12/2/11,
Nick Heidfeld staked his claim for Robert Kubica’s Renault seat on Saturday by topping the times on his debut for the team in testing at Jerez. Heidfeld, who raced for Sauber last season, edged out Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso to go fastest of the 11 drivers in action in Spain.
"At the end of my two test days in Jerez, I can only be happy with what we have achieved here,” said Schumacher, who hands over to Nico Rosberg for Sunday’s final day at Jerez. “Once again today, we completed a lot of mileage, and with the exception of some smaller issues, we ran very well which enables us to steadily progress with our testing programme. This is exactly what you want at this period of time."
Friday pacesetter Michael Schumacher was third quickest for Mercedes GP, over half a second down on Alonso and less than a tenth ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
At the wheel of Ferrari’s new F150th Italia, Alonso went through a similar programme to the one that team mate Felipe Massa completed on Friday. Running with an image of friend Kubica’s helmet on his own, the Spaniard worked on Pirelli tyre comparisons in the morning and long runs in the afternoon. He will continue in the car on Sunday.
“In the morning we did general mechanical work and set up changes, checking directions we found when Sergio (Perez) was driving. In the afternoon we also tested some new development items and concentrated on longer runs, which in the end were cut short due to an engine problem. We are also looking forward to a full test programme for tomorrow.”
Friday pacesetter Michael Schumacher was third quickest for Mercedes GP, over half a second down on Alonso and less than a tenth ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
For the third day, McLaren is unable to do many rounds with their new car. The MP4-25 has remained fixated on the garage for the most part of the day due to lack of parts and Lewis Hamilton came out on the track only for a small stint, or for efforts of a single round. In one of them he scored the fourth best time but the overall productivity was low, since he did only 36 laps. Kamui Kobayashi with the Sauber C30 scored the fifth time of the day early in morning, just before he 'left' the track and caused the appearance of a red flag. In the afternoon he did bigger stints, but did not improve his time and also "pulled" again another red flag.
The platforms of Jerez were filled with thousand of Spaniards, who wanted to follow closelythe the efforts of their favorite driver, Fernando Alonso. They will have this opportunity again on Sunday 13 / 2,which is going to be the fourth and the final day of the testing at Jerez. It is not excluded that it might be a rainy day,unlike the previous three days which the weather was ideal for the tests.
New Force India driver Paul di Resta was tenth as he got his first run in the team’s VJM04. “Today was really about me getting used to the new car, plus getting as much information about the new tyres and set-up options as possible,” said the Scot. “We've still got a bit of work to do, but today was about determining the right way to go.“We did find that there were a couple of issues with getting temperature in the brakes on some set-ups, and on the final run of the day I locked up into turn nine and went off into the gravel. Overall I think we can be fairly positive with the progress we've made over the past couple of days and have a good idea of where we can go tomorrow.”
Testing will continue at Jerez on Sunday.
Unofficial Saturday test times from Jerez:
1. Nick Heidfeld, Renault, 1:20.361
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:20.493
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:21.054
4. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:21.099
5. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:21.242
6. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:21.574
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:21.681
8. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, 1:21.711
9. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:22.227
10. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:22.945
11. Jerome d’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:25.471
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