Piquet drives for WilliamsF1 at Jerez Test Day One

The BMW WilliamsF1 team returned to their test schedule with the team making an appearance at the Jerez circuit in Spain. Ralf Schumacher and Marc Gene were both present but the day would also see Nelson Piquet Jnr. make his Formula One debut today with the team. The team were alone at the circuit.

For Nelsinho he would be joined by his famous father Nelson, a three-time Formula One World Champion. For Nelson Jnr his 2003 season would see him competing in the British Formula Three, where he was to finish third. As a result of his efforts he found himself presented with the opportunity to test with the team.

Piquet, driving a FW25B, would complete sixty four laps of the circuit. His bad was overall a success despite having one moment when he left the track at the end of Jerez's main straight. His pace would see him some 2.1 seconds slower than test driver Marc Gene, but it was his first run in a Formula One car.

Of the three WilliamsF1 drivers Ralf Schumacher would be the quickest ahead of Gene. Ralf's time would be two tenths of a second faster than the previous quickest lap time, set by Ralf in February. Ralf would complete sixty eight laps. His day was spent focusing on tyre testing for Michelin.

For Gene his day would see him driving an updated version of the FW25, which included a revised engine, suspension and gearbox. Marc would complete seventy three laps, with a best time of 1m:18.326.

WilliamsF1 Chief Operations Engineer Sam Michael commented on the days testing: “We’re running a similar programme this week as the one we ran in Valencia, using the FW25B as a platform for preparations of next year’s FW26. Ralf used the morning to adjust the set up of the FW25B in readiness for an afternoon of tyre testing with Michelin. Meanwhile, test driver Marc Gené continued to evaluate BMW’s new engine and the new gearbox. This went well, with some improvements made since last week’s test at Valencia.

Nelson Piquet joined Ralf and Marc on track today in his inaugural Formula One outing. He spent the initial stages of the session getting used to the car, but unfortunately we had a gearbox problem that delayed the morning programme by an hour and a half. Nelson, however, did a competent job for his first outing.

Tomorrow, Ralf will continue tyre testing while Marc will complete further essential systems and reliability checks. Nico Rosberg will take over the third car. Nelson will return to the cockpit on Thursday morning, with Nico taking over testing duties in the afternoon.“

Testing at Jerez will continue tomorrow.

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps

1. R. Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.453 68
2. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.326 73
3. Piquet Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.453 64