THE RAIN IN SPAIN
- 20 May 2013
Falls mainly on Jerez when the F1 brigade go testing there. Most teams turned up on Wednesday for a four day test and apart from one or two moments when the track was not quite as wet as the rest of the time they all got to do a lot of wet weather tyre testing. Final times were meaningless as Felipe Massa set a time in the Sauber of 1’17.513, almost a whole two seconds up on the next fastest driver, Jarno Trulli, while running in almost dry conditions on the first day. The fact that team mate Jacques Villeneuve was quickest on each of the next two days and could only manage a 1’28.345 on the third day tells the tale.
Ferrari had Badoer and Gene’ on hand again to do aerodynamic work while BAR had no less than five drivers on hand to go through their programme. Along with Sato and Bernoldi came South African Alan van der Merwe and Brits, Adam Carroll and James Rossiter. Carroll and Rossiter were well off the pace in their first runs in a F1 car but Van der Merwe showed some promise. Bernoldi completely destroyed one of the 006 chassis and plenty of data logging equipment when he aquaplaned under braking for the tight right hander at the end of the back straight. Renault had Fisichella and Montagny on hand again, having to abandon their planned programme and just concentrate on getting more mileage in the conditions.
Webber was out again for Williams and set a fine third fastest on the only day he ran. He was joined by Pizzonia again and Nick Heidfeld who gave a fine account of himself by finishing up six tenths faster than Pizzonia. It is believed that the Williams management were very impressed with the German’s performance and will be asking him back for another test shortly. It would be nice to see Nick in a good car finally.
McLaren, Sauber, Red Bull and Toyota all ran the same drivers (minus Montoya & Zonta) as last week with good pace being shown by Trulli in the Toyota (second overall), Klien (second on day 2) and Liuzzi (ninth overall). They were joined this time by Jordan who had Robert Doornbos and Christijan Albers on hand running with last years Jordan Cosworth combination matched to next years aero kit. Needless to say they were not on the pace and ended up near the foot of the time sheets with Albers showing Doornbos the way by some eight tenths of a second. After his fine test with Minardi last week, Albers is showing some genuine speed but as always, is going to have to find some cash to get a permanent drive. The same can be said of Aussies Ryan Briscoe, Will Power and Will Davison. If only…..It would be quite nice to have four of us on the grid in Melbourne.
DRIVER CAR TIME 1;Felipe Massa Sauber C23 1'17.513 2;Jarno Trulli Toyota TF104B 1'19.287 3;Alexander Wurz McLaren MP4/19C 1'19.750 4;Pedro de la Rosa McLaren MP4/19B 1'19.766 5;Mark Webber Williams FW26B 1'20.171 6;Enrique Bernoldi BAR 006 1'21.370 7;Luca Badoer Ferrari F2004B 1'21.672 8;Takuma Sato BAR 006 1'21.724 9;Vitantonio Liuzzi Jaguar R5 1'21.900 10;Giancarlo Fisichella Renault R24 1'22.206 11;Jacques Villeneuve Sauber C23 1'22.379 12;Marc Gene' Ferrari F2004B 1'22.403 13;Nick Heidfeld Williams FW26B 1'22.713 14;Christian Klien Jaguar R5B 1'22.731 15;Ralf Schumacher Toyota TF104B 1'22.836 16;Franck Montagny Renault R24 1'23.296 17;Antonio Pizzonia Williams FW26B 1'23.382 18;Alan van der Merwe BAR 006 1'23.730 19;Christijan Albers Jordan EJ14 1'24.452 20;Robert Doornbos Jordan EJ14 1'25.291 21;Adam Carroll BAR 006 1'28.885 22;James Rossiter BAR 006 1'31.194
Sam Snape
5-12-2004