Another team debuting their new driver line up for the 2005 F1 season at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona this week was the Panasonic Toyota Racing team with former BMW WIlliamsF1 man Ralf Schumacher climbing into the cockpit of the TF104B for the first time.
Conducting a total of 158 laps over a two day period, Ralf was pleasantly surprised by the ca, his best lap time being a 1:14.599, and he was more than happy with the way the team welcomed his with open arms.
”My reception from the whole Toyota team has been great, and it feels like I've already been here for a while. The people here have helped me and given me a lot of support so it's been easy to fit in, and I've been particularly impressed by the working method within the team,” he said. “I spent my two days here learning about the team and getting myself used to the 2004-spec car, and I'm relatively happy with the way it went.”
“I fitted into the car okay, the feeling was good and I put in a reasonable lap time on the first day. I'm pleasantly surprised because the package is a lot better than I expected. The car felt very well balanced and easy to handle. There is certainly some work to do, but I'm more than happy with what I've seen so far. We got through quite a lot of work and it was interesting to try a few things on the car. Thursday was another good day, and we were able to get started on tyre testing. We now move to Jerez next week to start properly testing the car in preparation for next season."
Meanwhile, Ralf’s new teammate, Jarno Trulli, was also in action, the Italian driver having the added opportunity of racing in two events for the team in 2004. However, he picked up right where he left off and spent three days in Spain to complete a total of 231 laps and recorded a best overall time of 1:14.893, three tenths slower than Ralf, after experiencing issues with his seat.
"I spent the week working on a variety of small parts in preparation for 2005. We've also put a lot of mileage on the engine in preparation for the new regulations next year - that went well and I put in around 90 laps on two of the days. In addition, we've started preliminary work on the new tyres, which will have to last for the entire race distance next season,” he said. “I've had a slight problem with my seat position, which puts a bit of stress on my neck, but it's something that I'll have to bear as it will only be solved when we start running in the new car. Apart from that we've had no particular problems except for the odd stoppage - but winter testing is meant to be like that. We'll be working on the same kind of programs during the last two weeks of testing at Jerez before the Christmas break."
Third driver Ricardo Zonta was also in action for the test, the Brazilian racer running solo on the final day to top the timesheets. He completed a total of 147 laps for a best time of 1:14.975
"I've just arrived here for the last couple of days of testing, working on tyres for next year. On Friday I put in some long runs to see how they perform over long distances,” he explained. “We have to be able to do more than 270km on one set of tyres, so that's what we've been looking to achieve today. I haven't noticed too much of a decrease on the performance of this year's tyres. From what I've seen, they look strong from the first lap, and they're just more consistent and very stable on the long runs. I am greatly impressed that we have been able to complete almost 150 laps in just one day and of course to set such a competitive lap time. Tomorrow I will be here with the other Michelin teams on a dampened track looking at the 2005 wet tyres."
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