Pedro News Opciones

[pca]

3/24/05

TEST REPORT PAUL RICARD, DAY 2

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2005
Location: Paul Ricard, France
Drivers: Alex Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa
Weather: Mixture of dry and wet conditions
Track temperature approx. 15 degrees celsius
Air temperature approx. 14 degrees celsius
Laps run: Alex Wurz 107 laps
Pedro de la Rosa 93 laps
Kilometres covered: Alex Wurz approx 409 km, Pedro de la Rosa approx. 355 km
Total kilometres covered: Alex Wurz 856 km, Pedro de la Rosa 848 km
Best lap time of the day: Ricardo Zonta, Toyota, 1m03.848s
Best lap time of Team McLaren Mercedes driver: Pedro de la Rosa, 1m04.496s (second)
Duration of test: Two days

Team McLaren Mercedes continued its testing programme at the Paul Ricard circuit today with Pedro de la Rosa and Alex Wurz behind the wheel of MP4-19Bs.

As rain fell mid morning, both Alex and Pedro began testing a new Michelin intermediate tyre, both drivers successfully completing a number of long runs.

This afternoon as the track began to dry out, Pedro was evaluating a new front suspension package for the MP4-20, while Alex’s programme was concentrating on further development of the Michelin tyres.

Alex completed 107 laps of the circuit with a fastest time of 1m04.593s, while Pedro completed 93 laps with a fastest time of 1m04.496s.

Alex Wurz

“The weather conditions were challenging today, however during the wet weather we successfully completed intermediate tyre testing, and when the track dried out I was able to concentrate my programme on further development of the Michelin dry tyres.”

Pedro de la Rosa

“Despite the changeable weather conditions we managed to do a lot of work today on both car set-up and also intermediate tyre testing. We have completed a good two days testing programme.”


Team McLaren Mercedes will not test at the Paul Ricard circuit tomorrow.

Source: www.mclaren.co.uk

Well, it seems that McLaren is testing new parts for the MP4/20. Pedro has this responsibility . (He knows better the present car than Wurz).

[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.”