17/03/2009
NEWS STORY
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Jenson Button topped the timesheets at Jerez today as Brawn and Renault concluded their 2009 test programmes.
Button completed 114 laps of the Spanish circuit as the team continued its chassis set-up evaluations and performance development of the new car.
With just seven days of running completed with the BGP 001 car in Barcelona and Jerez, the team will now return to its Brackley HQ to complete the final preparations for the first race.
"We have had a very useful test this week," said Button, "particularly today where we have been able to fine-tune the set-up of the car to my liking ahead of the first race.
"Even after such a short testing programme, I feel that we are ready for the challenge ahead in Melbourne, however we will still need every minute of the Friday practice sessions to make the most of our first race weekend."
"The conclusion of this week's test brings our short pre-season testing programme with the BGP 001 to a successful conclusion," added Ross Brawn. "Our programme to date has been dominated by the requirement to prove the car's reliability however we are also pleased with the competitive lap times that we have seen from the car over the past two weeks.
"The test in Jerez has been particularly useful," he continued, "and allowed the drivers to complete valuable chassis set-up work and evaluate the Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds which we will use in Melbourne. I would like to thank the team and our drivers for all their hard work over the past few weeks as we look forward to the first race and the opportunity to finally see the car in action in a competitive environment."
Nico Rosberg continued Williams final preparations for Melbourne working through a full programme of aero evaluations, tyre testing, reliability checks and set-up tuning.
Towards the end of the session, the German, who was having his final day in the car before he takes to the track in Melbourne, suffered an 'incident' but was fortunately unhurt.
"Today, we worked on our race starts process and mechanical set-ups," said Sam Michael. "We then moved onto long runs in order to evaluate different aero parts. Unfortunately, Nico had an off this afternoon so preparations to turn the car around for Kazuki's arrival tomorrow started slightly earlier than scheduled."
At Renault, Nelson Piquet took over the R29 from Fernando Alonso. Making the most of hot and sunny conditions, the French team ran a busy programme which comprised aero work and practice starts at the end of the session. The hot track temperatures again provided valuable hot weather running although conditions were windy throughout the day.
"My final day of testing went really well," said Piquet, "and I'm pleased that we were able to do so many laps. We were looking at the car's aero performance today as well as doing some set-up work in preparation for the first race and overall we found a good balance with the car. It was pretty windy, but the track conditions were good so we were able to get a lot done. I'm now ready for the season to start next week and I think as a team we can be happy with the work we've done over the winter."
"It was our last day of testing this year," added Christian Silk, "and so we had a lot of things to get through. The weather was good, which meant we could get a lot done and cover a lot of laps with Nelson, which is good for his preparation for the start of the season. We had a continuation of our aero programme, trying to find some more performance from the car and that was successful as we came here with some questions and have come away with both answers and performance.
"I'm also happy with the team's performance over the past few weeks," he added, "we've had a tough winter schedule but it's nice to end our final test on a high."
It was a busy day for McLaren as Lewis Hamilton completed more than 500km as the Woking team continues to refine MP4-24 ahead of the season opener. Today's programme was a continuation of the work started yesterday, namely the evaluation of a series of small aerodynamic modifications to the car's bodywork. Unfortunately, the test was hampered by a strong gusty wind that limited accurate assessment of the new parts.
Heikki Kovalainen joins the test for Wednesday and Thursday, the final days of testing for the 2009 season, in order to continue the programme.