"It was really interesting to run the slick tyres on Timo's car and we got a lot of information which will help us to adjust to the change in 2009. The difference between slicks and the current grooved tyres is quite big and the car behaves differently. Obviously there is more grip without the grooves and lap times are faster, which we expected, but it was interesting to note that the car balance and handling stays good with the slick tyres when we thought there could be difficulties.
"Jarno put in a hard day's work and we have made more progress with the 2008 ECU so now we look forward to concluding the year's testing tomorrow."
After that it was left to the Super Aguri's and
Force India cars to bring up the rear, the former 16th and 18th, with Luca Filippi and Takuma Sato, while
Vitantonio Liuzzi and Ralf Schumacher tried out for the former Spyker/Midland/Jordan team.
"Overall it was a difficult day with several stoppages, however this morning was quite productive," reflected
Force India's technical director, James Key. "Tonio got a fair few laps in and gave some good feedback, which seemed to take the car in the right direction and his shorter runs were consistent.
"For Ralf it was more difficult as we had some issues with the car initially, which unfortunately slowed things down, especially as it was his first time with the team and his first without control systems. Over the longer runs it came together pretty well for him though and he was very consistent. Once again though it has been a very useful day of feedback for the team from experienced drivers."
Testing now concludes on Friday, although
McLaren and
Renault won't be in action having opted to run for just three-days.
