Williams Martini Barcelona Test 28:02:2015 Day Three

Driver: Felipe Massa
Chassis / Engine: FW37-01 / PU106B Hybrid
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Objectives: Chassis and aero work
Weather: Warm and Dry Air & track temps: 5 - 17 ºC / 9 - 30 ºC

On the penultimate day of the 2015 pre-season testing the Williams Martini team would send Felipe Massa out for his installation lap on what was a very cold morning at the Barcelona circuit. Felipe would return to the track running on the soft tre and would set his first time of the day with a 1m:27.271. It was a short run that would see Felipe back in the pits and with thirty minutes of the morning session run it would be Felipe quickest from Raikkonen and Ricciardo. But shortly after Hamilton would set a new fastest lap with a 1m:27.182 running on the medium compound. He would lower this time with a 1m:26.110 while for Williams Felipe was still in his pit only having completed four laps. Making his first appearance was Magnussen taking over from Alonso in the McLaren.

Both Ricciardo and Raikkonen would move ahead of Felipe with times of 1m:26.314 and a 1m:26.532, both running on the medium tyre. Felipe had returned to the track and with the first hour of the session run he had completed thirteen laps. The FW37 was running with new sidepod vanes and was able to improve his lap time with a 1m:26.546 on his next run with an hour and a half of the day completed. Hamilton would again improve his time with a 1m:25.471 on a run on the medium tyre. Felipe would pit having now completed twenty seven laps in what looked like a series of short runs by the Williams team. Hulkenberg in the new Force India set a 1m:27.404 to be fifth. Hulkenberg would move into third on a soft tyre run with a time of 1m:26.137. Felipe was back out running on the mediums and would set a 1m:26.160. He would improve on this with a 1m:24.950 still on the medium tyres.

Hamilton was now second followed by Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. On his next run soft tyres would be seen on Felipe's car and he would move into the 1m:23s with a time of 1m:23.963, but it was not as quick as his time from Thursday of 1:23.500. Raikkonen was now second with a 1m:24.136 as Felipe went quicker, having changed to super softs, with a 1m:23.262 his best time in testing so far. But this was still half a second slower than Rosberg set on the soft tyre. Magnussen would jump up to third with a 1m:25.225 running on the soft tyre, just twenty minutes before the lunch break. Several other drivers would use the super soft tyre with Hulkenberg moving into third with a 1m:24.939. Also using the super soft tyre Raikkonen would go second fastest with a time of 1m:23.276. With the lunch time break Felipe had completed forty five laps.

With the start of the afternoon session Felipe was back out running on the hard tyre. With twenty six minutes into the session Felipe had completed fifteen laps looking like the afternoon was going to see longer runs from the Williams team. Felipe would pit after having completed eighteen laps on the hard tyre. Another driver on a longer run was Raikkonen running on the medium tyre who had completed seventeen laps. He would pit after twenty laps taking on a set of hards and headed back out. Felipe would head back out continuing his race simulation. Felipe would pit again after a fourteen lap run with Raikkonen also coming in to pit coming back out on a set of development tyres fitted. Felipe had completed seventy six laps at this point. Next time out and Felipe was on the medium tyre as Hamilton came back out for his fist run since lunch. Raikkonen would finally pit bringing his race simulation to an end.

As the afternoon drew to a close the temperatures would start to fall making it very unlikely that quicker times would be set. Having pitted previously Felipe would again come back out as it was announced that McLaren had finished for the day as their car had suffered an oil leak. Hamilton was able to set a time of 1m:23.648 to be third but shortly after he was able to set a 1m:23.022 to be quickest using the soft tyre. Again the Mercedes was faster than those who had used the supersoft tyres on the soft compound.

Felipe was now 0.240 behind Hamilton with one hour remaining but the team would announce that Felipe had finished for the day. Felipe had completed one hundred and two laps on the day. For him the next time he would be in the car was in Australia for the opening race of the 2015 season.

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: It was Felipe’s last day in the car before Melbourne and we have had a busy day. We focused on chassis and aero work as well as longer runs on scrubbed tyres to see the degradation and tyre performance. We did a grid simulation at lunchtime to ensure the procedural processes are all in place for when we arrive in Melbourne. We have just one day of the test left now, and it will be another busy one for the team.

Felipe Massa: We had another good day with over 100 laps completed. We reached the end of the programme in good time and the car has remained very reliable over all three tests. Our long runs look positive and the car remains consistent throughout the stints. We are not the only quick car on the track though and the fight behind Mercedes will be interesting. I now have to get ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne, which I am really looking forward to.

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING will be back on track tomorrow with Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel of the FW37 for the final day of pre-season testing.

Driver 		 Team 	    	  Best Time 	Best / 
		   				Total Laps
1. L. Hamilton	 Mercedes	  1:23.022	64 / 76
2. F. Massa	 WILLIAMS MARTINI 1:23.262	42 / 102
3. K. Raikkonen	 Ferrari	  1:23.276	41 / 136
4. C. Sainz	 Toro Rosso	  1:24.191	131 / 132
5. R. Grosjean	 Lotus		  1:24.200	115 / 116
6. M. Ericsson	 Sauber		  1:24.477	49 / 123
7. N. Hulkenberg Force India	  1:24.939	69 / 158
8. K. Magnussen	 McLaren	  1:25.225	32 / 39
9. D. Ricciardo	 Red Bull	  1:25.742	40 / 128