerodynamics, tyres, and set-ups, that we had schedule for the week. Even though we had some minor issues with the cars and had some delays due to plenty of red flags, we were quite productive and can be pleased with the results we have found. Now the team will head to Imola, where we will work hard to score some points."
Jenson Button began the day looking at general car set-up work, before completing a tyre evaluation over longer runs to end the morning session. He spent the afternoon working through a short aero evaluation followed by further set-up work.
Rubens Barrichello concentrated on chassis set-up work covering 54 laps over the morning. However, due to a trapped nerve in his shoulder, he sat out the afternoon session with Anthony Davidson taking over. The Englishman successfully ran through the planned tyre evaluation, completing 69 laps.
"A fairly straightforward test this week with a lot of test items to get through before we go into the European season," said Button. "We focused mainly on aero developments and tyre testing for the next few races and I feel that we've made a positive step forward with our aero package and also on the tyre warming work."
"I really enjoyed my time in the car this week and we have made some good progress," added Barrichello, "I feel more comfortable and am getting more used to the car. We also made a step forward with the traction control, although there is still work to be done in this area. The only misfortune is that I have pulled a slight nerve in my shoulder so I stopped running at lunchtime today to get it checked out. Overall it's been another positive week and we're looking forward to getting to Imola next weekend."
Fifth quickest was Michael Schumacher, who was partnered by Felipe Massa, both drivers focussed on tyre testing.
Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya took the total kilometres covered at this week's test to just under 2,000, as they continued the programme of Michelin tyre selection for the Spanish Grand Prix and set-up work in two MP4-21s.
Kimi covered over 463km as he put in 100 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya. His fastest time of 1m14.752 put the Finn in sixth position on the timesheets. Juan Pablo completed 32 laps and set the seventh quickest time of the day, with a 1m14.878. The close nature of the times was demonstrated again today, with under eight tenths covering the top seven drivers.
The running today was interrupted for both drivers with mechanical failures on the MP4-21s, which with Juan Pablo led to his car going off track into a gravel trap. There was no damage to his MP4-21 and the test team were able to resolve the issues quickly and get both cars back out on track to continue running. Towards the end of the session, Juan Pablo also suffered an engine problem, however with under an hour left of the day, the team took the decision to end his test for the week.
"It has been good to get back to testing this week, and continuing the work that the test team has been covering over the past few weeks since the start of the season," said Raikkonen. "Although the track has been closed a lot, because of all the red flags, we have still been able to work through a lot of development work with the MP4-21 and we are continuing to make good progress with the car. When you see how close the times are between the top few cars in testing, when you are focused on your development programme rather than times, it shows how much of a competitive season we have ahead of us this year!"
"My two days at this week's test were focused on Michelin selection for the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place in a month from now," added Montoya. "We have been evaluating the prime and options with Michelin, with some interesting results, and have been able to conclude the process today."
Jacques Villeneuve and Robert Kubica had a busy and productive day with positive feedback. In the morning Jacques did some more aero and set-up work as well as systems testing, a starting development programme and traction control settings. In the afternoon he did longer runs so Michelin and the team could study the tyre performance. Both Jacques and his engineers were happy with the work they had done validating what they need for Imola. Robert Kubica did set up work in the morning and then in the afternoon concentrated solely on a tyre programme.
It was a tough day for Mark Webber. The Australian crashed heavily in the morning and then, later in day, once his car had been repaired, he went off again following a tyre failure.
"Today Alex Wurz joined Mark on our final day in Barcelona," said Mike Condliffe. "In the early part of the morning, Mark had an accident - fortunately he was fine but it left the car badly damaged. As a result, Mark switched to the other car in order to carry out some confirmatory tyre compound tests for the race here in a few weeks' time.
"The crew did an excellent job turning Mark's car around and were able to get it out for the last part of the session. Although we didn't get as much running in as we would have liked today, the re-prioritised programme gave us a clear direction in which to develop."
"Cosworth has gathered a lot of data as we completed a significant amount of running on both 'race specification' Series 2 and 'development' Series 3 CA2006 engines," said Cosworth's Simon Corbyn. "Analysis of the results will contribute to the engine plan for the San Marino Grand Prix and onwards. Cosworth is confident in the performance of the CA2006 engine. The challenges in Barcelona this week only make us more determined to ensure we have a successful season."
Super Aguri concluded its three-day test. With running interrupted on the second and third days due to a number of issues and as a result the team ran out of track time before Yuji Ide could step into the car this afternoon.
Undeterred, the team now feels more confident that it has a greater understanding of the SA05 following its first full testing programme and is looking forward to the European races ahead.
"Our time in Barcelona has been productive as we have been able to finally conduct a proper test programme with the SA05, but we have encountered some problems," admitted Takuma Sato. "We have been able to gain a better understanding of the car, which is very positive, but unfortunately our running was cut short on the last two days, mainly because of hydraulics problems. We also had to leave our important Bridgestone tyre test, which was planned for Thursday, until today. Another hydraulics failure cut short my running this morning and so we have not been able to complete our tyre evaluation for the next few races. I have mixed feelings leaving this test, but the good part is that we have a much greater understanding of the SA05."
"In what can only be described as a hectic three-day test the team has been able to run through a range of performance and reliability issues that will stand us in good stead for the upcoming races," added Mark Preston. "It was a disappointing week for Yuji as reliability problems meant that he did not get a run in the car."