Glock Fastest On Last Day Of Jerez Test

 

The final day of testing this week at Jerez saw Timo Glock head the timesheets after a relatively steady performance on Tuesday.
After overnight rain no one was able to get particularly close to the lap times recorded earlier in the week until later in the afternoon.
Toyota’s new recruit, again at the wheel of the new TF108, set the pace with a best lap of 1:19.799s, exactly three-tenths of a second clear of Lewis Hamilton in the new McLaren MP4-23. Heikki Kovalainen was sixth fastest in the sister McLaren.
Fernando Alonso was back in action for the Renault team, recording the third fastest time just a fraction ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.
Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and eighth fastest for Ferrari, both less than a second off the ultimate pace. New Toyota test driver Kamui Kobayashi picked up the pace today, recording the seventh best time in the older TF107.
Kazuki Nakajima rounded out the top ten for Williams Toyota while Nico Hulkenberg tested for the first time this year in the sister FW29 and was 13th fastest.
Over at Red Bull Renault  Mark Webber posted the 11th best time, three-tenths ahead of David Coulthard who ran the new RB4 for the first time.
Sebastian Vettel brought up the rear of the timesheets in the second Toro Rosso while Super Aguri Honda did not run once again.

Test resumes next week for a majority of the teams in Valencia.

Jerez* – 16/01/2008
1 . T. Glock – Toyota TF108 – 1:19.779 (+ 0.000 ) – 96 laps
2 . L. Hamilton – McLaren MP4-23 – 1:20.099 (+ 0.320 ) – 73 laps
3 . F. Alonso – Renault R27 – 1:20.363 (+ 0.584 ) – 49 laps
4 . S. Bourdais – Toro Rosso Ferrari STR2 – 1:20.407 (+ 0.628 ) – 61 laps
5 . F. Massa – Ferrari F2008 – 1:20.500 (+ 0.721 ) – 85 laps
6 . H. Kovalainen – McLaren MP4-23 – 1:20.535 (+ 0.756 ) – 79 laps
7 . K. Kobayashi – Toyota TF107 – 1:20.577 (+ 0.798 ) – 53 laps
8 . K. Raikkonen – Ferrari F2008 – 1:20.646 (+ 0.867 ) – 88 laps
9 . K. Nakajima – Williams Toyota FW29 – 1:20.758 (+ 0.979 ) – 57 laps
10 . A. Sutil – Force India Ferrari F8-VII – 1:21.705 (+ 1.926 ) – 71 laps
11 . M. Webber – Red Bull Renault RB3 – 1:22.275 (+ 2.496 ) – 53 laps
12 . D. Coulthard – Red Bull Renault RB4 – 1:22.581 (+ 2.802 ) – 54 laps
13 . N. Hulkenberg – Williams FW29 – 1:24.023 (+ 4.244 ) – 65 laps
14 . S. Vettel – Toro Rosso Ferrari STR2 – 1:24.873 (+ 5.094 ) – 50 laps.

*Times courtesy of Circuito de Jerez

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Sebastien Buemi Confirmed As New Red Bull Test Driver

 

Red Bull Racing has announced that it has appointed Sebastien Buemi as the team’s test and reserve driver for 2008. The 19-year-old Swiss driver will also be racing in GP2 with Christian Horner’s Arden International team. Buemi raced in the Formula 3 Eurocup last year, finishing runner-up to Roman Grosjean (now the Renault F1 test driver) and did a number of GP2 races after Michael Ammermuller ran into injury problems.

“This appointment is a big step forward for me,” said Buemi. “I am delighted and thank Red Bull, which has supported me in the lower formulas since 2005. I will do my best to concentrate on combining my GP2 racing commitment with my duties for Red Bull Racing and I am looking forward to the year ahead.”

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Coulthard Tests The New Red Bull RB4

David Coulthard was entrusted with taking the car for its first shakedown lap on a damp track.
“It’s great to see a new car come together,” said the Scot.
“Inevitably, a lot of parts were still arriving last night, so when I left for my bed it looked a bit bare, but this morning, there it was in all its glory!
“It looks super with lots of nice detail on it and given that it did its installation lap and came back to the garage, so far we have achieved all our targets!
“Now we have to build from there.”

Team boss Christian Horner, anxiously watching from the pit wall, was equally excited to see the new car make a hitch-free debut appearance.
“It’s always a key moment to see a new car run for the first time,” he said.
“And particularly in the case of RB4, that first lap represents a monumental amount of work from the entire workforce.
“Over the last few weeks, all the departments have made fantastic efforts to get the car ready for this shakedown today.”

RBR is entering its fourth season of F1 competition and is looking to build on the tangible signs of progress it showed in the second half of last season.
The team had a poor reliability record last season, suffering numerous race-ending gearbox and hydraulics problems, and Horner has made improving this a key priority.
“We learnt many lessons during 2007 and obviously reliability is a key topic that the design and development groups are fully focused on,” he said before Christmas.
“In 2007 we gave away approximately 24 points as a result of poor reliability, without which we would have been much closer to Renault and ahead of Williams.
“This is therefore one of our key focuses for 2008.”

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The New Red Bull RB4 Is Unveiled

Red Bull Racing unveiled its new 2008 RB4 car at Jerez this morning
The new car is Adrian Newey’s second design since joining the team mid-way through the 2006 season.
The 2007 car proved fast but also fragile with the hydraulic systems in particular causing a number of retirements.
This is something the team hope to have overcome with its latest challenger.
“Reliability is very important but we need a fast car too,” Coulthard said recently at the Autosport International show in Birmingham.
“McLaren and Ferrari are likely to be closest to maximising what can be gotten out of the car from the current regulations
and we have to get as close to that as possible. We have a great team of people on our side though.
David Coulthard then took to the test track to test the new RB4
For Webber, testing the older RB3 chassis today, reliability is also the buzzword. 
“It’s is all about continuity for us, we are keeping the same drivers, engineering staff and engine and this will definitely help us come Sunday afternoon.
It’s a totally new car but that is the same for everyone. We need to build on our improvements at the end of last season.
“This year gearboxes have to last for four races, which brings another element of reliability to contention.
It’s hard to see drivers penalised for an issue like that, and hopefully it won’t happen to us but if it does, let’s hope it’s at a circuit where we can overtake…”

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Timo Glock Enjoys First Run Of The New TF108

 

Yesterday Timo Glock completed his first laps in Toyota’s brand new TF108. After a roll-out and one day of testing in the hands of Jarno Trulli, Toyota newcomer Timo Glock took the wheel and continued where Trulli left off.

Glock’s task in Jerez was to continue systems checks and gather information on how the car responds to set-up changes. He was joined by third driver Kamui Kobayashi, who tested the 2008 gearbox and electronics on the TF107.

Glock said about his first run in the TF108: “It was an exciting experience to drive the TF108 for the first time and I think it went well. We did a lot of laps and got a lot of data which was our main target today so I am pleased with that.

“My first impression of the car is generally positive but at this stage of the year it is too early to truly know how competitive it will be. We carried out some set-up work today and I must say we achieved quite a lot, although there is still a lot of work to do. Now I hope the car will continue to be reliable for the final day of this test so we can continue to make good progress.”

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