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Massa was in the cockpit of the F60 today as
the Ferrari team completed its final day of
the four days of testing at the Circuit de
Catalunya. |
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Today the
four-day test session at the Circuit de Catalunya ended for Scuderia Ferrari and
all the other teams participating in the 2009 F1 World
Championships.
Just like yesterday also today Felipe Massa went on the
track. The Brazilian driver had to compare different
setups for the Ferrari F60 and test some new solutions
for the single-seater car's development. Massa drove 92 laps
today, the
fastest in a time of 1.20.677.
"I think that we've done some pretty good work in this
session. Obviously there were some minor problems on the
second and third day, but yesterday I drove the distance
of one and a half races all in one go without getting
out of the car and also today I drove many miles. Over
these 20 days of tests we were able to improve our car a
lot in every respect. Today we're where we thought we
would be before the start at Melbourne," Massa said to
the press before he left the circuit.
"As far as the
performance is concerned I'm really satisfied with our
competitiveness compared to all the others, except
obviously Brawn GP, who were unreachable for all of us.
Right now we're not the fastest car on the track, what I
might have said before the tests here at Barcelona:
we'll see how it works out in Australia. What I think
about McLaren and Brawn GP? I can't reply to that,
because I don't know the details. I can just look at the
lap times and what we see from the outside. As far as
the aerodynamic solutions are concerned I can only say
that I'm not the one to comment on that. First of all
I'm not an engineer, but a driver and then there's a
Federation, which has the task to see if everything is
alright or not."
A curious fact: after the snow, the sandstorm, the wind
and the rain today there was fog accompanying the
drivers during the morning. In the morning the
visibility was extremely scarce until after 10am and the
track was only open for the "out-ins" to start work.
Later on the situation improved and the sun came out.
One thing is for sure: the weather didn't help the teams
to make the most out of the 20 days of testing.
The Scuderia's winter testing thus came to an end today:
the next time it will appear on track will be at the
Australian Grand Prix, the inaugural round of the 2009 World
Championship, which takes place at Melbourne's Albert Park
circuit, from 27th to 29th March.
Test Details
(12/03/2009) - Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya - 4.655 km;
Driver: Felipe Massa;
Car: Ferrari F60;
Weather: air temperature 8/16 °C, track temperature 19/26
°C. Fog in the early morning, then sunny.
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