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After eight
days and more than 3,500 kilometres the Scuderia
Ferrari's test sessions, held at the Sakhir circuit in
Bahrain, came to an end on Thursday afternoon. Felipe
Massa was the driver who started and ended the sessions
at the Persian Gulf. Yesterday the Brazilian went on the
track for an in-depth analysis of the several set up
options for the F60, experimenting with some aerodynamic
solutions and continuing with the engine and gearbox
reliability work.
Apart from some minor hiccups - the worst in the morning
when the single-seater had an electrical problem and
Massa had to stop next to the track - the planned work
was brought to an end. Thursday saw the Brazilian drive
113 laps, the fastest in a time of 1.32.162, the best
time of the day, ahead of Nick Heidfeld (1.32.225, 122
laps) and Timo Glock (1.32.445, 65 laps).
"Today was a good day, apart from some minor problems,
which held us up a bit. We have to work on that to avoid
that they come back. And the strong wind bothered us a
bit," Massa said at the end of the tests. "We drove many
kilometres to improve the car and I think that we're
heading in the right direction. We've seen during these
days that there's a great balance, not just between the
three team on this track, but also with the others.
We're at the start of the season and now we have to wait
and see who will take the biggest step until the first
race starts. We'll know much more at Melbourne. It was a
pity that we lost almost two entire days her last week
because of the sandstorm. But I think that all in all we
were able to make up the lost time. I'm convinced that
the decision to come to Bahrain for this long test
session was very good."
Meanwhile the Sakhir circuit seems to have become the
preferred spot for the straying dogs of Bahrain. In the
afternoon a couple of dogs went out on the track and it
might have been the same ones from the previous day.
Yesterday though the stewards didn't get out the red
flags, but warned the drivers with the yellow flags to
pay attention so the session was not interrupted.
During these tests the Ferrari F60 drove 3,580
kilometres, while each of the two official Ferrari
drivers was responsible for half of these laps: Kimi
Raikkonen drove 1,784 and Massa 1,796. The fastest man
from Ferrari was the Finn last Tuesday with a lap time
of 1.32.102.
The other six
drivers that took part during the eight days couldn't do it
any faster than Raikkonen (apart from Massa there were also
Trulli and Glock for Toyota, Heidfeld, Kubica and Klien for
BMW). With yesterday's lap time Massa came very close to his
team mate: The Brazilian was a mere 60 thousandth of a
second slower than the Finn. A race simulation was carried
out with each of the two drivers.
The engine
underwent an endurance test at Sakhir, while also the one by
Scuderia Toro Rosso in Jerez has to be added. Numerous data
has been collected in Bahrain: now the technicians have to
analyse it to understand how to improve performance and
reliability with the last tests coming up - which will be
held at Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona in early March.
This will be the last opportunity to test the single-seater
before the start of the 2009 Championships.
Test Details
(19/02/2008) - Circuit: Bahrain International Circuit -
5.412 km; Driver: Felipe Massa; Car: Ferrari F60; Weather:
air temperature 19/25 °C, track temperature 20/31 °C. Sunny
and very windy.
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