Pedro News Opciones

[Raquel]

McLaren.com:

17 February 2005 16:38

TEST REPORT BARCELONA, DAY 3
Date: Thursday, February 17th, 2005
Location: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
Driver: Pedro de la Rosa
Weather: Sunny with a slight breeze.
Air temperature approx. 12 degrees celsius
Track temperature approx. 14 degrees celsius
Laps run: Pedro de la Rosa 112 laps
Kilometres covered: Pedro de la Rosa 518 km
Best lap time of the day: Pedro de la Rosa, 1m14.543s
Best lap time of Team McLaren Mercedes driver: Pedro de la Rosa, 1m14.543s
Duration of test: Three days

Team McLaren Mercedes completed its three day testing programme at the Circuit de Catalunya today.

Pedro de la Rosa was present at the final day of testing, his programme concentrating on calibrating the car for the forthcoming Australian Grand Prix. Pedro set the fastest time today, completing 112 laps of the circuit, with a fastest time of 1m14.543s.

Over the course of the week, the three drivers present at the test, Pedro, Kimi and Juan Pablo completed a total of 2,073 km. Pedro set the fastest lap time of the week of the Team McLaren Mercedes drivers with a 1m14.543s lap today.

This week’s test has involved the race team rather than test team personnel, with all equipment used over a race weekend set up at the track. The first day saw Kimi and Juan Pablo in action, however an accident for Kimi in the afternoon during the final phase of a planned grand prix simulation resulted in heavy damage to the car and the team taking the precaution that he would not test the following day. The cause of the accident was a foreign body which got jammed between the brake caliper and the inside of a wheel rim and machined a groove into the rim which caused an immediate failure. Juan Pablo completed 71 laps with a fastest lap time of 1m15.400s. Kimi completed 83 laps of the circuit before his accident and his fastest time was 1m15.229s.

Pedro de la Rosa deputised for Kimi on the second day of the test, and he and Juan Pablo were both concentrating on durability and calibration of the car for the Australian Grand Prix. The start of Pedro’s running was delayed while the mechanics worked to repair Kimi’s damaged car to allow him to drive, and he completed his first installation lap at 13:35. Pedro completed 63 laps, while Juan Pablo completed 119 laps with no reported problems. Pedro’s fastest time was a 1m16.134s lap and Juan Pablo’s fastest lap time was a 1m16.197s lap.

Martin Whitmarsh, CEO, Formula One, Team McLaren Mercedes

“This week has seen another productive test, with the race team taking over duties from the test team to allow us to iron out any issues before the Australian Grand Prix. The strength and durability of the cars meant that Kimi was able to walk away from his accident with no more than a bruised thumb, and the mechanics did an excellent job to repair the car and allow Pedro to continue with the planned programme for the final two days of the test.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“Our final test with the MP4-20 before the start of the season in 17 days in Melbourne gave positive results to the entire team. On the second test day Juan Pablo did 119 laps and 551 km without any problems which was encouraging. Kimi had an accident on the first day of testing which was not his mistake and thankfully he walked away with a bruised thumb only. The mechanics did a superb job in repairing the car overnight, allowing Pedro to continue the next day and achieving almost a Grand Prix distance with the car. On the last day Pedro posted the fastest lap time with this car during the course of the day and ran a total of 112 laps or 518 km. In the meantime the team members in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart continued their challenging work to get everything ready for the first race in Australia. During the course of the preparations we put a total of a little less than 6,600 km on the new MP4-20 and we achieved several successful long runs with the new engines leading up to more than 1,800 km on an engine. Everybody in the team has had a very stressful last four months, and a good result in the first race would be the best reward for all of us.”

Next week Team McLaren Mercedes will test in Valencia from February 21-23. Alex Wurz and Pedro will be present over all three days, piloting MP4-19Bs. The focus of this test will be on tyres for the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix and software components.

[pca]

Well, here in this topic we will post English news about Pedro.

I start, copied from the Spanish Forum:

McLaren's third car is 'key'
Third driver believes that extra Friday running may be crucial for McLaren. By Jonathan Noble

McLaren third driver Pedro de la Rosa has told autosport.com that he believes the Woking-based team must make the most of its extra car on the Fridays of grand prix weekends if the team is to capitalise on the promise of its MP4-20.

The Mercedes Benz-powered team's 2005 challenger has been marked out as one of the pre-season favourites for victory in Melbourne, but de la Rosa is adamant that with rivals Renault showing as much speed in testing up until now, the third car could provide the added muscle needed to lift McLaren to the top.

Speaking to autosport.com about the team's chances for the year, a beaming de la Rosa could not hide his confidence about the MP4-20 and was eagerly awaiting getting on with his Friday role.

“We have made a very good car - that is the truth,” said de la Rosa. “And Michelin has made a very big step forward. We really have to take advantage of having the third car, which is my job. It's a lot of responsibility on me and I'm very happy to take that."

McLaren's dismal start to the 2004 campaign, where its MP4-19 was left struggling near the back of the field, meant the outfit could manage no better than fifth overall in the constructors' championship – even though the transformed MP4-19B helped Kimi Raikkonen win in Belgium.

That fifth placed finish means that McLaren qualifies to run the third car on the Friday of grand prix weekends throughout 2005 – a factor that could prove a massive advantage. Last year BAR benefitted from the input of Anthony Davidson with its third car.

De la Rosa added: "The car is very quick, and it's so driveable. You don't have to fight the car this year, and so far we haven't had any engine problems. Reliability is good. In terms of speed, Renault are on a par with us, so we have to be careful, but we are very well prepared for the season and let's see in Melbourne.”