Barrichello happy with Williams FW33
Williams continued testing with Rubens Barrichello in the car. The Brazilian eventually put the car on top of the timesheets setting the best time of the who 4-day test at Jerez. The team pack up in Jerez now and will be back in action at Bercelona in 18 February.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
Nothing was going to stop us from doing over 100 laps today! After limited running up to now, we concentrated on setup and long runs. Rubens was trying various things to learn about the Pirelli tyres - some worked, some didn't. Now we’ve also gathered some data on the Pirelli wet tyre after a small shower at the end of the session. At the next test we will also have KERS back on the car as we ran without it today.
We did suffer from a hydraulic leak during the middle of the day but overall, it's encouraging that we've had no major fundamental failures on the car – especially considering how tight the package is. All of the faults that have been causing our downtime in the recent days are small things that systems will quickly put right.
Rubens Barrichello:
We completed some long runs today and looked at trying some different things on the car. This morning was also the first time we could run a few new sets of tyres and get some momentum. The car performed as it should do so I am happy with that. The day went with minor problems, but we have some good direction and it is great to get some more mileage on the car.
AT&T Williams will be back on track later this week from 18 – 21 February at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado will both be on track on day one of the test.
Driver: Rubens Barrichello
Chassis / engine: FW33-01 / CA320
Location: Jerez de la Frontera 4.428km
Objectives: Setup and long runs
Weather: Cloudy with rain at the end of the day.
Ambient & track temps: 17ºC / 19ºC