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Rubens
Barrichello got behind the wheel of the new Ferrari F2005
yesterday at Mugello, as the Scuderia goes flat-out this
week to bring forward the new car's Grand Prix debut, with
the Brazilian immediately commenting that it "represents a
step forward in every area."
Without a win
from the opening two Grands Prix, and in fact with just a
seventh place for Michael Schumacher to show for all their
efforts last weekend in Malaysia, Ferrari are embarking on
an intensive test programme this week which will decide if
reliability problems can be solved in order to allow them to
give a race debut their new F2005 chassis at Bahrain next
weekend. At the same time, with the advantage that the
Michelin runners displayed in Malaysia over the
Bridgestone-shod Ferrari, an intensive tyre development
testing schedule is also underway this week.
The programme
kicked off on Monday on two fronts, Mugello and Fiorano, and
as the Ferrari F1 team and drivers rushed back from Sepang,
it was the Scuderia's two tester that were in action.
At the Tuscany track, Luca Badoer continued with development
work on the F2005, covering a total of 85 laps, setting a
best time of 1:21.380, while at Fiorano, Marc Gene
concentrated on tyre testing, completing a huge 173 laps,
five on the short version of the track, the best time on the
day being a 57.796.
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