Van der Garde and Valles in action for Spyker
Just one day after the close of the USA Grand Prix, the Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team returned to action at Silverstone Circuit, UK. On the first day of the three day test, Giedo van der Garde and Adrian Valles completed driving duties as the team used the new F8-VII/04 chassis for the first time. The duo covered over 300km in total, with a programme covering tyre comparison for the forthcoming British Grand Prix and work on control systems and brake system development.
The short turnaround time was not without its challenges, as several parts had to be flown from Indianapolis across the Atlantic to Silverstone. A race against time – and the weather as the cases of equipment were held up due to storms over the States. In a show of the team’s resolve, only minimal track time was lost this morning and 64 laps in total were completed.
Adrian Sutil will take over the wheel tomorrow, while Christijan Albers and Giedo van der Garde will drive on Thursday.
James Key, Technical Director "A productive day for the new chassis. Everyone concerned did a very good job preparing the car, and a thank you to Ferrari for helping us this morning when we had the delays. Both drivers did well with a reasonable mileage overall and we completed some useful tyre work for the race that we will continue throughout the test. We also tested some new items on the car, which are more for the longer term, but we made some good progress today."
Giedo van der Garde "It was quite a hectic morning with the parts being held up and we had to wait until mid morning to get out on the track. We did 28 laps, but as I didn’t know the track it was hard to get a feeling in that short time. It was only towards the end of the laps that I started to feel comfortable with the car again, but I think it was not too bad. It’s good to be back with the team and I’m now really looking forward to getting back in the car on Thursday."
Adrian Valles "It was nice to get back in the car as I didn’t drive in the last test in Barcelona. We had some quite good runs, at first I needed to get my confidence up on this track, but every lap felt quicker. We tested some positive items that helped the brake balance and control systems and seemed to go in the right direction."
Testing dataDriver: Giedo van der Garde / Adrian Valles
Track: Silverstone Circuit
Best lap time: 1min 25.931 (Giedo) / 1min 25.394 (Adrian)
Laps completed: 64 (28 Giedo / 36 Valles)
Kilometres completed: 329km
Air temperature: High of 22ºC
Track temperature: High of 31ºC
Weather: Warm, some scattered clouds
