14/04/2008
NEWS STORY
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Bahrain Grand Prix winner Felipe Massa was the pace-setter at Barcelona today, as nine teams began their preparations for the forthcoming Spanish round of the World Championship. Weather conditions were sunny but windy with a short rain shower late in the afternoon.
Although the timesheets show that Massa was 2.4s quicker than his nearest rival, Alex Wurz, it should be pointed out that the Brazilian's best time was posted on slick tyres in anticipation of their reintroduction next season. His quickest time on 2008-spec tyres was 1:22.007.
In addition to set-up work, the Italian team's technical programme focussed on the testing of new aerodynamic components, including a radical new nose, featuring a hole in the upper surface aimed at increasing downforce. Should the nose be successful, it is understood that it will be used at the race later this month.
Alex Wurz began Honda's programme, with Rubens Barrichello due to drive on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Jenson Button concluding the running on Thursday.
The Austrian's focus for the day was an evaluation of the slicks, as development of the tyres continues. Wurz completed 75, finishing 2.446s down on Massa.
For McLaren, Pedro de la Rosa also focussed on slick tyre testing, however, the Woking team also found time to try out a new rear wing (above) in anticipation of the 2009 regulations. With this in mind, the car was set up to be as aerodynamically close as possible to the 2009 regulations. Lewis Hamilton is on duty tomorrow.
Nick Heidfeld worked on the aerodynamical and mechanical setup of the F1.08, in addition to trying different engine mappings in preparation for the forthcoming Grand Prix.
The German made a precautionary stop in the afternoon when an alarm light came on, however, the team was able to continue with its program as scheduled. While several teams were testing parts according to 2009 regulations - hence the difference in times - BMW is leaving its 2009 programme until later in the week.
Nelson Piquet was on duty for Renault as the French team experimented with several upgrades to the R28. The Brazilian spent the day evaluating the changes to the car, and completed some general set-up work, a programme which the team will continue with for the rest of the week. On a day when most teams tried out new parts, the R28 tried out a new front wing. Fernando Alonso joins the team for the next couple of days, while Piquet returns to the cockpit on Thursday.
"It was another good day of work," said Piquet. "The track conditions were good, so there were no problems there and we had a productive morning. Unfortunately I lost some time in the afternoon and so I did not do as many laps as I would have liked. We tried some new things but the more interesting work will come later in the week."
"The morning programme ran very well and so it was a solid day of work with the only delay coming at lunchtime," added Christian Silk. "The car is working very well and the factory has made a huge effort to get the car ready for this week. We just need to carry on this good work for the rest of the week."
David Coulthard was at the wheel of the Red Bull. In the morning he concentrated on general chassis and aerodynamic work and in the afternoon he evaluated slick tyres.
Seventh quickest was Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams, the Japanese driver completing 72 laps and finishing 3.8s shy of Massa's time.
"The morning was spent working on the 2009 tyre programme with Bridgestone," said Sam Michael, "then the rest of the day was devoted to suspension work in preparation for the Grand Prix next week."
Like BMW, Toyota is opting to leave its 2009 evaluations until later in the week. Timo Glock was in the driving seat for the Japanese team, concentrating on testing the TF108's aerodynamics, which will feature a major update for the first European race, along with work on set-up and other systems.
The German had a solid day's running, completing 93 laps, and will continue testing here tomorrow.
"Today was a productive day," said Glock, "and the team and mechanics did a good job. Everybody was focused on the new bits and pieces that we have brought and trying to find the right way forward. In the end that's what we did. I made one small mistake in the morning and spun off but it didn't cost us too much running time. In the afternoon we collected a lot of data to look at and now we just have to fine-tune that. Hopefully overnight we can find the right direction from all the information we have gathered today. The time sheets might not show it yet but I'm happy with our work so far."
"Our main aim for the week is to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix," added Test Team Manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "We will be concentrating on the revised aerodynamics package on the TF108 along with setting up the car for the race. Timo tested the new parts today and we collected some useful data, even if the afternoon was windy so that made it difficult to make detailed comparisons during his long runs. Overall we made it through a solid amount of work today so that was positive."
Tonio Liuzzi was on duty for Force India, as the team tested slicks in addition to the proposed 2009 aerodynamics package. The Italian focussed on establishing a strong baseline set-up with the 2008 aero package and tyres in the morning before moving over to compare the runs with the 2009 slicks and wings in the afternoon. Giancarlo Fisichella will take over the wheel for the second day of testing, with Adrian Sutil finishing the test on Wednesday.
"Today was a useful opening day, with no real mechanical problems," said Mike Gascoyne. "In the morning we used the standard 2008 VJM01 with the 2008 grooved tyres to establish a baseline set-up, but in the afternoon we moved to the 2009 downforce level and tyres. We obtained some useful information on their respective performance, and after a basic warm-up, the tyres behaved better than we expected. On longer runs there is some drop off with the 2009 tyres and there is still some work to do. We will continue tomorrow with a similar programme with Giancarlo and hope to push on with the solid work we put in today.'
"Today was a good day of testing with quite a few kilometres and no real mechanical issues," added Liuzzi. "The car was good from start to finish and responded well to the changes we made. It has improved a lot from the last time I drove it in February, which shows the steps forward the team has made in the first three races. In the morning we tested the 2008 configuration and then the 2009 aero package in the afternoon. It was difficult to drive as there is much less downforce, but I think Bridgestone has done a good job with the tyres as they performed very strongly over one lap. On longer runs it was not quite as good, but there is still a lot of time to get it right. I was pretty happy with the work we have done for both 2008 and 2009. It looks promising."