MCLAREN JEREZ TEST SUMMARY
Date: Saturday 14th January 2006
Location Circuito de Jerez, Spain
Drivers: Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett
Weather: Sunny, with a small shower during lunch
Track temperature – high of 15 degrees Celsius
Air temperature – high of 16 degrees Celsius
Laps run today: 102
Kilometres covered today: Pedro de la Rosa approx. 450km
Best lap time of the day: Pedro de la Rosa, 1m28.448
Best lap time of the week: Pedro de la Rosa, 1m16.504 (Wednesday)
Total number of laps driven during the test: 506
Total number of km driven during the test: 2,230 km (Pedro
1,280 km, Gary 950km)
Pedro de la Rosa completed Team McLaren Mercedes' first
test session of 2006 at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain today
at the wheel of an interim MP4-20. The track was artificially
dampened to create wet conditions for Michelin tyre testing,
this allows the teams and Michelin to control the amount of
water on track and therefore quantify the data gained.
Running commenced at 10am with just Rubens Barrichello and
Christian Klien on track alongside Team McLaren Mercedes,
and Pedro covered over 450kms in total. Pedro was first on
the timesheets today, having also put in the fastest time
of the week on Wednesday with a 1m16.504.
Today's wet test was day four of this week's session at the
Jerez track for Team McLaren Mercedes. The focus has been
tyre development work with Michelin, with Pedro and reigning
DTM Champion Gary Paffett driving two MP4-20s. The team was
using the V10, because engine production is focused on the
FO108S V8 for the MP4-21, which has different mountings from
the one used in the MP4-20. The 2006 Challenger, the MP4-21,
will have his test debut later this month.
Wednesday saw Pedro top the timesheets with the quickest time
of the week, despite a minor software problem on his installation
lap. This was resolved quickly by the test team and both Pedro
and Gary, in his first official test for the team, had busy
days completing nearly 750km between them.
The good mileage continued the following day, with the only
stoppage being for Pedro 30 minutes from the end with an engine
failure, on an engine that had covered close to 1,500km already.
Friday's session was badly affected by red flag stoppages
across the field of ten runners, with Renault, Honda, BMW
Sauber, Williams and Red Bull Racing also in attendance at
Jerez. Nearly twice as much time during the day was spend
under red flag conditions, with no action taking place, than
green. Then heavy rain fell towards the end of the session,
which ended the day early.
Pedro was present for all four days of the test and completed
291 laps and 1,280 km in total respectively. Gary was on track
for three days and completing approximately 950km over 215
laps.
The Team McLaren Mercedes test team will resume track action
on Tuesday of next week, with a three day test again in Jerez.
PEDRO DE LA ROSA
"We have had a constructive session this week in Jerez,
particularly with our work with Michelin. We have been completing
sections of the pre-season tyre programme and we are getting
a good understanding of performance and how to maximise this
with Michelin. Today's controlled wet test has also been beneficial.
Because we are in control of the amount of water on track;
it allows us to apply appropriate compounds and set-ups that
we can fully quantify. It is not possible to conduct this
type of testing when it is raining, such as yesterday afternoon.
We have had a few minor glitches with software, which have
led to a couple of stoppages on track for me and Gary. However
this is because in addition to tyres, software is currently
another area of focus and development, and this is only to
be expected when you are testing."
GARY PAFFETT
"It has been a really interesting week for me, to be
testing for the first time as an official Team McLaren Mercedes
test driver. We had solid test sessions with good running
on Wednesday and Thursday, completing my programme on both
days. Obviously until the MP4-21 is released there is a big
focus on tyre testing with Michelin and by covering good distances
every day we are getting some good feedback. Friday was a
bit frustrating with all the stoppages, two of which were
myself with a couple of small electronic software issues,
however that is testing, and it was generally a good week
overall."
Unofficial times*:
Pos Driver Constructor Time Laps
1 Pedro de la Rosa Team McLaren Mercedes – V10 1m28.448
102
2 Rubens Barrichello Honda Racing 1m29.636 97
3 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 1m29.841 84
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