Red Bull Racing Final Test Day Three
By Ian Lockwood
March 10 2011
Mark completed his preparations for the season with another problem-free test in Barcelona today.
Webber drove 97 laps at the Circuit de Catalunya, as the team rolled out Chassis 03 for the first time.
Mark said: “We had a good day again. The car was reliable, so hopefully the weather will stay dry tomorrow and then rain on Saturday, so we get a good week out of it!
“I feel I’m ready for the first race now and while, of course you want a good run at your home race, I don’t want to jinx with it any forecasts. In terms of team preparation, it’s the best we’ve ever had going into the first part of a season in terms of reliability. All the departments have done a sensational job in getting every aspect ready. Hopefully, we’re not too far from our main rivals to start with and we’ll just go from there.”
Head of Race Engineering Ian Morgan added: “It’s been a good week so far, with no major difficulties. The weather helped us out a bit as well. With track temperatures near 30°C, it was nice to finally get a bit of running in the kind of conditions we may see at some European races. All in all, a successful day and I think Mark’s now pretty comfortable with everything. He has a good feel for the car and how the tyres work, which is more important than ever this season.
“Tomorrow, it will be Seb’s turn to complete his pre-season work. We’ll run through a similar programme to today and, as with Mark, try to get him as comfortable as possible with everything before we pack up for Australia.”
Unofficial Thursday times:
1. Sergio Perez, Sauber, 1:21.761
2. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:22.092
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing, 1:22.466 97 laps
4. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:22.637
5. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:22.892
6. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1:23.541
7. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1:23.990
8. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:24.233
9. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:24.334
10. Jaime Alguersuari, Scuderia Toro Rosso, 1:24.779
11. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:27.336
12. Jarno Trulli, Lotus, 1:34.485