Sauber Mugello testing 2001-10-03

MUGELLO TEST - October 2-4, 2001
Wednesday, October 03, 2001
Temperature - air 23° - Weather dry, cloudy, partly sunny
Driver: Felipe Massa
Distance: 80 laps = 419,6 kilometers
Track length: 5,245 kilometers

Team RED BULL SAUBER PETRONAS accumulated useful reference data to prepare for the Suzuka high-speed corners circuit during the second day of his tests in Mugello with 20-year-old Brazilian Felipe Massa. Felipe Massa covered 80 laps to set the fastest time of the day in 1.25.69s.

Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "The team continued its three-day test in Mugello and has been working on the planned test program. We focused on aerodynamic work and down force level configuration for Japanese Grand Prix's Saturday qualifying session and for the race day in Suzuka. We also used these second day of testing to do development on the brake systems. Felipe Massa gave our engineers very valid feedback for setting-up the car.

We completed long runs both in the morning and in the afternoon. I am quite surprised at Felipe's excellent physical preparation. He is very fit for a young driver who has never been at the wheel of a FI. Also the level of information he gives compared to the first test last week, as he still had to discover and understand the car is beneficial. His driving is very consistent. This is good help for Team RED BULL SAUBER PETRONAS."

Felipe Massa: "Today went very well. I did my quickest time at the end of the morning. Josef Leberer, the physio of the Team took good care of my muscles after the morning session. It feels that the more laps I complete, the best everything works around the car. The day was very positive and I can't wait until another run to-morrow Thursday."

<pre> F.Massa Sauber Petronas 1:25.690 80 J.Alesi Jordan Honda 1:25.876 94 D.Manning BAR 1:26.658 50 A.Davidson BAR 1:26.738 73