FEBRUARY 24, 2012

Sauber sets final day pace at Barcelona test

Kamui Kobayashi topped the final day of the season's second F1 test at Barcelona, Spain, ahead of the season-opening Australian GP on March 18.

Kamui Kobayashi (1:22.312) topped the final day of the season's second F1 test at Barcelona, Spain, ahead of the season-opening Australian GP on March 18.

Giampaolo Dall'Ara, head of Sauber's track operations, explained: "We started in the morning with some further aero comparisons and set-up work. Before lunch Kamui did qualifying runs. Qualifying was a weakness in the last two seasons and we have to resolve this.

"We started with the medium compound Pirellis before Kamui used two sets of softs, and in the end got his first taste of the 2012 super soft compound. He did his fastest lap on the second set of softs.

"The lap time stands as the overall fastest this week, but of course doesn't mean much because proper comparisons are never possible during testing.

Second fastest, after topping day three, was Pastor Maldonado (1:22.561) with the Williams FW34.

Chief operations engineer Mark Gillan said: "We've had a really productive day's testing to end an excellent couple of weeks. Today Pastor went through a competitive race simulation and both the car and he performed very well, ending the day with some long run comparisons.

"We have gathered a prodigious amount of data over more than 3500kms of testing and we will now regroup back at the factory to understand how to further improve the set-up and development direction ahead of next week's (final) Barcelona test."

Paul Di Resta (1:23.119) was third quickest with the Force India VJM05.

"Having focused on reliability in Jerez we've been able to come here and get straight on with performance work to really start understanding the car," explained chief engineer Jakob Andreasen.

"What's encouraging is the feedback from both Nico (Hulkenberg) and Paul, which is positive about the handling, especially over longer runs. It's good to hear those comments at a high-speed aero circuit such as Barcelona."

McLaren had another strong day with its new MP4-27, Jenson Button ending up fourth overall (1:23.200).

"This week we've completed more than 2100km, which is impressive," said McLaren's David Redding. "It's been a pleasing end to a very constructive week."

Felipe Massa (1:23.563) was fifth quickest overall but confident that Ferrari has found a good direction in the development of its F2012. Asked how prepared he thought Ferrari was on a scale of one to ten, however, Massa only awarded the Scuderia "more than a five."

Red Bull Racing was satisfied with Mark Webber's (1:23.774) second day in the RB8 at Barcelona.

The Australian's race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam said: "We had quite a lot of work to get through today. It went well and, unlike yesterday, we had no issues at all. This test has been good in terms of information gathered."

Jean-Eric Vergne's best with the Toro Rosso (1:23.792) was just a couple of hundredths slower and 0.05s up on Nico Rosberg with the new Mercedes W03.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn summed-up: "Next week we hope to focus even more on getting performance out of our current package. Overall we are in a reasonable position, but I don't for a moment believe we have achieved our objectives yet, and it's far too early to make any kind of judgment about our competitiveness."

At Caterham, meanwhile, Heikki Kovalainen (1:26.968) gave the impression that he was pleased to be heading home.

"This is the sort of test you look back on and think we're pleased to have got behind us," the Finn said. "Things haven't exactly gone as we would have liked but I think we all know where the car can and should be when it gets real in Australia, so now the challenge is to regroup in time for next week and make sure we come back here ready to get back to where we want to be."