Improvements in testing development

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
May 30 2006

Since the beginning of 2006, the BMW Sauber F1 Team covered far more than 20,000 kilometres of testing, at circuits such as Barcelona, Jerez and Le Castellet. Willy Rampf, Technical Director Chassis, talks about the importance of testing.

"Since the beginning of the season, we have increased the test team and contested all the tests with two cars - which turned out to be very helpful," says Rampf. So far, Jacques Villeneuve is the BMW Sauber F1 Team driver to have covered the highest mileage. The Canadian covered more than 8,000 kilometres, but his team-mates, Nick Heidfeld and test driver Robert Kubica, were almost as busy as Jacques.

This Wednesday the BMW Sauber F1 Team begins another three-day test at Barcelona. Rampf explains the strategy the team opts for when it comes to conducting such a programme. "Unlike in the past, one car focuses on tyre evaluations. From my point of view, this decision helped us to better understand the tyres. Furthermore, there are more aerodynamic components to be tested as we are working in the wind tunnel for longer hours. At the end of the day, this effort is a must to keep up with the performance of our competitors," the German concludes.