Last day of the Barcelona pre-season test session: Formula 1 update
Mercedes GP driver, Nico Rosberg finished the final day of the last pre-season test session at the rainy Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona.
The heavy rainfall did not allow the teams to practice for a long time. Rosberg was the only driver who was able to complete 35 laps with his best time for the day at 1:43.814s.
Other than Mercedes GP, only Ferrari, McLaren and Williams tested at the track this Saturday as the waterlogged conditions early in the morning called for a chequered flag at 17:00hrs. Above 40 millilitres of rain has been reported since Friday, while all
through Saturday, the rain never stopped.
By afternoon, as the weather conditions started improving, cars began crawling out on the team garages. The McLaren ace, Lewis Hamilton and Rosberg lead the way with their lap counts of 35 and 33 respectively.
At the same time, Ferrari packed up just after the initial five laps of its driver and the two-time World Champion, Fernando Alonso. Although fans insisted to see the Spaniard again on the track, but the Italian squad called off the day quite early. The
red team believes that the pre-season tests have gone pretty well for them and gives them a clear indication of a strong season ahead.
For McLaren, the last test didn't go very well as the team suffered reliability issues for the first two days, skipped the test on Thursday - which turned out to be the sunniest day of the week - and met heavy rainfall on the last day.
Still, the 2008 Champion, Hamilton's response to reporters at the afternoon session was very upbeat and optimistic. He believes that the team car has improved in the last few weeks and the upcoming upgrades will further improve the performance of the car.
HRT had been the most unlucky team this week. They failed to clear the final parts of its 2011 car at customs in time for Saturday's test, and later, the weather gave them little chance to fix their car and get started with the final testing.
Moreover, Schumacher, behind the wheel of the second Mercedes GP car, was only able to finish 5 laps before rain forced him back to the garage.
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