Williams Barcelona test notes 2004-02-03

Nelson Piquet joined the BMW WilliamsF1 Team at Barcelona, Spain, today as preparations for the 2004 Formula One World Championship season continued. Conditions at the Circuit de Catalunya were ideal, with blue skies and temperatures reaching 17°C.

Ralf Schumacher and Marc Gené, both driving WilliamsF1 BMW FW26s, carried out extensive set-up work, the German completing 78 laps and the Spaniard 55. Ralf's best time was 1:15.211, while Marc set a 1:15.131.

Nelson, who last tested for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team in December 2003, was at the wheel of an FW25. The team was impressed with the youngster's performance, the Brazilian giving his engineers excellent feedback throughout the day. Nelson completed 67 laps and posted a best time of 1:16.431.

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer, WilliamsF1):

"At Barcelona today Ralf spent most of the session working on mechanical set-up while Marc completed long runs for reliability testing of the FW26. Nelson Piquet joined the test to assist with our schedule. Driving the FW25, he spent the day familiarising himself with the circuit and completing some mechanical tests."

Tomorrow Juan Pablo Montoya will join Ralf and Marc, while Nelson will re-join the team on Thursday.

-williams-