Testing: Heidfeld Quickest On Final Day at Jerez

Nick Heidfeld posted the fastest time on the final day of testing at
the Jerez circuit, where world champion Lewis Hamilton was involved in
a low-speed crash.

BMW Sauber driver Heidfeld was the busiest man on track today, with
123 laps covered despite the circuit being hit by rain in the morning
and by gusts of wind most of the day.

Heidfeld’s best time of 1:20.052 put him over three tenths of a
second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who also had a productive day in the
Ferrari with 112 laps covered.

The Italian team worked on engine and gearbox reliability, evaluated tyres and
development of some aerodynamic components, as well as carrying out
some practice pit stops, including refuelling.

"Today, we were able to
compare various set-ups aimed at the tyres," commented Kimi after the
test. "One of the novelties for this year, compared to last season is that I have a good feeling on the slick tyres. I think the teams all seem very closely matched and this makes me think that the coming season will be particularly close."

Hamilton was third quickest, but over a second off Heidfeld’s pace,
the Briton completing just 58 laps. The world champion lost control of
his car due to a sudden gust of wind and ended up crashing backwards
and damaging his McLaren’s rear wing.

Teams will be back in testing action next week in Barcelona.

Today’s times:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:20.052  123
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  1:20.404  112
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:21.272   58
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:22.219   47
 5.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.226   54
 6.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  1:23.119   38

(Click here for high resolution photos from the test)

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This has been a good two days of testing I think! Kimi’s been able to develop the car in average conditions, and his times earlier this morning were rather decent on the wet track. Some very interesting things have occurred in the past 5 days with Massa’s spin, McLaren’s engine woes (wow, it’s funny saying that again) and Hamilton’s visits into the gravel. Even Kimi went off track on one occassion today, but prior his off he set his best time just before, presumably, so he knows exactly what’s going on with the car hopefully, judging from his times. He also sounds happy about driving with slick tyres, even mentioning that it’s far more comfortable compared to his tyre woes last year.

Regarding Kimi’s sore back – I’m sure it’s nothing serious, as some of you are worrying. With Kimi having trained much more than
usual in preparation for this season, it’s probably just a bit of stress on his back. Also, added with the
possibility that the F60’s interior is slightely different from Bahrain
because of the revised engine rear/aerodynamical changes – that’s
probably why it might have been uncomfortable for Kimi today. Remember, he
tested all day yesterday so the back problem developed after
yesterday’s work in that uncomfortable setting, we can assume.
So, it’s probably nothing serious. We can only hope. After all, the main thing we can be happy and excited about is Kimi being comfortable with the slicks! Keep Flying Kimi!

Videos courtesy of TaniaS and whw0118
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From PlanetF1.com

Lewis Hamilton dismal reliability at Jerez continued on Thursday as his McLaren broke down out on track.

But despite the downpour the drivers ventured out this morning,
although Hamilton’s run was brief as his MP4-24 once again suffered
from reliability gremlins and stopped out on track. The Brit’s car was
quickly returned to the team’s garage on the back of a flatbed truck.