Villeneuve Sets the Pace at Jerez
Comfortable in First
By Jamie Makin
December 3 2004
Team SAUBER PETRONAS continued its three-day test at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez today. Jacques Villeneuve covered 74 laps in chassis C23-02 to set today´s best time of 1:22.071s.
Weather conditions picked up where they left off yesterday, drenching the circuit and making testing difficult. The team used the opportunity to try out Michelin's wet weather tyres and to allow Jacques Villeneue to continue to get comfortable with the car. It didn't take him long to get up to speed however as he set the fastest test time of the day.
Race engineer Giampaolo Dall'Ara assured us that the team still salvaged some meaningful data from the test. "As soon as the track started to dry up in the afternoon we were able to do our best laps. We couldn´t get a lot of references concerning aerodynamic and mechanical set-up tests, but we adapted our programme to the conditions and focused on further Michelin tyre work. Overall, despite of the bad weather and track conditions we still did quite a lot and the performance was pretty good."
SAUBER will wrap up the Jerez test tomorrow with Villenuve at the wheel once again.
| P | Driver | Team | Engine | Car | Tyre | Best Lap | Gap |
| 1 | Villeneuve | SAUBER | PETRONAS | C23 | M | 1:22.071 | -:--.--- |
| 2 | Heidfeld | Williams | BMW | FW26 | M | 1:22.462 | 0.391 |
| 3 | Liuzzi | Red Bull | Cosworth | Interim | M | 1:22.629 | 0.558 |
| 4 | Klien | Red Bull | Cosworth | Interim | M | 1:22.869 | 0.798 |
| 5 | van der Merwe | BAR | Honda | BAR006 | M | 1:22.884 | 0.813 |
| 6 | Pizzonia | Williams | BMW | FW26 | M | 1:23.384 | 1.313 |
| 7 | Sato | BAR | Honda | BAR006 | M | 1:24.108 | 2.037 |
| 8 | Wurz | McLaren | Mercedes | MP4/19 | M | 1:24.708 | 2.637 |
| 9 | Montagny | Renault | Renault | Renault | M | 1:24.77 | 2.699 |
| 10 | Fisichella | Renault | Renault | Renault | M | 1:24.939 | 2.868 |
| 11 | R Schumacher | Toyota | Toyota | TF104 | M | 1:26.21 | 4.139 |
| 12 | Badoer | Ferrari | Ferrari | F2004 | B | 1:27.572 | 5.501 |
| 13 | de la Rosa | McLaren | Mercedes | MP4/19 | M | 1:28.325 | 6.254 |
| 14 | Gene | Ferrari | Ferrari | F2004 | B | 1:28.939 | 6.868 |
| 15 | Doornbos | Jordan | Ford | EJ14 | B | 1:32.224 | 10.153 |
| 16 | Rossiter | BAR | Honda | BAR006 | M | 1:33.448 | 11.377 |
| 17 | Bernoldi | BAR | Honda | BAR006 | M | 1:33.474 | 11.403 |
For full 2005 pre-season test results click here.