It was a day of mixed fortunes for Sauber at Jerez today.
Felipe Massa topped the timesheets, the Brazilian completing 62 laps on his way to posting a best time of 1:17.501, while teammate Jacques Villeneuve, who only completed one lap less, was slowest of the seventeen drivers on duty, 3.550s off the pace. That said, don't read too much into the times as the former world champion was working on various aerodynamic evaluations while his Brazilian teammate was aiming for lap times.
"In the morning the track was still damp from yesterday," explained Jacky Eeckelaert, "that's why we ran with Michelin wet tyres and couldn't start our test programme until noon when we were finally able to switch to grooved tyres.
"By then we concentrated with both cars on further set-up work and Felipe also completed the roll-out of our second chassis. Brake and Michelin tyre evaluations for Melbourne were originally planned, too, but those we had to postpone to tomorrow.
"Our overall target for this week is the final preparation for the Australian Grand Prix with a focus on brake and tyre tests as well as the assessment of the last version of the systems' software."
Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Ricardo Zonta were second and third quickest, both drivers at the wheel of TF105s. At Valencia, the Italian complained of handling problems and lack of pace, but the car appeared a lot better today.
Juan Pablo Montoya out-paced McLaren teammate Pedro de la Rosa, the Colombian's MP4-20 sporting a rather strange and unsightly set of 'horns' on its engine cover. The strange device is the latest in a series that teams have introduced this year in an attempt to claw back downforce 'lost' as a result of the new regulations. At Barcelona recently Michael Schumacher's Ferrari sported a box-like device underneath its front wing.
Fernando Alonso was the quicker of the two Renaults, out-pacing Giancarlo Fisichella by over a second. Unable to complete meaningful set-up work in the morning, the drivers concentrated on accumulating mileage with the new car and beginning endurance tyre testing, completing long runs through the morning and afternoon.
Feedback from both drivers on the handling of the R25 was positive, reinforcing the positive impressions gained at Valencia during the past two weeks.
"With the circuit conditions preventing any useful set-up work, we shifted our programme to concentrate on accumulating mileage with the new car," said chief test engineer, Christian Silk. "Fernando was very busy, completing 124 laps on our tyre endurance programme without any problems at all. Giancarlo's day didn't run so cleanly, with a number of small problems delaying his work, but he was nevertheless pleased with the car's handling. Tomorrow, we will continue to test tyres, both in performance and endurance configurations, as well as putting more miles on the R25."
Nick Heidfeld out-paced Mark Webber as the FW27 took to the Jerez track for the first time. "Mark and Nick were on duty for our first visit here with the FW27," said test team manager, Tim Newton. "We experienced a minor technical problem on Mark's car early on in the session which we soon rectified, allowing Mark to continue his day's programme of tyre testing and fuel system checks. Nick, meanwhile, was in a new car today so spent the session completing set-up work."
Ferrari's Luca Badoer and Rubens Barrichello were at the wheel of an F2004 and an F2004 M respectively. The day's technical programme focussed on tyres, set-up and engine testing.
