Sauber does wet test at Valencia

Team RED BULL SAUBER Petronas was obliged to revert to a programme of wet tyre comparison in Valencia today, as the last of its three-day tests was hampered by rain. Nick Heidfeld ran all day to set the fifth fastest time of 1m 32.06s, but Kimi ...

Team RED BULL SAUBER Petronas was obliged to revert to a programme of wet tyre comparison in Valencia today, as the last of its three-day tests was hampered by rain.

Nick Heidfeld ran all day to set the fifth fastest time of 1m 32.06s, but Kimi Räikkönen ran only in the morning before being brought to a halt by a transmission problem.

Tonight the test team will head straight to Mugello, where a single car will be run for Kimi on Saturday. Nick will then take over on Sunday.

Jacky Eeckelaert (Head of Test Team): "After we made a check of all the data gathered yesterday, we could not proceed with our original working plan because of the weather conditions which have been atrocious, and we were forced just to focus on wet weather testing for Bridgestone. Nick was able to run in both the morning and the afternoon, but his day was heavily frustrated by red flags. As for Kimi, we detected a transmission problem after 19 laps this morning. This could not be rectified here, and will require further investigation back at Hinwil."

Nick Heidfeld: ". It might be St Valentine's Day, but it has been a frustrating test for me, and today's weather continued that trend just when I wanted to push hard despite the weather conditions. But that's the way it goes. I'm now looking forward to running at Mugello on Sunday, before flying off to the first Grand prix of the 2001 season with the C20."

Kimi Räikkönen: "I am very disappointed that it was so wet today, but in the circumstances we achieved a very good balance on the car before the transmission problem arose."