Mechanical problem for Albers

With a different circuit configuration in use today at the Circuit de Castellet Paul Ricard, the Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team’s focus switched to preparation for the Canadian Grand Prix. Working through an aero and tyre evaluation programme, test driver Markus Winkelhock completed 226km in the morning before race driver Christijan Albers took over in the afternoon. The Dutchman was however only able to put in just 16 laps before a minor mechanical problem curtailed the day’s running.

Adrian Sutil will drive take over for tomorrow’s final day of testing.

Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer "Markus Winkelhock began today's programme with some very useful initial work on Montreal aero set-up. He completed 43 laps before Christijan took over the car for the afternoon. Unfortunately we had only begun his programme when a mechanical issue on the car resulted us having to end the session early. The cause is fully understood and it can be corrected immediately, but it is frustrating for Christijan and the team to lose out on some valuable test time. Still it is problems like this that we are here to uncover and fix as well as looking for performance improvements, and we expect to conclude the test tomorrow with another busy and productive day."

Markus Winkelhock "I was really happy to be back in the car after so long away. The last time I drove for a long run was the end of October last year and apart from a 50km shakedown that’s been it. I felt good immediately, but I was a little aggressive at first but when I got used to the tyres and the track configuration, it was a lot smoother and the lap times improved. We tried out some different aero packages and did some long runs to get a good baseline, but I think everything was good – it has been good preparation for this weekend when I’ll be racing the Audi!"

Christijan Albers "I could only do a handful of laps this afternoon on old tyres so it was very difficult to get some information. Markus did a lot of laps in the morning, so I was hoping to follow on from this, but we had a problem and had to stop. It was a real shame as it was so positive yesterday and I think we could really have got into the 1.30s with new tyres and low fuel, which would have made us much more competitive compared to the others."

Testing data
Driver: Markus Winkelhock (am), Christijan Albers (pm)
Track: Circuit de Castellet, 'Paul Ricard 1E-SC Short’, France
Best lap time: Winkelhock: 1min 32.756, Albers: 1min 32.245
Laps completed: Winkelhock: 43, Albers: 16
Kilometres completed: 308km