Massa fastest on Silverstone final day
Thursday, 21, June, 2007, 20:48
Ferrari?s Felipe Massa marked his first and only appearance at Silverstone this week by finishing on top of the timesheet on Thursday as teams wrapped up their test at the circuit.
The Brazilian set the week?s benchmark time of 1m20.805s on a second successive rain-interrupted day at the Northamptonshire track, to outpace Williams? Nico Rosberg by over 0.4s.
Massa completed 87 laps as championship challenger Ferrari concluded its testing of new aerodynamic and mechanical parts on its F2007 car.
The Italian squad?s title rival McLaren finished third on the times, with Fernando Alonso making his only appearance of the week.
The double world champion completed just 58 laps due to an oil system problem early in the day before the rain came at lunchtime.
However team CEO Martin Whitmarsh was pleased with the overall results of the aero developments tested on the MP4-22 this week, ahead of the French Grand Prix on July 1.
?This week has seen us intensively testing the MP4-22 package, with work concentrating on aerodynamic improvements and brake material testing,? he said.
?Despite some inconvenient interruptions over the course of the three days ? mainly due to weather, we feel confident that we have achieved a good understanding of where we are in our preparations for the next set of back-to-back races in France and Britain, and despite being unable to complete the entire programme, the work we have done has been very effective at this crucial stage of the championship.?
World champions Renault?s programme was completed by the team?s test driver Nelson Piquet Junior and the Brazilian was the only driver to notch up over a century of laps (108 ), as he mainly focused on extensive tyre testing.
?In overall terms, this has been a productive and useful test,? said Renault?s chief test engineer Christian Silk
?We can see that we are making progress step by step, but the other teams are doing the same, and we know that this isn't the time to take our foot off the pedal!"
Pacesetter on the opening two days, Toyota slipped to fifth on Thursday with Jarno Trulli concentrating on tyre testing for next month?s British GP as well as doing other work on systems and suspension.
David Coulthard took over from team-mate Mark Webber in Red Bull?s RB3 cockpit, with the team keen to make up for lost time after Webber was hit by a series of mechanical problems on the opening two days.
The Scot completed 69 laps as RBR collected enough data to sign-off its new aero and suspension parts for the France-Britain double header.
BMW was another team happy with its week work, despite its test driver Timo Glock finishing the final day seventh on the times and over 1.6s off Massa?s pace.
Scott Speed was eighth for Toro Rosso after a power train failure, with Spyker?s Dutch duo of Christijan Albers Giedo van der Garde sharing the team?s F8-VII.
However both had their running time limited with Albers suffering an electrical problem in the morning, before his compatriot damaged the car's front suspension after spinning off on his first run later in the day.
Testing times from Silverstone (Thursday June 21)
1. MASSA Ferrari 1m20.805s
2. ROSBERG Williams 1m21.274s
3. ALONSO McLaren 1m21.284s
4. PIQUET JR Renault 1m21.357s
5. TRULLI Toyota 1m21.703s
6. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m21.933s
7. GLOCK BMW 1m22.456s
8. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m23.049s
9. ALBERS Spyker 1m23.374s
10. VAN DER GARDE Spyker 1m25.865s