Barcelona Day 4: Schumacher back on top

Michael Schumacher ended day four of testing in Barcelona fastest of all

Mar.11 (PVM) Michael Schumacher and Mercedes GP have sounded a warning to their detractors by ending the fourth day of 2011 preseason testing in Barcelona fastest of all, with his team mate Nico Rosberg third fastest.

Michael Schumacher speaks to the media

Schumacher blasted around Circuit de Catalunya, just over two hours into the day’s testing, to set a time of 1m21.249s which was never bettered during the course of the day. The seven times world champion was in the mood throughout the morning as thereafter he set a number of times close to his best during qualifying simulation runs. he ended the day with 67 laps to his credit.
Shortly after lunch The Mercedes GP team decided to put Nico Rosberg in the car for the remainder of the day as rain is expected tomorrow (Saturday) and switching drivers gave Rosberg the chance to run the upgrades in the dry and give his input. He was no doubt happy and obliged by going third quickest within the 22 laps given to him in the cockpit.

Fernando Alonso in action on day four

The Silver Arrows were clearly benefiting from the new updates promised by the team and both drivers immediately showed the potential.
Splitting the Mercedes pair was Fernando Alonso who did a staggering 140 laps in the 150 Italia, ending third fastest 0.346 off Schumacher’s best after a qualifying simulation. Thereafter the reds focused on longer runs and tried a race simulation which was interrupted by a red flag stoppage.
Nick Heidfeld set the fourth best time in the morning, when most of the top[ times were set, and then focused on long runs in the afternoon. He racked up 67 laps and ended 0.807 seconds off Schumacher’s best.

Rubens Barrichello in the Williams FW33

With KERS dumped Williams will have been pleased with Rubens Barrichello’s pace in the FW33, the Brazilian completed 89 laps on his way to setting the fifth best time of the day and was particularly impressive on his longer stints where he showed a more gradual drop in lap times than most of his rivals.
Unable to match the pace of his rookie team mate the 24 hours earlier was Kamui Kobayashi who ended sixth best in the Sauber C30 with 87 laps on his chart.
Up next were the two Red Bull backed teams with Jaime Alguersuari seventh quickest and with 72 laps to his name, while world champion Sebastian Vettel had a rather subdued day, doing short runs and only racking up 64 laps in the process. Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz was in Barcelona keeping tabs on his teams.

Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus T128

Heikki Kovalainen ended the day 10th fastest after amassing an encouraging 138 hassle free laps in the Lotus T128.
Force India split their day between their two drivers in the VJM04 cockpit, with Paul di Resta setting the 10th best time with 42 laps on his counted and Adrian Sutil with 26 laps ended 11th on the timing sheets.
Williams’ intention was to give both drivers a run on the day, but Maldonado got the short end of the straw when his running was curtailed to 11 laps as an engine change was required on the FW33. The Venezuelan ended 12th on the timing screens.
McLaren’s woes continued with an Mercedes engine change on the MP4-26 costing Jenson Button a large chunk of track time. He eventually completed 57 laps, but was 4.5 seconds off the Mercedes powered pace setter.

Another frustrating day for Jenson Button in the McLaren MP4/26

Jerome D’Ambrosio completed 46 laps in the Virgin Racing MVR02, again way off the pace.
HRT unveiled their car in the pitlane during the lunch hour, but did not run at all on the day as essential parts had not reached the circuit. (Report here)
For most of the teams today (Friday) was the final day of preseason testing, although McLaren, Williams, Ferrari, Mercedes GP and HRT will remain in Catalunya for their final day of testing – Saturday.
Barcelona Testing Day 4 – Best Lap Times

P	Drivers	Teams	Times	Diff	Laps
1	Schumacher	Mercedes	1.21.249	—	67
2	Alonso	Ferrari	1.21.614	+0.346	141
3	Rosberg	Williams	1.21.788	+0.539	22
4	Heidfeld	Renault	1.22.073	+0.805	67
5	Barrichello	Williams	1.22.233	+0.965	89
6	Kobayashi	Sauber	1.22.315	+1.047	87
7	Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	1.22.675	+1.407	72
8	Vettel	Red Bull	1.22.933	+1.744	64
9	Kovalainen	Lotus	1.23. 437	+2.188	138
10	Di Resta	Force India	1.23.653	+2.404	42
11	Sutil	Force India	1.23.921	+2.653	26
12	Maldonado	Williams	1.24.108	+2,859	11
13	Button	McLaren	1.25.837	+4.569	57
14	D’Ambrosio	Virgin	1.27.336	+6.107	46

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