Oliver White
Kimi Raikkonen has made it two fastest laps in two days at the Circuit de Catalunya testing session today. Despite the poor weather that descended on the track for most of the day, Kimi was still able to get some decent running in, completing 54 laps in a modified F2007. Ferrari have made substantial changes to the sidepods on his car, and the Scuderia are hoping to run these at the Spanish Grand Prix in a fortnight on both racers. Kimi ended his day with a minor scrape of the barriers, but little damage was reported.
I am now much happier going into the race than the last couple of races, because we found something which was definitely much better for me. I think we can (now) use the full potential of the car. Kimi Raikkonen.
Conversely, Fernando Alonso only managed an installation lap before returning to the garage and putting his feet up for the rest of the day, such was the weather at the time. Mark Webber improved the Red Bull to second place, although the Australian was 1.5s down on Raikkonen’s time. Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen, who completed 53 laps of the circuit, was happy with his running today, saying how much he enjoys driving in the tricky conditions.
Personally, I tried to use every lap to improve something: trying a new line, or pushing the braking points a bit further. To be honest, I enjoy driving in the wet, it’s different to normal and good fun for the drivers. Heikki Kovalainen.
Nick Heidfeld pipped Nico Rosberg to fourth by 0.4s, while Barrichello wandered around in sixth, narrowly beating Jarno Trulli in the Toyota by 0.03s. Takuma Sato went from fine form yesterday to lost towards the back today, but the Super Aguri is still showing promising signs, and the Japanese driver beat Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso. Scott Speed ran in the second Rosso as well today, finishing in eleventh after completing just seven laps.
Due to the poor weather experienced today, the test session has been extended to Thursday by agreement of all present teams.
1. Raikkonen – Ferrari – 1m30.280s
2. Webber – Red Bull Racing – 1m31.752s
3. Kovalainen – Renault – 1m32.149s
4. Heidfeld – BMW – 1m32.175s
5. Rosberg – Williams – 1m32.580s
6. Barrichello – Honda – 1m32.911s
7. Trulli – Toyota – 1m32.943s
8. Sato – Super Aguri – 1m33.238s
9. Liuzzi – Toro Rosso – 1m33.323s
10. Sutil – Spyker – 1m35.488s
11. Speed – Toro Rosso – 1m39.950s
12. Alonso – McLaren – 2m04.818s
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