"Running in the heat may have been difficult, but some of the races coming up, such as Hungary, are traditionally very hot and some of the things we have learned today will be relevant for those races."
Of the rest
Jarno Trulli was seventh, a tenth or so up on the Honda of Alexander Wurz. Trulli spent the day on
Bridgestone's new slick tyres as part of the team's early preparations for 2009. Running with a low-downforce package, he had a trouble-free day and completed nearly 100 laps.
"After a string of races and tests with mixed weather, it feels really hot here at
Jerez. Today we have been concentrating on the new Bridgestone slick tyres for 2009. For that reason we have run with lower downforce to simulate the aerodynamics package that we will have next season. We have made a good start and collected some interesting data for the development of next year's car," he reflected. "Tomorrow I will begin work to prepare for Hungary."
"Apart from two installation laps, we spent the whole day working on the new tyres for 2009," added
Toyota's test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "It is the third time that we've tried them but we completed very little mileage on either of our previous attempts. So this was our first full day of running and we spent our time looking at different set-ups.
"The car ran without problems despite the extreme heat and we gathered a lot of information that will help us with our plans for next season."
Honda's focus was slightly different, as team boss Ross Brawn revealed on Sunday following the event at Hockenheim: "We have a four-day test in Jerez this week when we will be evaluating our new rear suspension, which we are optimistic about. We also have the latest update to our aero package, so I think those two elements combined should enable us to make a step forward in Hungary," he predicted prior to the start of today's running.
