Formula 1
Trulli fastest at Barcelona
The Circuit de Catalunya was buzzing on April 13th with once again 18 drivers from 10 teams busy testing at the Barcelona track. Toyota's Jarno Trulli took over at the top of the time sheet with a best of 1:14.522 and teammate Ralf Schumacher was ...
Published: Apr 16, 2006, 10:46 PM
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The Circuit de Catalunya was buzzing on April 13th with once again 18 drivers from 10 teams busy testing at the Barcelona track. Toyota's Jarno Trulli took over at the top of the time sheet with a best of 1:14.522 and teammate Ralf Schumacher was 12th. Tyres, aerodynamics and pit entry practice were their programme.
Jarno Trulli.
Photo by Mark Gledhill.
"We have improved the tyres and the car set-up a lot since the first two races, and finally as a result this is fitting my driving style," said Trulli, who was delayed in the morning with an unspecified problem. "This is a huge improvement for me and today's results show that we are moving ahead."
Fernando Alonso was the lead Renault in second, just a hundredth off Trulli, and Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth. Chassis set up in relation to tyres was their programme. "We learned a lot about the behaviour of the R26 and made did interesting steps for the next races," chief test engineer Christian Silk commented.
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher clocked the third best time and Felipe Massa was 15th. Schumacher continued with development of new components and aerodynamics, while Massa's focus was tyres and an endurance run that was previously begun by tester Marc Gen?.
Nick Heidfeld was the quicker of the two BMW Saubers in fourth and Jacques Villeneuve was 13th. Aerodynamics and tyres were their work for the day. Test driver Robert Kubica returns tomorrow to take over from Heidfeld and the team will continue with preparations for Imola and the Spanish Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen was the lead McLaren in fifth and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya was 14th. Set up and tyres were their focus, evaluating prime and option Michelin rubber for the Spanish GP. The pair will be back at work tomorrow for the last day of the test.
Nico Rosberg was the lead Williams in seventh while Mark Webber was 16th on the time sheet. Honda had Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello at work, eighth and 11th fastest respectively. They worked on aero evaluation, set up and tyres and will continue on Friday.
Christian Klien and David Coulthard were ninth and 10th respectively to conclude Red Bull's three-day programme. Tyres, set up and aero evaluation were their focus. "Our best test of the year," declared chief test engineer Ian Morgan. "It was also good for both drivers to get plenty of time to work on set-up and find a car balance that they are happy with."
Scott Speed took over from Tonio Liuzzi at Toro Rosso and was 17th, working on set up for Imola. "We did some fuel level evaluation and also carried out some damper testing, as this is a very important part of the package for riding the kerbs at Imola," said chief engineer Laurent Mekies.
Takuma Sato was 18th for Super Aguri and suffered hydraulic problems that curtailed his running. "We will restart testing tomorrow with Taku carrying out an important tyre construction test followed by Yuji (Ide) evaluating a number of compounds that will help the SAF1 Team better understand the envelope of the car," said chief technical officer Mark Preston.
MF1 concluded its test at Silverstone with straight line control systems checks. Christijan Albers and tester Giorgio Mondini were on duty and the work was carried out on Tower Straight. "We expect the information we have gained here will result in some improvements to our launch strategy," said chief race and test engineer Dominic Harlow.
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