Williams Martini Barcelona Test 22:02:2015 Day Four

Driver: Valtteri Bottas
Chassis / Engine: FW37-02 / PU106B Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Objectives: Set-up and Race sim
Weather: Warm and Dry Air & track temps: 11 - 19 ºC / 12 - 28ºC

The final day of testing for the Williams Martini team at the Barcelona circuit would see Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel. With the start of the session Valtteri would be out early and would complete two laps without setting a time. The first time of the day was 1m:36.99 from Rosberg but Rosberg would shortly after bring out the first red flag having put his car into the gravel at Turn five. With a green falg Valtteri would return to the track and would start his first flying lap and would finish with atime of 1m:28.868 to be quickest. He would improve with a 1m:28.449 to be quickest. Valtteri would continue running on mediums, and after a slower 1m30s lap, he do a 1m29.555s. Vettel was second and Rosberg third with a bit over an hour of the day completed.

Sainz would move to the top of the times with a 1m:27.991, set on the soft tyre, with Valtteri and Vettel both still on the medium. But Vettel would move ahead with a 1m:27.474 to be half a second ahead of Sainz. Rosberg was now second, 1m:27.663. As the first two hours of the day was passed Valtteri would find a three tenth improvement but remained in fifth. Sainz would return to the top of the times with a 1m:27.236, using soft tyres seeing Valtteri now 0.935 off the quickest time. But Valtteri's time was set on the medium tyre. Valtteri had completed twenty three laps as he returned to the track this time on the hard tyre. Rosberg went quickest with a 1m:27.142 while Valtteri was running in the 1m:29s. Valtteri was now 1.029 behind the quickest time.

On his first run on the soft tyre Vettel would go quickest with a 1m:26.454. Rosberg still on the medium would set an improved 1m:26.798. But on a single flying lap on soft tyres Sainz would set a 1m:25.684 to again be quickest. Valtteri was still out on his hard tyre run lapping by himself. He had completed forty six laps while Sainz would try a run on the super soft tyre but would only produce a very small improvement with a 1m:25.604. Valtteri's best at this time was a 1m:28.171 as they started the final hour before lunch. Just prior to the lunch break there would be a red flag so the session was brought to an early end. At this time Valtteri was slowest but he had been on the hard tyre while those setting the quickest times were on the soft tyre.

After the lunch break the afternoon session would get underway with Valtteri coming back out running on the soft tyre and he would pit taking on medium tyres in a pitstop but he would return straight away with reports having the FW37 not sounding very great in the pitlane. Messages from the Williams team had Valtteri conducting a race simulation. As the afternoon progressed we would have one red flag that was caused by Valtteri's car stopping out on the track. Valtteri would reappear and at the end of the day would complete one hundred and eight laps.

Rosberg would set a new quickest time right near the end of the day with a time of 1m:25.584, set on the medium tyre. This would seem to indicate that he could set  a time of 1m:22s on the softer tyres. For Valtteri he would finish his day with a run on the soft tyres setting a 1m:25.345. Rosberg would lower his quickest time with a 1m:24.321, seeing the Mercedes team show that it still is out in front of the other teams.

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: We had a very busy plan today. The morning was tough due to the wind conditions which affected our chassis testing. In the afternoon we had a race-sim planned, but this was interrupted by three red flags, then once again in the final run of the day there was another red flag. All of these stoppages stilted our progression slightly and meant we couldn’t quite complete our plan. Throughout the whole test though we have gathered a lot of data and are prepared for the final test next week.

Valtteri Bottas: We completed quite a few laps today which was positive even though our programme was disrupted a few times. The FW37 remains reliable but we have quite a way to go before we are at the level we want to be, although we are on schedule. Both tests have been relatively issue free and so we have begun preparations for Australia and look forward to the final test next week.

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING will return to the track for the third and final winter test in Barcelona beginning on 25 February.

Driver 		   Team 	    Best Time 	Best / 
		   				Total Laps
1. R. Grosjean	   Lotus	    1:24.067	97 / 111
2. N. Rosberg	   Mercedes	    1:24.321	123 / 131
3. D. Kvyat	   Red Bull	    1:24.941	60 / 104
4. F. Nasr	   Sauber	    1:24.956	32 / 73
5. V. Bottas	   WILLIAMS MARTINI 1:25.345	124 / 129
6. C. Sainz	   Toro Rosso	    1:25.604	55 / 88
7. S. Vettel	   Ferrari	    1:26.312	54 / 76
8. N. Hulkenberg   Force India	    1:26.591	32 / 36
9. F. Alonso	   McLaren	    1:27.956	19 / 20