Formula 1 News

Barcelona, Test Day 2: another amazing performance from Michael Schumacher 

Michael Schumacher continued to steal the show at Barcelona, where he finished on top of the times for the 2nd day in a row. Schumacher’s had a best time of 1:21.486 put him nearly four tenths of a second ahead of McLaren’s test driver Pedro de la Rosa, second fastest. Schumacher was joined at Ferrari by Brazilian Felipe Massa, who took over from test driver Luca Badoer.

Massa finished as fourth quickest, nearly six tenths behind Schumacher. The German driver focused again on working with the electronics for the 2008 season, testing without driving aids. The Ferrari were split by Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen, while Briton Gary Paffett completed the top five with the second McLaren.

Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima continued making progress for the British team, with Rosberg posting the 6th fastest time of the day, three places ahead of his Japanese teammate.

David Coulthard was 7th fastest for the Red Bull Racing team after a more productive day than yesterday. The Scot worked alongside Karun Chandhok, who had a positive day and finished as 11th quickest as he worked on the 2008 electrical systems.

Jarno Trulli and Franck Montagny were again the men in charge of testing duties for the Toyota team. The Italian evaluated new parts for 2008 while the Frenchman continued work won the standard ECU to be used next season. They caused a red flag each when they spun on track, with Montagny causing damage to the rear of his car after hitting the wall at turn 13. “Today was a smooth day for me,” said Trulli. “Again I enjoyed myself driving without traction control. I must say we had a very positive and productive day. We were testing several things which made our car quicker. I lost part of the morning because I went off into the gravel but apart from that we got the best out of our day. We have had some good and clear indications for next year regarding car development so I am very happy.”

Jenson Button was joined by Italian Luca Filippi, who made his debut in a Formula One car as part of Honda’s young driver programme. The GP2 racer, who will be replaced tomorrow by Mike Conway, finished as 16th quickest.

Force India had three drivers on track, with Adrian Sutil being partnered by Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien, as the team evaluate drivers for the 2008 season. Austrian Klien drove in the morning and was the fastest of the three cars, while Liuzzi took to the track in the afternoon and finished at the bottom of the times.