Vettel utilizes dry conditions to go fastest in Jerez
Vettel used the brief dry period at around lunchtime to set the quickest time of the day
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Thursday, 18, Feb 2010 10:39
By Adam Leveridge
Sebastien Vettel led the way on the eighth day of pre-season testing in Jerez, when changeable weather conditions and numerous stoppages caused untold disruption for most of the eleven teams partaking in the test.
Last week's four-day outing in Jerez was blighted by unpredictable weather, with heavy and persistent rain delaying teams' schedules and slowing drivers' progress, and it wasn't long before rain and heavy gusts of wind played a part in the proceedings again.
There was a break in the weather over lunch giving teams an opportunity to get some dry running in and, although a few timed laps were lost when the timing system shut down, Vettel had done enough to put his Red Bull at the top of the leaderboard before the rain returned later in the afternoon.
Lotus Racing made their group test debut with the Cosworth-powered T127 on Wednesday.
The Malaysian outfit's third driver Fairuz Fauzy was first to jump in the car, venturing out on track before the rain fell. However, an issue with the power steering on the car meant he was unable to unleash his full potential.
But despite the early teething problems, Lotus technical chief Mike Gascoyne was encouraged by the car's first outing and was delighted with the way Fauzy coped with the challenges of yesterday.
"It's been an excellent day for the whole team. Firstly I want to say a big thank you to Fairuz who did an excellent job today with the first proper day of running," said Gascoyne.
"With so much going on, such as doing systems checks, it can be a pretty disjointed day for the driver.
"When you add into that the changeable conditions, and also the fact we were running without power steering today, it could have been a tricky day for Fairuz but he didn't put a foot wrong so well done to him and a big thank you.
"With the car we had no major reliability issues - a few niggles with overheating which were quickly solved and then the car ran pretty faultlessly.
"The power steering issue will be fixed for tomorrow so all in all a very successful first day and a busy evening ahead preparing the car for tomorrow."
Ferrari and Felipe Massa were feeling less positive, even though the Brazilian had pulled together a 1m23.204 to go third fastest behind Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren.
"This wasn't the best day of testing. The track conditions changed all the time and then we might have lost the best moment in the early afternoon," said Massa.
"We had to adapt to the situation, trying to make the best of it. We hope that the situation will improve tomorrow. Although the forecast is not really encouraging."
Pedro de la Rosa echoed Massa's sentiments, however, he remains hopeful the team will get some dry running in before the teams moved on from Jerez to Barcelona next week.
"The conditions were obviously not ideal today, but overall things went well for us, and we were able to complete all the work we had on the programme for today," said De la Rosa.
"However, we hope to get in some more laps in dry conditions because we still have a lot of work to do. The weather forecast is not very good for tomorrow, so we have to make the most of every dry window we get."
More rain is forecast for the final three days of testing in Jerez.