Williams Barcelona Test 11:03:2011 Day Three

BARCELONA TEST DAY THREE
FRIDAY 11 MARCH, 2011
Driver Rubens Barrichello / Pastor Maldonado
Chassis / engine FW33-01 / CA321 in the morning / CA225 in the afternoon
Location Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655km
Objectives Race simulation, mileage for Pastor Maldonado
Weather Cloudy and dry in the morning, some sunshine in the afternoon
Ambient & track temps 16ºC / 22ºC

Day three at Barcelona for the AT&T Williams team and Rubens Barrichello was back out on the track. The Williams team would not be running with KERS for the rest of the Barcelona test after suffering a major problem with it on the first day of the test. Rubens would complete a few laps with a best time of 1m:25.582 to be fastest ahead of Sutil and Kovalainen. He would again pit while Alonso went fastest with a 1m:24.775. Kobayashi was now third from Heidfeld. Schumacher was now fastest with a 1m:24.676, and would improve with a 1m:23.948.

Rubens would return to the track and during his run would set a 1m:24.932 to be third in the times, behind Schumacher and Alonso. Rubens times were in the low 1m:25s as he completed a five lap run. Rubens would stay in his pit until just before 9:30AM when he would return to the track. His second lap would see him set a 1m:24.544 to now be second. It would be just a two lap run for Rubens seeming to indicate that it was a qualifying type run. He would again come out for a further two lap run with the second lap a 1m:22.223 to go fastest from Alonso, Schumacher, and Heidfeld. But Alonso would move ahead of Rubens with a 1m:22.104 after a single flying lap.

But Schumacher would also put in what appeared to be another low fuel run setting a time of 1m:21.268 and then returning to the pits. For the team there was the worry of clouds coming of the circuit with rain a possibility. Rubens next run would be a longer ten lap one with his times in the 1m:30s through to 1m:33s. Rubens would pit returning with his times in this run in the 1m:31s. Rubens had completed forty laps and it was just before 11AM. Rubens was on what looked like a race simulation completing another twelve laps before stopping again. His times were in between the high 1m:3os and 1m:31s. His lap times were quite consistent in this stint. After another stop he would continue to lap the circuit with his times in the high 1m:29s through to the high 1m:30s.

With the lunch break drawing closer Rubens had completed seventy eight laps and then he would pit again having done forty eight laps in his simulation. This stint was twelve laps with his next one seeing him in the 1m:29s. His next series of laps were in the 1m:28s. After the difficulties of the first two days it would be pleasing for the Williams team to see Rubens complete eight five prior to lunch. The morning session would come to an end with Rubens fourth with Schumacher fastest from Alonso and Heidfeld.

After Rubens completed his runs in the morning Pastor Maldonado would take over for the afternoon running. But he would be delayed as the Williams team would carry-out and engine change on his car as a result of an oil leak on an engine which had a high level of mileage. The team would fit their third test engine.

As the clock approached 3PM Pastor was yet to come out on the track. Lucky he will be running tomorrow as it was not looking very good for him to get much track time. Finally he would complete an installation lap with only forty five minutes left in the day. Rubens earlier time was now only fifth fastest as Rosberg moved into third. Pastor was still yet to return to the track after his one lap but with fifteen minutes remaining he would leave the pit lane. Pastor's first timed laps were in the 1m:24s with his second lap a 1m:24.108. This would see him eighth. He would complete eight laps and return to the pits. But with a red flag that would be it for the day for Pastor. He would finish the day in twelfth.

Sam Michael, Technical Director: Rubens completed a race distance this morning, which marked the end of his winter test programme. The mileage and input he has given towards setting up the FW33 has been invaluable to the team. We had an oil leak on the engine at lunchtime before Pastor took over for the afternoon. As it was high mileage, we chose to change it. We achieved most of our programme today and it looks like we'll be into some wet running tomorrow. We will continue to run in Barcelona without KERS, but everyone’s pushing to ensure we have it on the car for Melbourne.

Rubens Barrichello: I did a race simulation this morning on some new tyres. The car felt OK but we are still not quite where we want to be just yet.

Pastor Maldonado: We lost some time while we changed the engine and then during the installation lap we had another minor engine problem. In the end I only did one long run but the most important thing was that I got to drive the car with the new aero package which does feel better. Hopefully we will get a full day of running in tomorrow.

AT&T Williams will be back on track tomorrow, Saturday 12 March, with Pastor Maldonado driving the FW33 for the final day of the test.

DRIVER      	 TEAM 		  	TIME       BEST / TOTAL
						   LAPS
1 M Schumacher   Mercedes GP 		1:21.268   26 / 67
2 F Alonso 	 Ferrari 		1:21.614   54 / 141
3 N Rosberg 	 Mercedes GP 		1:21.788   12 / 22
4 N Heidfeld 	 Lotus Renault GP 	1:22.073   38 / 67
5 R Barrichello  AT&T Williams 		1:22.233   21 / 89
6 K Kobayashi 	 Sauber F1 Team 	1:22.315   40 / 98
7 J Alguersuari  Toro Rosso 		1:22.675   28 / 72
8 S Vettel 	 Red Bull Racing 	1:22.933   43 / 64
9 H Kovalainen 	 Team Lotus 		1:23.437   36 / 138
10 P Di Resta 	 Force India F1 Team 	1:23.653   41 / 42
11 A Sutil 	 Force India F1 Team 	1:23.921   21 / 26
12 P Maldonado 	 AT&T Williams 		1:24.108   4 / 11
13 J Button 	 McLaren Mercedes 	1:25.837   25 / 57
14 J D’Ambrosio  Marussia Virgin Racing 1:27.375   33 / 46