15/01/2008
NEWS STORY
 |
On his first outing with Renault following his departure from McLaren, and getting his first taste of F1 under 2008 rules, Fernando Alonso has made a dramatic return to the French team, topping the timesheets on the second day of testing at Jerez.
Arriving at the Jerez circuit yesterday evening, the Spaniard spoke to the engineers to understand how the first day of the programme had gone, and to prepare for his two days work with his 'new' team.
His first day behind the wheel gave Alonso the opportunity to drive a car in accordance with the 2008 electronic regulations, and most significantly without traction control. It was also a good opportunity to reacclimatise to the team with which he has worked for six years in the past.
At the end of the session, having covered 70 laps, the overall result was an encouraging first day as the Spaniard topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1:19.503.
"The result of my first day in the car is encouraging," said Alonso. "I could not wait to drive again, but at the same time I was a bit tentative. I quickly settled back in to the team and everything went well. We made good progress throughout the day, but there is a lot still to do. I had to adapt at first to the car and get used to driving the car without traction control, but I am convinced that that soon I will be used to this and will not remember what is was like to drive with traction control."
"The whole team was very happy to have Fernando back today," added Christian Silk. "It is a bit like he was never away, and he was very relaxed for the whole day. There was a great deal to discuss with the engineers and we covered a lot of ground, so it has been an encouraging day. We can now continue in the same direction and with determination for the season ahead."
Second quickest was Pedro de la Rosa, who was partnered by Heikki Kovalainen, as Alonso's former team continued its preparations for the long season ahead. With clearer weather today, the Woking team concentrated on systems durability, which incorporated some set-up work on both cars. In addition, longer runs were focused on as part of the tyre testing. The Woking team completed the most laps today, between them de la Rosa and Kovalainen clocked up 242 laps.
Having topped the timesheets on Monday, today, Kimi Raikkonen, who was partnered by Felipe Massa, could 'only' manage third quickest, albeit just 0.205s off Alonso's pace. The Maranello duo, both at the wheel of F2008s, continued working on the development of the new car, evaluating various set-up changes, as well as doing some practice starts.
Splitting the two Ferraris was Nico Rosberg, who along with Kazuki Nakajima, completed 149 laps for Williams. On a day when the top six were covered by 0.277s, the German continued to impress.
Toro Rosso continues to show good pace with Vettel and Bourdais the best of the rest, albeit both over 0.8s off Alonso's pace. On their second day the team's drivers swapped cars to evaluate various aerodynamic components, while continuing to develop the electronic systems in line with the 2008 regulations and the modified gearbox.
Vettel also evaluated three different brake materials, while Bourdais focused on developing the gearbox controls, designed to last four races. Towards the end of today's session both drivers completed a series of long runs to simulate race conditions. More long runs are scheduled for tomorrow to progress with developments for 2008 and to improve reliability.
Mark Webber took over driving duties from David Coulthard for Red Bull. Continuing with yesterday's development programme, the team focused on developing electronic systems for 2008, gear shift tuning and practice starts. The Australian Webber will continue driving the RB3 tomorrow, while DC will debut the team's new car for 2008, the RB4.
Toyota continued to put the TF108 through its paces, with Timo Glock getting his first opportunity to drive the new car. After a roll-out and one day of testing in the hands of Jarno Trulli, the 2007 GP2 Series champion took the wheel and quickly continued where Trulli left off.
The German's task was to continue systems checks and gather information on how the car responds to set-up changes. He was joined by third driver Kamui Kobayashi, who tested the 2008 gearbox and electronics on the TF107. An exhaust issue just before lunchtime cost Kamui time but he will be back in action again tomorrow alongside Glock.
"It was an exciting experience to drive the TF108 for the first time and I think it went well," said Glock. "We did a lot of laps and got a lot of data which was our main target today so I am pleased with that. My first impression of the car is generally positive but at this stage of the year it is too early to truly know how competitive it will be. We carried out some set-up work today and I must say we achieved quite a lot, although there is still a lot of work to do. Now I hope the car will continue to be reliable for the final day of this test so we can continue to make good progress."
"It is good to be back in a Formula 1 car for the first time this year," added Kobayashi, "but today did not go as planned due to the exhaust issue we had, which meant I lost quite a bit of time. But we have been able to do a lot of our programme so I have been working on the new gearbox and the standard ECU. We also looked at some set-up changes and I think that has been helpful. Even though it is the 2007 car I think we can do useful work which will help for this season and I hope to do more laps tomorrow."
"We have had another productive day with the TF108," added Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test, "and we can be pleased with our progress so far. Our main focus has been on understanding the new car and the new aerodynamic concept. It is interesting to hear Timo's feedback after his first laps with the new car. We tried several different set-up options with Timo and we have certainly learned a lot about the car and its reaction to changes. So far everything has worked well and it is good to see how reliable the TF108 has been - this has really helped us to increase our understanding of the car. Timo worked hard today and completed a lot of laps but Kamui also did some important work, although an exhaust issue limited how many laps he could do."
Splitting the Toyotas was Giancarlo Fisichella, completed his first day of testing with Force India. The Italian continued the team's programme of set-up work and integrating the 2008 standard electronic control unit. Over the day he completed 76 laps, more than a full race distance.
"Not too bad today," said the Italian. "The circuit was damp in the morning, but by midday it was getting better. We did most of the programme, but unfortunately we had some minor mechanical issues. At the end with the new tyres there was a possibility to have a faster time, but unfortunately there was traffic and then I made a mistake, but it's quite encouraging. I think we can improve quite a lot as we are going in the right direction."
"A better day today with improved track conditions and especially fewer red flags," added Mike Gascoyne, "which made for a more productive day of running. We worked through a range of set-up options with Giancarlo and made some improvements to the car, so in general a useful day."
With Super Aguri still awaiting parts from the factory following yesterday's cooling problems, James Rossiter was forced to watch from the sidelines.
To check out our updated Jerez picture gallery, click here