FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Schumacher tops second Jerez test day

Michael Schumacher (1:18.561) set the fastest lap of the second day's F1 testing at Jerez, Spain.

Michael Schumacher (1:18.561) set the fastest lap of the second day's F1 testing at Jerez, Spain.

Schumacher did no fewer than 132 laps of the track at which he lost the world championship finale to Jaques Villeneuve some 15 years ago.

Mercedes will not debut its new chassis until the second pre-season test at Barcelona and, in 2011 spec, with greater downforce, it is not too surprising that the three-pointed star topped the times.

"We made the most of a reliable car today to do lots of laps and learn a lot about the new Pirelli tyres and how they perform on longer and

shorter runs, and with different set-up configurations, " Schumacher said. "It was a productive test and I'm looking forward to driving our 2012 car at the next one."

Although obviously very early days, Red Bull's form with the new RB8 is already starting to look a little ominous for the opposition with Mark Webber (1:19.184) just over half a second shy of Schumacher's pace without the aid of a blown diffuser.

Head of race engineering Ian Morgan said: "After yesterday's brief delay we had a pretty full programme to get through and I'm pleased to say we got through the majority of it. There were a couple of minor niggles but nothing major, so we didn't really lose any time. Mark did some work evaluating the available Pirelli tyre compounds."

Closest to Webber, just four tenths adrift, was countryman Daniel Ricciardo (1:19.587), who had another impressive day in the Toro Rosso STR7, one of just a trio of drivers to record 100 laps.

"We achieved our aim of getting plenty of miles for me and the car with a mix of short and long runs, trying three different tyre compounds," Ricciardo said. "I also did some practice starts and pit entry tests, just about as much as one can do in one day! We were even able to do some back to back runs to start finding out how the car reacts to set-up changes."

Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne gets behind the wheel of the STR7 for the first time tomorrow.

Force India also had another strong day with test driver Jules Bianchi (1:20.221) and Paul Di Resta (1:20.272) sharing duties and ending the just five hundredths apart and sandwiching opening day pace-setter Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus E20 (1:20.239).

Bianchi set the ball rolling in the morning, when track conditions were at their quickest, and said: "There was a lot to get used to, especially the steering wheel and remembering where all the switches are, but it didn't take too long before I felt happy. It's great that I'm back in the car tomorrow and I'll try and get closer to the limit, because it's important preparation for my Friday practice running."

Di Resta added: "Half a day but quite intense: 69 laps in just over three hours, which is a really good effort. But it was also one of the more difficult days because the wind seemed to get very strong from midday onwards, which made driving the car very tricky. After 101 laps yesterday and 115 today, we've clearly built a good, strong car!"

Technical director Andrew Green was impressed with Bianchi: "It was our first chance to work with Jules. He acclimatised quickly and soon found his rhythm, which meant we could push ahead with the aero work. He did an excellent job, worked well with the engineers and has settled into the team."

Raikkonen, fifth quickest today, had a couple of excursions.

"There was a small issue with damage to the floor this morning when I went off," the Finn explained. "An edge on a kerb caused the damage and we lost some time as it was repaired.

"Apart from that it was a good day and we completed some long runs and good mileage. Physically, I felt fine after 117 laps. Conditions were quite windy on track but despite that I got a better feeling from the car. There was a lot of difference between the tyres. We used three compounds but it was hard to get all of them working with the cooler temperatures today. When the tyres are working we seem to have a good car and I have a positive feeling from this first test."

Felipe Massa (1:20.454) continued to put miles on the new Ferrari F2012 and finished the day seventh overall, a quarter of a second clear of Jenson Button (1:20.688) in the new McLaren MP4-27.

Button evaluated a series of braking, set-up and software changes, particularly the effect on balance and stability at both high and low speeds.

Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton all tale over at their respective teams tomorrow.

McLaren's Dave Redding said: "It's satisfying that Jenson has been able to complete more than 600km of trouble-free running over the past two days; that puts us in a good position for the rest of the week."

Sergio Perez (1:20.711) had his first day with the new Sauber C31. The team was happy to log good aerodynamic correlation but lost some track time to a fuel system problem.

Pastor Maldonado (1:21.197) did 97 laps behind the wheel of the new Williams FW34 and finished the day well in touch, just over three tenths clear of mileage king Heikki Kovalainen, who recorded 139 laps in the Caterham!

Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne surmised: "An excellent day of testing and I want to congratulate Heikki and the whole team for the job we have done today. We ran KERS for the first time and completed everything we had planned with that system."