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VALENCIA TEST
DAY THREE
THURSDAY 03 FEBRUARY, 2011
Driver Pastor Maldonado
Chassis / engine FW33-01 / CA320
Location Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana Ricardo Tormo. 4.005km
Objectives General set up work and KERS testing
Weather Warm with sunshine
Air & track temps 19ºC / 23ºC
Day three of the AT&T Williams Valencia test would see Pastor Maldonado carry out all the driving duties. Pastor
would complete
his installation lap. But the session would be stopped by the first red flag as Massa would
pull his Ferrari off the track in a cloud of smoke.
The car would be brought back on a truck while their was a delay as the
marshals put down cement dust where Massa's F150 lost its oil at Turn four.
With the green flag Pastor was able to return to the track and set his first time of the day
even it was
only in the 1m:25's. He would improve with a lap in the 1m:17's and the
next lap was a 1m:16.617. At this time Sutil was fastest with a 1m:14.288.
Pastor would improve with a 1m:16.222 to be just 1.964 behind Sutil's
new fastest time of 1m:14.258.
Pastor would move into the 1m15s and was now fifth, 1m:15.136. He would
pit for a period of time returning to the track late in the morning.
He would quickly improve on his times setting a 1m:14.860 to be 1.659
seconds behind the fastest time of Sutil, 1m:13.201. He would pit a few laps later. Halfway through the day and Pastor had completed fifty five laps.
On his return to the track he would find a few hundredths to set a 1m:14.844
on his fiftieth lap to be fifth. He would pit again returning to the track,
again pitting after a few laps.
After a lunch break Pastor was back out.
Pastor would complete two flying laps to move himself up to fourth
on lap sixty three. He was currently second
fastest of the drivers running in the 2011 cars. He would again return to his pit
after completing a short run of five laps. At this time fastest was Kubica with a
1m:13.144. Pastor had completed seventy laps.
Late in the afternoon Pastor would continue his test programme completing short runs with his times in
the 1m:19 & 1m:18's. He would drop to fifth from fourth. Again he
would pit after completing eighty two laps.
Pastor had began his day with longer runs switching to shorter runs in the afternoon and gradually worked into the
1m14s.
His fastest time, 1m14.299s, would see him drop to seventh late in the day
as he returned
to a couple of long runs.
During the days testing the
Williams team would complete a successful first test of its KERS system.
Pastor would complete a total of one hundred and one laps with the system is
use.
Technical
Director Sam Michael spoke of the teams use of their KERS:
"We turned KERS on today for the first lap and did 100 laps on it. Within five laps we were on full power and we ran it all day. We just started running KERS today, although we had bits and pieces on the
car before and we haven't had any problems."
Pastor would finish the day seventh fastest overall and the fourth fastest
2011 car.
Michael added:
"It's been good. We basically had five
hours of downtime -
three hours with the KERS motor problem on day one and then an electrical
fault yesterday that cost us two hours. But apart from that, the car
ran.
"We got some good mileage on it, understood all of the systems, got
temperatures and pressures, seeing what rubs and what doesn't, looking at
the internal conditions of the mechanical parts and it's all not bad. We had
a few little problems here and there, but it's all solid."
In an official press release Sam Michael and Pastor had these further
comments:
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
The main target for today was to get the
KERS running and for Pastor to familiarise himself with the FW33. He did a
good job learning all the control systems. There is a lot for a driver to
think about in the cockpit now with the KERS, the rear wing, the brakes as
well as keeping the tyres up to temperature. We did more set-up changes
today to keep learning about the car and some longer runs for stabilised
temperature checks. We ran 100 laps trouble-free so are quite happy with
that. Overall it has been a good shakedown test for us.
Pastor Maldonado: I am feeling much more confident in the car now using both
the KERS and the rear wing. I am also working even better with the team and
developing the car over both long and short runs. I am feeling better every
time I get in the car.
AT&T Williams will be back on track to continue pre-season testing in Jerez,
Spain from 10 – 13 February. Pastor Maldonado will drive for days one and
two with Rubens Barrichello taking over for days three and four.
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