Sauber Mugello testing 2001-10-02

Day I - MUGELLO TEST - October 2-4, 2001
Mugello, Tuesday October 2nd, 2001
Driver: Felipe Massa
Weather: Dry and cloudy,
Temperature: Track 23 deg.
Distance: 55 laps, Best lap: 1.26.114
Total distance covered: 289 kms

Team RED BULL SAUBER PETRONAS continued to prepare for the Fuji Japanese Grand Prix next week with Felipe Massa, the 20-year-old Brazilian, who is ahead of the Italian F3000 Championship.

In the course of the day's testing here Massa covered 32 laps this morning and a 23 laps this afternoon.

Gianpaolo Dall'Ara (test engineer): "Team RED BULL SAUBER PETRONAS was the first team back from Indianapolis to test. We told Felipe Massa not to push too hard. We prefer that he becomes accustomed slowly to the wheel of a Formula I car. We were quite careful this morning. The track was very dirty and cold.

"We have a long program to cover with Felipe in the next three days until Thursday. "The test team would like to go through basic set-ups of the car for Japan. We can do comparisons with Nick's work on the track here the week before Indianapolis.

"Felipe Massa covered 55 laps today, with a fastest time of 1m 26.114s. The test will continue tomorrow, focusing on the brakes and the cooling system of the RED BULL SAUBER C20. Thursday we plan to continue tire evaluation for the Fuji Japanese Grand Prix . We will optimise traction and mechanical grip for the unique figure-of-eight layout of Suzuka with its several high-speed curves.

Felipe Massa
"We had a very good day of work. I am proud of my best time. For me, it is impressive, particularly since F1 is so different from F3000. I had fun all day. We finished the program and ran trouble-free all day long. But I ache all over from the added G-forces but it is part of the job!"