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Williams Barcelona Test - 04 Mar 2016 Day Four


By Williams Martini Racing - Andrew Hooper
March 5 2016

The Williams Martini would complete their 2016 pre-season testing with Felipe completing the final day after what was another productive day for the Williams team. The team would focus on longer runs in the morning with qualifying work in the afternoon. Felipe would finish 3rd on the day setting his time on the supersoft tyre. The next time the FW38 will be seen is at the opening round of the 2016 Formula One season in Melbourne.

 
  Barcelona Test 04:03:2016 Day Four
 
Massa
 

Driver: Felipe Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW38-02 / PU106C Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 18ºC / 27ºC

The final day of testing for the Williams Martini would see Felipe Massa again in the cockpit. With the start of the morning session Felipe would get out early to complete his installation lap. Unlike yesterday Felipe was able to get back out and would be running on the medium tyre. He would set a 1m:27.648 to be second behind Grosjean. He would continue to lap setting times in the low 1m:27s. He would set a 1m:27.170 to go fastest but Hamilton would quickly move ahead with a 1m:25.347, also on the medium tyre.

Hamilton would move ahead of the pack with a 1m:24.640 followed by Ricciardo and Button, who had set his time on the soft tyre. Felipe would pit after this first run but shortly after he would return and would set the fastest first sector plus a personal best in the second but he would slow in the final sector finishing well off his earler pace. But he would improve with a 1m:26.338 still on the medium tyre. Grosjean would move into third with a 1m:25.255 running on the soft tyre. Hamilton would improve his quickest time with a 1m:24.133. Felipe had completed twenty seven laps with an hour and a half of the session run.

Felipe would return to the track still on medium tyres and would improve with a 1m:25.696. Vettel would go to the top of the times with a 1m:23.595 running on the soft tyre. Felipe would pit having completed thirty six laps. Sainz was now third with a 1m:24.701 set on the medium tyre. Felipe would return to the track and would complete forty four laps with nearly two and a half hours completed. Button would be the first to set a time on the ultrasoft tyre but it was only a 1m :24.714.

Vettel was out on supersoft tyres and would set a 1m:22.852 to be over a second quicker than Hamilton. Sainz was now second with a 1m:23.901 as Felipe continued to add to his laps having completed fifty six laps so far. Sainz would set a 1m:23.471 using the supersoft tyre. Hamilton was third with a 1m:24.133 running on the medium tyre. Perez would also use the supersoft tyre to improve now third with a 1m:23.849. Three hours into the morning and Felipe was still adding to his laps having completed sixty three laps. He would eventually pit and would not return as the lunch break commenced.

With the start of the final afternoon session Felipe was back out running on unmarked tyres. Felipe would be lapping in the 1m:29s. It was clear that the Williams team was on a different programme with the team completing a series of long runs on the medium tyre. Late in the day there would-be a red flag with Perez stopping out on the track. Late in the afternoon Felipe would finally change from the harder tyre runs and switch to the supersoft tyre and would set a 1m:23.644 on a single lap run prior to heading straight back into his pit. Two hours remaining and Felipe had completed ninety four laps. After a thirty minute break Felipe would return to the track this time on the soft tyre.

Felipe would complete over one hundred laps as he continued his soft tyre run but he would pit shortly after. The rest of the day would see Felipe running a mix of tyres. Even at one stage he was seen out on a set of full wet tyres and another run on intermediates. In the last twenty minutes Felipe was seen on mediums as the session came to an end.

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer:
It’s been another very successful day. We followed the pattern of the previous few days where we’ve done some longer runs and set-up work in the morning. We conducted a qualifying simulation this afternoon which was a little bit tricky due to the wind conditions. Then we completed more aero and development work, as well as ticking all the boxes in our reliability check list. We did 129 laps with no problems at all. It’s been a very successful, but busy, second week of testing. The team and drivers have done very well. I’m very happy with that, overall very pleased, and we look forward to Melbourne.

Felipe Massa:
Today was another good day for us. We managed to do a lot of laps again. I’m really happy with this week, the amount of laps we did, and the work we have done to understand the car. Today was a similarly successful day to yesterday. We will know more about where we are in Australia. I am happy and totally ready to start the season. Not just me but everybody. The mechanics, the engineers, the whole team. We’ve done a good job to prepare the car in the best way, so I hope we start well in the first race.

Williams Martini Racing and the FW38 return to track with Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa for the first Grand Prix weekend of the season in Australia from 17th – 20th March.

 
Massa
 

Driver 		  Team 	    	   	Best Time  Best / 
Total Laps
1. S. Vettel Ferrari 1:22.852 29 / 142 2. C. Sainz Toro Rosso 1:23.134 49 / 133 3. F. Massa Williams Martini 1:23.644 93 / 129 4. S. Perez Force India F1 Team 1:23.721 36 / 60 5. L. Hamilton Mercedes AMG F1 Team 1:24.133 21 / 69 6. D. Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:24.427 54 / 123 7. J. Button McLaren 1:24.714 23 / 121 8. J. Palmer Renault Sport F1 Team 1:24.859 29 / 90 9. M. Ericsson Sauber F1 Team 1:25.031 49 / 132 10. R. Grosjean Haas F1 Team 1:25.255 17 / 66 11. E. Gutierrez Haas F1 Team 1.25.422 20 / 25 12. R. Haryanto Manor F1 Team 1:25.899 20 / 58 13. N. Rosberg Mercedes AMG F1 Team 1:26.140 69 / 70
 
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Williams Barcelona Test - 04 Mar 2016 Day Four
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