Formula One was back on track on March 27th when testing began
at Malaysia's Sepang circuit, ahead of the Grand Prix there
on April 8th. This season's testing agreement means that only one
car per team may be on track, so although 10 teams were present it was
a shortened list of times compared to the winter. Only
Spyker opted to miss this test.
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Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber F1 Team. Photo by xpb.cc.
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Fastest man of the day was BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who clocked
a best of 1:36.187 and completed 92 laps. Set up and tyres for the
Malaysian race, of course, were on his agenda, along with work on
electronic and cooling systems. Kubica is scheduled to continue tomorrow
and Nick Heidfeld to take over on Thursday.
Second on the time sheet was Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn,
who won the season-opener in Melbourne, was just over a tenth off
Kubica. Ferrari did not confirm details of its scheduled programme,
but presumably Raikkonen worked on set up and tyres much the same as
everyone else. He is due to continue on Wednesday.
Williams is still showing good pace and Alex Wurz was third quickest on
this opening day. His programme was short and then long runs in
regard to set up and aerodynamic components. "It's the first time we've
run the car in such hot conditions so it's important data for us," said
race team manager Tim Newton.
Rubens Barrichello was Honda's representative and posted the fourth
fastest time. After its rather dismal performance in Australia Honda is
working hard on upgrades for the RA107, both for Malaysia and for the
future. This week the team is reported to be testing new aero and front
suspension components.
Test driver Pedro de la Rosa was fifth overall for McLaren. Along with
tyre evaluation the team worked on "general performance uplift" (one of
Ron Dennis' phrases, surely?) including new components for the MP4-22.
Lewis Hamilton, who caused quite a sensation with his drive to third in
Melbourne, is scheduled to take over tomorrow.
Toyota also employed its test driver but it wasn't such a good day for
Franck Montagny. A drivetrain problem in the morning caused him to
stop on track and lost him time, but the team managed to get him back
out in the afternoon for set up work. "It took a little bit of time to
resolve (the problem) but in general the car is looking quite good at
the moment," Montagny commented.
"We worked on different set-ups with these tyres and I think we are
making good progress. Now we just have to work more on our set-ups to be
sure we are going in the right direction. I am pretty content with the
car on this track and in the hot weather, it is very drivable and there
are no major problems."
Super Aguri had Takuma Sato on duty and he was seventh fastest. His 71
laps for the day consisted of set up and aerodynamic work, along with
tyre comparisons. Meanwhile, Williams has reportedly not joined the
arbitration action that Spyker has launched in regard to the Super Aguri
SA07 being a Honda 'customer car' -- not yet, anyway.
Red Bull's David Coulthard was eighth on the list and Scott Speed
rounded off the times in the sister Toro Rosso, 10th. Splitting the two was the
Renault of tester Nelson A. Piquet in ninth but the Brazilian's running
was hampered by mechanical problems. Heikki Kovalainen is due to take
over tomorrow.
"It was a shame I didn't manage to do more running today, but these
things can happen during testing," said Piquet. "This is a fun circuit,
and the conditions are very different to anything we have encountered so
far during the testing programme. That means this will be an important,
interesting session for us and all the teams."
Since Bridgestone's system of marking the softer compound tyres with a
white spot in Melbourne was not terribly effective, the manufacturer is
trying out different solutions this week. A larger, red spot is one idea
and another is a white line on the outside groove of the tyre, although
the latter can really only be seen from the front.
