Williams Valencia test summary 2003-01-24

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team has finished a six-day test at the Valencia circuit that marks the end of a continuous three-week stint of pre-season preparation. The testing programme will re-commence after a short four day break at the Circuit de Catalunya following the official launch of the WilliamsF1 BMW FW25 on Friday January 31st. The Valencia test has been divided between tyre work and continual development of the new P83 BMW engine and chassis in preparation for the FW25.

The team has also benefited this week by a new fuel introduced by Petrobras that has been researched and developed at the Cenpes Research Centre in Brazil. Petrobras has developed and supplied one of the most competitive race fuels in the pitlane since 1998 ,and the new fuel has provided the team with another quantifiable performance step.

Sam Michael (Chief Operations Engineer)

"This week is the last test before we release our new FW25 chassis. Olivier was on hand again for two days at the beginning of the week for wet testing with Michelin and this was followed by Marc and Juan undertaking four days of dry weather testing."

"Marc has driven hard which has enabled progression of engine, gearbox and brake systems work on the interim FW24D chassis, while Juan has been concentrating on tyre testing, suspension developments and launch control. Both drivers have undertaken a full programme of traction development, during which they have conducted some runs without traction or launch control."

"During the tyre testing, Michelin have found another promising compound and we have also verified a gain in tyre construction. The Michelin engineers are making really good progress, which is encouraging at this point of the year."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director)

"As well as supporting the chassis and tyre development work on the car, we have also been able to complete an extensive engine development programme during the Valencia test. We had no unexpected incidents and we are pleased with the progress achieved. Our tasks were divided between testing new components for the P83 BMW engine as well as working on the engine's mapping. Step by step, we are finalising the engine's configuration for Melbourne."

The BMW WilliamsF1 Team's next scheduled test is at Barcelona commencing Saturday February 1 for five days.

-williams-