Scuderia
Ferrari wrapped up three days of testing in Barcelona
yesterday, the first track session since the Grand Prix
season wrapped up in dramatic fashion at the Interlagos
circuit in Brazil two-and-a-half weeks ago. A total of
14 cars went on the Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday,
with nine out of the ten Formula 1 teams participating
in the World Championship this year took part in the
tests; only the Toyota outfit was missing.
For Scuderia Ferrari Luca Badoer went on the track
yesterday to continue the important reliability tests
being conducted on the engine and gearbox. Badoer drove
more than anyone else during these tests: a total of
1,400 kilometres, with 300 km of these being ran this
morning. Also on Wednesday it was almost impossible to
understand the performance levels on the track by just
looking at the time sheet. The cars' configurations are
too different to compare one to another. Therefore the
fans of the Prancing Horse don't have to worry at all
about the lap times of their two drivers.
This week was
Badoer's first proper marathon test, behind the wheel of the
laboratory F2008 with three full days on the Spanish race
track. The main job for the Scuderia's official test driver
during these test sessions was to simulate the mileage the
V8 has to cover in the next season. "I don't remember, that
we recently had such a hard test. Already in the [Wednesday]
morning I had done 300 kilometres, after almost 600
yesterday [Tuesday]," Luca told the journalists during
yesterday's lunch break. "It's important that we got to this
point already in the first test session after the decision
has been take to expand the mileage. Let's hope that
everything goes well until the end of the day, so we can
conclude our work on the track."
Badoer used a visibly modified F2008, which was not really
pretty to look at. "The chassis is set up to take up the
KERS and we're running with several components to simulate
the weight and the dimensions. We're also testing some new
solutions. In the afternoon we're running with a new system,
which enables us to modify the angle of the front wing,
while the car is out on the track."
The Scuderia's
official test driver completed 120 laps on Wednesday, the
quickest in a time of 1.22.866, thus bringing the total
number of laps completed over the three days to 355. Spain
will once again be the venue for the next test session,
which takes place at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit from
9th to 11th December.
Test Details,
19/11; Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya - 4.655 km; Driver:
Luca Badoer; Car: F2008; Weather: air temperature 7/18 °C,
track temperature 8/23 °C. Sunny.
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