"The AT&T Williams team wrapped up a very hot and humid four day test at
Jerez today," summed-up
Williams' chief operations engineer, Rod Nelson. "Test driver Nico Hulkenberg drove for the first day and completed set-up work and onboard systems checks before handing the car over to the two race drivers for the next three days of driving duties.
"Over the four days, the team completed some extensive testing on the latest generation of
Bridgestone slick tyres adding to the knowledge base required to optimise the cars for the new regulations in 2009. Back on this year's grooved rubber, both drivers then did some work on systems and set-ups in preparation for next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix where we expect similar weather."
Nick Heidfeld was seventh and while he had to stop on track this morning, when one of the car's sensors failed, once that was changed, he continued working on aerodynamics and the mechanical set-up of the
BMW Sauber
F1.08.
"The team made good progress in preparation for the Hungarian GP," stated BMW in its end of day release. "In hot weather conditions the team evaluated different set-up solutions for the next race, which usually is run in hot weather conditions as well."
Of the rest
Adrian Sutil came in eighth and apart from a minor mechanical issue that caused a little downtime over the lunchtime period, the programme went to plan with the German continuing to work on the new seamless shift gearbox and on the development of the 2009 slick tyres.
"Today was quite a good day. This morning I was very happy with the balance of the car and enjoyed testing the seamless shift box for the first time. We had a few small problems towards the middle of the day, but overall it felt good and it seemed like a step forward," said Sutil.
"When we got going again in the afternoon, we tried the slick tyres and, although I enjoyed trying them out again, we couldn't seem to get a good balance with them. There's quite a lot of work still to do before 2009, but then we still have time to get it right."
