Formula 1 News

Spa-Francorchamps Circuit tests: Ferrari on top 

Kimi Raikkonen kept Ferrari at the top of the timesheets on the final day of this week’s testing at the Spa circuit in Belgium. The Finn, taking over from teammate Felipe Massa for yesterday’s session, posted a best time of 1:47.042 after 69 laps, as teams enjoyed a productive day despite the track not staying dry throughout the whole session.Raikkonen finished ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, who was over two tenths of a second slower, but nearly four tenths quicker than world champion Fernando Alonso in the McLaren. The Spaniard, who replaced teammate Lewis Hamilton at the wheel of the Mercedes-powered car, covered 75 laps and finished in front of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, also joining the Spa test today.

Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella posted the fifth quickest time of the day, the Italian causing one of the three red flags of the day. The other two were caused by Webber, who went off track in the morning, and Christian Klien, who stopped on the circuit late in the day. Williams’ Alex Wurz was sixth quickest as he evaluated different set-ups for the changeable conditions. “We have to go through several different set-ups for dry to decide which is the best one,” Wurz told. “They are all marginal really. Tyre wise I think I was quickest on the prime tyres but it id difficult to judge.”

Jarno Trulli took over from teammate Ralf Schumacher to complete Toyota’s preparations. The Italian, seventh quickest, was glad to be back in action at the Spa circuit. “It’s nice to come back here to Spa because it’s the best track in the world,” said Trulli. “The organisers have done major work in the paddock and the results look good. The circuit has also been resurfaced and there have been changes to the Bus Stop which have improved the corner. The pit entry and the pit exit are a bit narrow but overall I like what has been done. Of course you never know what weather you’ll get here and it’s always difficult to test in conditions like we saw today. We went out for a few runs on the damp track in the morning but the racing line soon became inconsistent. It was dry in the corners but wet on the straights so that meant it was difficult to carry out much useful comparative work. The track was dry in the afternoon so we were able to run through our programme. We haven’t concentrated on laptimes but the car felt good. So it’s been a positive day and I look forward to coming back for the race.”

Sebastien Bourdais completed his two-day test with Toro Rosso, who are now expected to decide if they offer the Frenchman a race seat for next season. The Champ Car champion was eighth quickest after 91 laps.

Klien made his debut at the wheel of the Spyker-Ferrari, as the Dutch squad evaluated the Austrian in view of a possible deal to replace Christijan Albers. The Honda tester enjoyed a good day despite finishing at the bottom of the times, covering 69 laps. Obviously it was a new team, new car and a new seat and it took some time to get used to it, but there is a good bunch of people here and I felt at home straight away,” Klien said. “We did a lot of mileage, but obviously today’s focus was to get used to the car and how the engine and gearbox works. I think it all went well, there is potential in the car and I enjoyed the day testing with Spyker. Thanks again to Honda Racing F1 Team for allowing me this opportunity.”

Source: autosport