MARCH 12, 2011

Rain washes out final day of F1 testing

The final day of pre-season F1 testing in Barcelona was washed out by heavy rain, with only three drivers setting times.

There was no action before the lunch break but in the afternoon Nico Rosberg (1:43.814) set the quickest time as Mercedes finally logged 5759 kms or just under 19 race distances as it completed its test programme.

Michael Schumacher did installation laps only as he tried out the Pireli wets as the team also took the opportunity to rehearse race procedures. "It's been a good week here in Barcelona and we're certainly happy with our position going into the first race of the season," Schumacher said.

Rosberg added: "It was tricky out there today; there wasn't a lot of grip but it was really useful to get the experience on the Pirelli wet tyres. We have made a lot of progress over the four tests this winter and it's really nice to see that things are going in the right direction. We are on the up for sure, and all credit to the team for getting the upgrades on the car and, most importantly, to see that they are working as expected."

Ross Brawn said: "Our upgrade package has performed as we expected and we are happy with the structure that we applied to our pre-season programme, culminating in a good quantity of miles and the car that we wanted to produce by the end of this test. On a different note, we have been wrapped up in our intense programme here but our hearts and minds go out to the people of Japan, who are great supporters of our sport, in this time of tragedy."

Pastor Maldonado got some wet experience of the Williams FW33 and lapped in 1:44.332s, Lewis Hamilton took the McLaren MP4-26 round in 1:45.560 and Fernando Alonso, like Schumacher, did installation laps only with the Ferrari.