Ferrari test wet weather tyres
In his first test since finishing second in the Brazilian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher carried out over 200 laps of the Fiorano circuit during wet weather tyre testing for Bridgestone. He was using an older long wheel-base chassis from last year at the Fiorano track which was artificially watered down between rain showers throughout the two days of testing on Friday and Saturday.
During the first day he ran 134 trouble free laps with a best time of 1m 05,995 secs on a damp track and 1m 07,115 with the track fully wet.
On Saturday he ran 72 laps with a best of 1m 07,034 secs, with no mechanical problems on either day. The next test for the team will be in Jerez April 22-24 where Schumacher and Irvine will test different engine, chassis and aerodynamic solutions for the upcoming San Marino Grand Prix in two weeks time.
Testing in Jerez next week
McLaren, Jordan, Williams, Ferrari, Benetton, Prost, Minardi and Stewart are all expected to be in Jerez next week for a major test on Thursday , Friday and Saturday. McLaren are also planning to test two days in Barcelona immediately before the Jerez test. All the teams are expected to run their regular drivers, while Benetton and Prost plan to run their test drivers Laurent Redon and Stephane Sarrazin some time during the three day test.
Luca Badoer is expected to be back behind the wheel of the Minardi in Jerez following a successful recovery from his hand injury suffered during testing in Fiorano before the Brazilian GP.
Arrows in Silverstone and Lurcy
The Arrows team are expected to test in Silverstone with Toranosuke Takagi on April 21st-22nd where he will be trying a new specification engine which is not planned to be used for Imola. De la Rosa will carry out aerodynamic testing around the same time at the French Lurcy Levis circuit near Magny Cours.
Ford look for reliability
After another impressive showing in Brazil, the Stewart-Ford team are planning more engine tests in Jerez in a bid to improve reliability. "It was a top end failure, either a piston or valve," revealed Ford F1 competition boss Martin Whitaker, the team satisfied that they have cured their earlier crankshaft balance problems. "In Australia we ran limited revs (16,500) in the race, but in Brazil we ran our 17,250 rpm maximum revs throughout the race. I have always said there is no point in not running the engine aits maximum potential. That way you do not find out what your problems are," added Whitaker.