Williams F1 Barcelona Test 21:02:2013 Day Three

Driver: Pastor Maldonado (morning) & Valtteri Bottas (afternoon)
Chassis / engine: FW35-01 / RS27-5409/3
Location: Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona 4.655km
Objectives: Set-up work, tyre testing and race simulations
Weather: Dry and cloudy
Air & track temps: 6-13ºC / 9-28ºC

At a chilly Circuit de Catalunya the Williams F1 team would commence the third day of their test with Pastor Maldonado carrying out the driving in the morning while Valtteri Bottas would take over in the afternoon. Pastor would complete a single installation lap prior to pitting. Upon returning to the track Pastor would set a 1m:25.671 having completed three timed laps. He would pit again returning shortly after to set a 1m:22.675 in what was just a two lap run running on the soft tyre. This would see him fastest at this time with Alonso second. Pastor had completed some comparison work with various front wings. After a short stop Pastor would again come out for a single timed lap run setting a 1m:23.148. This would see him complete twelve laps.

Pastor would then move on to longer run that would see him start on lap thirteen and he would return to his pit on lap forty six. His times in this longer run would range from 1m:32.6 through to 1m:34s followed by a series of laps in the 1m:30s and 1m:31s. But his stop would be brief as he would return to the track running on medium tyres. At this time Alonso was now fastest with a 1m:22.144 with Rosberg second and Pastor third. Grosjean would move up to second running on soft tyres.

Pastor was on another longer run starting with a 1m:29.059 followed by laps in the 1m:30s and 1m:31s. Another driver to benefit from the soft tyre was Hulkenberg whp moved into second with a 1m:22.160. Pastor was now fifth and would pit after completing fifteen laps. But quickly he would return setting a 1m:28.862 followed by a series of slower laps in the 1m:30s and 1m:31s. Alonso would set a new fastest lap time of 1m:21.875 running on soft tyres, seeing Pastor 0.8 seconds behind. Pastor would pit having completed a further fifteen laps. At the end of this run he had completed seventy nine laps. This would complete the teams morning runs with Valtteri taking over from Pastor in the afternoon.

With the start of the afternoon session Valtteri would set a 1m:25.719 on his first flying lap. After two further laps he would pit. His next run would see him set a 1m:22.826 a personal best. His next lap was a 1m:23.834 prior to pitting. There was a half hour break before Valtteri returned to the track for a longer run running on the medium tyre. His times would range from a 1m:31.991 through to a 1m:34.367. He would complete fifteen laps prior to pitting briefly returning to complete a further longer run with his times again starting at a 1m:29.321 but slowing to a 1m:32.631 by his fourteenth lap.

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: It’s been a very good day for us. We’ve completed two race simulations and both drivers were happy with their individual programmes. We’re really pleased with the reliability we have shown this week, having completed 147 laps with the FW35 today, 331 laps in total so far this week. We feel we have got a good car to now start developing and we look forward to continuing tomorrow.

Pastor Maldonado: It was a good morning for me. The track was still very cold when we did our first run on new tyres, but the time still looked competitive. We then moved into a race simulation and our race pace looks consistent. We completed our full programme without issue which is positive. The FW35 feels very comfortable to drive so I’m feeling happy.

Valtteri Bottas: We started the afternoon with some shorter runs but we still haven’t seen the full potential of the FW35. I have been able to improve some things in my driving since yesterday, but there are still things I can work on compared to Pastor. We then completed a race simulation. Unfortunately it was cut a little short due to the red flag at the end, but we were still able to try all the tyre compounds and I was able to get a good feeling for how the tyres behave. Overall, the car feels really nice on the longer runs, which is promising.

The Williams F1 Team will be back on track tomorrow, Friday 22 February, with Valtteri Bottas driving in the morning session and Pastor Maldonado driving the afternoon session for the final day of the test.

DRIVER      	   TEAM 	    TIME     BEST / TOTAL
						    LAPS
1 F Alonso 	   Ferrari 	    1:21.875 35 / 97
2 N Hulkenberg 	   Sauber F1 Team   1:21.160 34 / 91
3 R Grosjean 	   Lotus F1 Team    1:22.188 40 / 119
4 N Rosberg 	   Mercedes 	    1:22.611 38 / 108
5 P Maldonado 	   Williams F1 Team 1:22.675 8 / 79
6 V Bottas 	   Williams F1 Team 1:22.826 7 / 68
7 J Button 	   McLaren Mercedes 1:22.840 20 / 71
8 A Sutil 	   Force India 	    1:22.877 32 / 78
9 M Webber 	   Red Bull Racing  1:23.024 35 / 108
10 J E Vergne 	   Toro Rosso 	    1:23.366 56 / 106
11 M Chilton 	   Marussia 	    1:25.690 41 / 58
12 G Van Der Garde Caterham F1 Team 1:26.177 92 / 93