Pedro News Opciones

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21 February 2005 18:06

TEST REPORT, VALENCIA - DAY ONE
Date: Monday 21st February 2005
Location: Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain
Drivers: Pedro de la Rosa and Alex Wurz
Weather: Overcast and cold with a slight breeze.
Air temperature 15 degrees Celsius
Track temperature 22 degrees Celsius
Laps run: Pedro de la Rosa 128 Laps
Alex Wurz 107 laps
Kilometres covered: Pedro de la Rosa 504 km
Alex Wurz 422 km
Best lap time of the day: Pedro de la Rosa 1m09.030s
Best lap times of Team McLaren Mercedes drivers: Pedro de la Rosa 1m09.030s (1st)
Alex Wurz 1m09.047s (2nd)
Duration of test: Three days

The Team McLaren Mercedes team commenced its final test before the start of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship in Australia on Sunday 6th March, at the Valencia circuit in the South of Spain today.

Pedro de la Rosa and Alex Wurz were in action, both behind the wheel of the team’s interim MP4-19B cars, as the MP4-20s for the 2005 season returned to the McLaren Technology Centre to be stripped and rebuilt before leaving for Australia on Friday 25th January, following their final test in Barcelona last week.

This week’s test is another multi-team session, with Ferrari and Williams also present. Today’s session saw red flag’s halting running three times. Despite this, the Team McLaren Mercedes team were able to complete a number of long runs during the course of the first day at the 3.940 km Valencia circuit. Both drivers completed a combined total of approximately 926 km - three times a Grand Prix distance.

The programme for both drivers concentrated on simulating the Friday of a Grand Prix weekend, including the morning and afternoon practice sessions. This included tyre comparison work with both Pedro and Alex swapping between the prime and option Michelins during the course of the day.

Pedro set the fastest time today (1m09.030). Meanwhile Alex finished second out of the five drivers at the track being just 0.017 of a second slower than Pedro (1m09.047s), putting in 107 laps. Neither driver had any reported problems.

PEDRO DE LA ROSA
“We completed another constructive session today in Valencia in the interim cars. This test is of course the final session before we race for the first time in Australia in 12 days time, and we spent the day simulating all the running that will take place on the Friday of a Grand Prix, obtaining some useful results.”

ALEX WURZ
“We have put in a significant number of miles today, although we are using the MP4-19B’s we are continuing to test hard to take advantage of all track time before the Australian Grand Prix. We have a good set of data from today and are looking forward to building on it tomorrow.”

Source: http://www.mclaren.co.uk

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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.”