TEST REPORT VALENCIA – WEEKLY SUMMARY
Date: Wednesday 1st March 2006
Location: Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain
Drivers: Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa
Weather: Sunny and warm
Track temperature – high of 23.6 degrees Celsius
Air temperature – high of 15.2 degrees Celsius
Laps run: 237
Kilometres covered: Kimi Raikkonen approx. 480km
Pedro de la Rosa approx. 460km
Best lap time of the day and week: Kimi Raikkonen, 1m09.416
Total number of laps driven during the test: 639
Total number of km driven during the test: 2559km (Kimi 760km,
Pedro 1494km, Gary 284km)
Total number of laps driven during the test in the MP4-21:
343
Total number of km driven during the test in the MP4-21: 1374km
(Kimi 781km, Pedro 593km)
Duration of test: Three days (21st – 23rd February 2006)
Team McLaren Mercedes completed the final test session before
the start of the 2006 season today, with Kimi Raikkonen and
Pedro de la Rosa covering 940km between them at the Circuit
Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, on the way to Kimi setting the fastest
time of the day.
Kimi's programme today saw the Finn continue set-up development
work in the MP4-21 with his race engineer in preparation for
the opening Grands Prix. He completed 121 laps of the track
and topped the timesheets for the day and the week with a
1m09.416.
Pedro began the week on Monday driving the MP4-21. The two
cars that were at the Barcelona test last week had returned
to the McLaren Technology Centre to leave for Bahrain, with
chassis one returning to testing duties at the hands of the
Spaniard. A productive day saw Pedro complete 593km in the
MP4-21. The track was wet at the beginning of the day, from
overnight rain, and this allowed the test team and Pedro to
work on the development programme for the intermediate Michelin
tyres. As the track dried out, Pedro switched to dry tyres
and concentrated on achieving a good mileage total for the
day.
Kimi arrived in Spain on Tuesday to take over testing with
the MP4-21. The Finn covered nearly 300km at the Circuit Ricardo
Tormo, with sunny and warm weather conditions allowing the
team to complete the programme for the day.
Alongside work with the MP4-21, the Team McLaren Mercedes
test team has also been running an interim MP4-20 to continue
Michelin development work. Gary Paffett was in the car on
Monday, and covered 284km, with his running restricted to
the afternoon as a result of the wet track. Pedro then switched
to the MP4-20 for the final two days of the test, which saw
the Spaniard complete 901km in total.
Since the MP4-21 had its shakedown on Monday 23rd January,
it has completed 28 days of testing, covering around 8700km
in total. The MP4-21s will now be freighted to Bahrain for
the opening Grand Prix of the season on Sunday 12th March.
The test team will return to the McLaren Technology Centre
and will focus on the continued car build of further MP4-21s.
The on-track test programme is currently scheduled to recommence
on Wednesday 22nd March at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"We have had a productive couple of days in Valencia
this week, we had some good pace with the car today and I
set the fastest time, but testing is very different to being
on the race track. The work this week was pretty much the
same as at previous tests, focusing on the set-up of the car
with my race engineer Mark Slade, alongside some tyre selection
with Michelin. Since we first ran the car, the test team has
worked so hard on track so that we could put as much mileage
on the MP4-21 and push the programme forward much as possible
before the first race. I have completed 11 ½ test days
in the MP4-21, and covered just over 3250km during these days.
I am now looking forward to getting back behind the wheel
in Bahrain next week and driving the car in a competitive
environment to see where we really are performance wise."
PEDRO DE LA ROSA
"We've done a lot of good work this week with both the
MP4-21 and the Michelin tyre programme. Apart from Monday
morning, the weather has been sunny and dry, which is good
conditions for testing and this has meant we have completed
good distances this week. There has been a lot of hard and
dedicated work from the team on track since we started back
testing in November and we are now all waiting to see how
the first few races go. Since I was at the wheel of the MP4-21
for its shakedown in Barcelona, we have tested the car for
28 days. I have been in the car for four and a half days and
in this time I have driven more than 1700km."
Unofficial times*:
Pos Driver Constructor Time Laps
1 Kimi Raikkonen Team McLaren Mercedes 1m09.416 121
2 Pedro de la Rosa Team McLaren Mercedes – V10 1m09.836
116
3 Anthony Davidson Honda F1 1m10.312 144
4 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m11.061 77
5 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1m11.112 59
6 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m12.162 80
7 Alex Wurz WilliamsF1 1m12.254 72
*no official times available
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