More testing miles for FW26 at Barcelona

By Andrew Hooper
February 5 2004

 

 

  
Barcelona Test 04:02:2004 Day Three of Five
 
On a day marred by the heavy crash of Sauber's Felipe Massa, which saw him taken to hospital, the BMW WilliamsF1 team continued their five day test at the Circuit de Catalunya. Joining Ralf and Marc was Juan Pablo Montoya. Ralf and Juan Pablo had FW26's at their disposal while Marc use a FW25 with the 2003 P83 engine.

Montoya practicing pit stopsThe day would be sunny allowing the team to work through their test schedule, putting more miles on the FW26 as they work on its setup prior to the first race in Melbourne.

Ralf focused on aerodynamic and mechanical set-ups for the FW26. he would complete fifty one laps with a best lap time of 1m:14.679. For Juan Pablo his day would see him practice pit stops, completing forty laps, with a best time of 1:15.590. Marc would carry out tyre testing for Michelin, working through various tyre compound evaluations. He would complete sixty five laps, with a best time of 1m:14.997.

As for Massa's accident very early in the morning it came down to a suspension failure at Turn One which would see him crash heavily against the tyre barriers. He would be taken to hospital for checks and was unhurt and released.

WilliamsF1 Chief Operations Engineer Sam Michael said: "Today Juan Pablo joined the test and practised pitstops all day with the race team crew doing tyre changes and re-fuelling. Ralf spent his last day at the test continuing set-up work and systems runs. Marc was driving the FW25 today, doing tyre testing for Michelin and working on the car’s electronic systems. He is also finished for this test. Juan Pablo and Antonio Pizzonia will drive the two FW26s for the remainder of the test while Nelson Piquet will drive the FW25 tomorrow."

Tomorrow sees the return of Nelson Piquet to join Juan Pablo and Antonio Pizzonia.
 

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps

1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:14.665 104
2. R. Schumacher WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:14.679 51
3. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:14.699 114
4. Gene WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:14.997 64
5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.058 84
6. Montagny Renault (M) 1:15.288 81
7. Panis Toyota (M) 1:15.444 81
8. Montoya WilliamsF1 BMW (M) 1:15.590 41
9. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:15.646 75
10. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:15.724 64
11. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.083 91
12. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:16.110 86
13. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.440 39
14. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.573 39
15. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.777 4
 
 
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