MARCH 4, 2012

Raikkonen finishes final test on top

A 1m22.03s lap from Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus was the quickest testing lap seen at Barcelona this winter as the F1 teams completed their final day of testing ahead of the season-opening Australian GP on March 18.

A 1m22.03s lap from Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus was the quickest testing lap seen at Barcelona this winter as the F1 teams completed their final day of testing ahead of the season-opening Australian GP on March 18.

Raikkonen was also the day's mileage king, with 121 laps.

"I'm happy," Kimi said. "We didn't have any major issues so it was certainly better than yesterday. Everything worked, we tried a lot of set-ups on the car and it all came together well. The fastest time at the end of the day looks good but no-one will know how fast any of the cars are until we get to qualifying at Albert Park."

Team principal Eric Boullier thinks the team has overcome the handicap of missing the first Barcelona test.

"This test was crucial and I think we did a good job," he said. "We've been able to confirm that the changes made to the car fixed our front suspension problems. Moreover, both drivers seem happy with the balance and tyre degradation. We are cautiously optimistic and now looking forward to Melbourne."

With everyone looking to Sebastian Vettel and the latest specification Red Bull RB8, the world champion was restricted to just 23 laps and finished up bottom of the time sheet (1:23.608).

"In the morning I went off track, broke the front wing and had to come in," Vettel explained. "It took quite a while to get back out and then just before lunch we had a problem with the gearbox so it upset the whole day. After that there wasn't much we could constructively do.

It wouldn't be fair to judge the updates we have."

Second quickest was Fernando Alonso's Ferrari (1:22.250) although technical director Pat Fry said that it was doubtful whether Ferrari would have podium potential in the opening race.

Bruno Senna (1:22.296) shared Williams testing duties with Pastor Maldonado (1:23.347) and finished the day third quickest.

"We successfully ran the first race update package this morning with Bruno, and switched to Pastor over the lunch break," reported Mark Gillan. "The wind picked up throughout the day, making the afternoon conditions a lot trickier than the morning."

Nico Hulkenberg (1:22.312) was just a couple of hundredths shy of the Williams best in the Force India.

"The race weekend simulation was useful, but unfortunately my race distance was cut short, so we will rely more on the data from Paul's run yesterday," the German said.

"You always want more time in the car but I think we can be pleased with how our three tests have gone. We still need to find some more performance because the whole grid looks very close and competitive, and I expect the grid in Melbourne to be extremely tight."

Just seven hundredths behind the VJM05 was Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber (1:22.386), which ended its activity prematurely with an engine problem.

"I am still happy with our achievements," the Japanese driver said, "although personally I haven't found the perfect set-up for me yet, at least not for Barcelona. Melbourne might be a different story anyway and I think performance-wise we are looking fine and our simulation work for racing was really good."

McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton (1:22.430) in the cockpit, was aiming to continue analysis of its race one package and spent the morning running through set-up and balance changes, while conducting a race distance in the afternoon.

Vitaly Petrov (1:22.795), with a bespoke seat for the first time in the Caterham, had a good day and impressed a watching Tony Fernandes.

Mike Gascoyne cmmented: "It looks like the midfield teams will be very tightly packed, and while we know the times from the tests do not tell the whole story, it does look like we have made a step from last year.

"The target for Australia will be to maintain the strong reliability, build on the performance both drivers have demonstrated and aim to race one or two of the teams who were just out reach at the end of 2011."

Michael Schumacher (1:22.939) completed a round 100 laps and took the Mercedes W03's pre-season mileage total to just short of 2750.

"The car felt good from the very beginning, and we have improved it, so I think we can say that we are very well prepared," the seven times champion said.

"What it means compared to our competitors is something I only want to go into after some races, as we all know that testing does not show everything. What we can say though, is that the field is tighter than it has been, so we are looking forward to an exciting season."

Daniel Ricciardo (1:23.393) also put exactly 100 more laps on the Toro Rosso STR7. "I'm just looking forward to Melbourne - can't wait," he enthused.

Although many fancy that when the qualifying hour comes round in Melbourne, Red Bull will still be the team to shoot at, one thing that looks certain is that the field is much tighter than before, which can only bode well for the new season.