Sauber Concludes Difficult Week of Testing

Giancarlo Fisichella
By Jamie Makin (8/4/2004)
April 9 2004

After a two days of disruptions due to mechanical trouble and foul weather, team SAUBER PETRONAS finally had a productive test session today at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Despite a late start and a damp track, Giancarlo Fisichella logged 78 laps to set a best time of 1:17.247. Race engineer, Mike Krack commented. "Today´s session could not begin until 10 am because of a local holiday, and the track did not dry out enough to use Bridgestone dry weather tyres until 11.30. After that we were able to do some more tyre testing for Bridgestone, evaluating the compound for the Spanish Grand Prix here in May. We also evaluated some brake materials and cooling, and were able to make some aerodynamic improvements on the braking side. It started raining again at 4 pm, however, by which time we in any case only had five laps´ time left on the engine, so we stopped early."

For the second time in this week, the Sauber C23 was the slowest car on track. The team has averaged lap times of two and a half seconds slower than the leader each day. Mike Krack did not appear concerned by the pace. "We didn´t go for times today but believe we were able to make a good tyre choice. Having struggled with a mechanical problem on the first day, then had rain yesterday, today was the best day of the test in terms of working through our programme."

Pos.	Driver	Team	Tyres	Time	Laps
1	J. Button	BAR	Michelin	1:15.052	74
2	T. Sato	BAR	Michelin	1:15.305	83
3	M. Schumacher	Ferrari	Bridgestone	1:15.635	75
4	P. de la Rosa	Jaguar	Michelin	1:15.798	73
5	M. Webber	Jaguar	Michelin	1:15.861	120
6	M. Gene	Williams	Michelin	1:15.924	86
7	A. Wurz	McLaren	Michelin	1:16.272	61
8	R. Barrichello	Ferrari	Bridgestone	1:16.513	29
9	S. Dixon	Williams	Michelin	1:16.610	54
10	R. Schumacher	Williams	Michelin	1:17.190	5
11	G. Fisichella	Sauber	Bridgestone	1:17.247	78

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