Williams Martini Barcelona Test 28:02:2015 Day Three
By Andrew Hooper
March 1 2015
On his last day of testing Williams Martini driver Felipe Massa would complete another productive day with the team focusing on chassis and aero work. The team also worked through some longer runs to check on tyre degredation and tyre performance. For Felipe his next time in the FW37 will be in Melbourne for the first round of the 2015 championship.
Barcelona Test
28:02:2015 Day Three
Driver: Felipe
Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW37-01 / PU106B Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Objectives: Chassis and aero work
Weather: Warm and Dry Air & track temps: 5 - 17 ēC / 9 - 30 ēC
On the penultimate day of the 2015 pre-season testing the Williams Martini
team would send Felipe Massa out for his installation lap on what was a very
cold morning at the Barcelona circuit. Felipe would return to the track
running on the soft tre and would set his first time of the day with a
1m:27.271. It was a short run that would see Felipe back in the pits and
with thirty minutes of the morning session run it would be Felipe quickest
from Raikkonen and Ricciardo. But shortly after Hamilton would set a new
fastest lap with a 1m:27.182 running on the medium compound. He would lower
this time with a 1m:26.110 while for Williams Felipe was still in his pit
only having completed four laps. Making his first appearance was Magnussen
taking over from Alonso in the McLaren.
Both Ricciardo and Raikkonen would move ahead of Felipe with times of
1m:26.314 and a 1m:26.532, both running on the medium tyre. Felipe had
returned to the track and with the first hour of the session run he had
completed thirteen laps. The FW37 was running with new sidepod vanes and was
able to improve his lap time with a 1m:26.546 on his next run with an hour
and a half of the day completed. Hamilton would again improve his time with
a 1m:25.471 on a run on the medium tyre. Felipe would pit having now
completed twenty seven laps in what looked like a series of short runs by
the Williams team. Hulkenberg in the new Force India set a 1m:27.404 to be
fifth. Hulkenberg would move into third on a soft tyre run with a time of
1m:26.137. Felipe was back out running on the mediums and would set a
1m:26.160. He would improve on this with a 1m:24.950 still on the medium
tyres.
Hamilton was now second followed by Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. On his next
run soft tyres would be seen on Felipe's car and he would move into the
1m:23s with a time of 1m:23.963, but it was not as quick as his time from
Thursday of 1:23.500. Raikkonen was now second with a 1m:24.136 as Felipe
went quicker, having changed to super softs, with a 1m:23.262 his best time
in testing so far. But this was still half a second slower than Rosberg set
on the soft tyre. Magnussen would jump up to third with a 1m:25.225 running
on the soft tyre, just twenty minutes before the lunch break. Several other
drivers would use the super soft tyre with Hulkenberg moving into third with
a 1m:24.939. Also using the super soft tyre Raikkonen would go second
fastest with a time of 1m:23.276. With the lunch time break Felipe had
completed forty five laps.
With the start of the afternoon session Felipe was back out running on the
hard tyre. With twenty six minutes into the session Felipe had completed
fifteen laps looking like the afternoon was going to see longer runs from
the Williams team. Felipe would pit after having completed eighteen laps on
the hard tyre. Another driver on a longer run was Raikkonen running on the
medium tyre who had completed seventeen laps. He would pit after twenty laps
taking on a set of hards and headed back out. Felipe would head back out
continuing his race simulation. Felipe would pit again after a fourteen lap
run with Raikkonen also coming in to pit coming back out on a set of
development tyres fitted. Felipe had completed seventy six laps at this
point. Next time out and Felipe was on the medium tyre as Hamilton came back
out for his fist run since lunch. Raikkonen would finally pit bringing his
race simulation to an end.
As the afternoon drew to a close the temperatures would start to fall making
it very unlikely that quicker times would be set. Having pitted previously
Felipe would again come back out as it was announced that McLaren had
finished for the day as their car had suffered an oil leak. Hamilton was
able to set a time of 1m:23.648 to be third but shortly after he was able to
set a 1m:23.022 to be quickest using the soft tyre. Again the Mercedes was
faster than those who had used the supersoft tyres on the soft compound.
Felipe was now 0.240 behind Hamilton with one hour remaining but the team
would announce that Felipe had finished for the day. Felipe had completed
one hundred and two laps on the day. For him the next time
he would be in the car was in Australia for the opening race of the 2015
season.
Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: It was Felipes last day
in the car before Melbourne and we have had a busy day. We focused on
chassis and aero work as well as longer runs on scrubbed tyres to see the
degradation and tyre performance. We did a grid simulation at lunchtime to
ensure the procedural processes are all in place for when we arrive in
Melbourne. We have just one day of the test left now, and it will be another
busy one for the team.
Felipe Massa: We had another good day with over 100 laps completed.
We reached the end of the programme in good time and the car has remained
very reliable over all three tests. Our long runs look positive and the car
remains consistent throughout the stints. We are not the only quick car on
the track though and the fight behind Mercedes will be interesting. I now
have to get ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne, which I am
really looking forward to.
WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING will be back on track tomorrow with Valtteri Bottas
behind the wheel of the FW37 for the final day of pre-season testing.
Driver Team Best Time Best / Total Laps
1. L. Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.022 64 / 76
2. F. Massa WILLIAMS MARTINI 1:23.262 42 / 102
3. K. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:23.276 41 / 136
4. C. Sainz Toro Rosso 1:24.191 131 / 132
5. R. Grosjean Lotus 1:24.200 115 / 116
6. M. Ericsson Sauber 1:24.477 49 / 123
7. N. Hulkenberg Force India 1:24.939 69 / 158
8. K. Magnussen McLaren 1:25.225 32 / 39
9. D. Ricciardo Red Bull 1:25.742 40 / 128
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