Felipe Massa wrapped up Ferrari’s testing programme in Bahrain setting the quickest time of the day.
The Brazilian enjoyed a productive final day at the Sakhir circuit racking up 113 laps and posting a best time of 1:32.162, despite being hampered by a faulty cable in the morning which left his Ferrari F60 stranded on the track.
The Ferrari driver concentrated on reliability and assessing different setup configurations as well as developing the F60’s aerodynamic performance.
Nick Heidfeld was second quickest for BMW Sauber after lapping to within two tenths of Massa despite running into mechanical problems of his own.
“Although we lost some time due to a sandstorm last week, the long test in Bahrain was very productive,” said BMW Sauber’s technical director Willy Rampf. “We could work with the cars in temperatures we would not have encountered in Europe at this time of the year, making it good preparation for the first races of the upcoming season.
“We worked mainly on the general set-up of the BMW Sauber F1.09, trying numerous solutions on the mechanical and aero side of the car as well as gaining experience with the three available tyre compounds.
“We also made good progress with KERS. Overall we reached our target of collecting as much data as possible about the car’s reactions to changes in the set-up.”
Toyota’s Timo Glock was the only other driver on track today. The German completed just 65 laps due to a hydraulics problem.
“It was a pity that our last day of work here was disrupted but this has still been a very successful test for us,” he said. “Today we missed much of the day’s action due to a hydraulics problem so it was a shame to lose running time. But the mechanics did a good job and when we made it onto the track we put in some useful work.
“Overall we have put a lot of miles on the TF109 this week. We’ve made good progress with set-up and I’m confident that this can continue.”
Today’s times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:32.162 113
2. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:32.225 122
3. Glock Toyota (B) 1:32.445 65
