MF1 Racing began a two-car test at Jerez, Spain, today with Christijan Albers and Thomas Biagi driving. For his first proper test in an F1 car, Biagi spent time familiarising himself with the EJ15B car and completed 91 laps. He focused on the electronic software development and Bridgestone tyre development and set an encouraging time of 1:21.82. Albers was at the wheel of an interim EJ15B V8 car for the first time and conducted all the necessary system checks. He completed 51 laps with a fastest lap of 1:23.19 and was able to provide some very useful data to the team. The test will continue tomorrow with Tiago Monteiro and Belgian driver Jeffrey van Hooydonk.
Christijan Albers said: "I think it was a reasonable day today but we still have a lot of work to do. It is nice to get to know the team and work together. We have been trying to get the car to suit my driving style, however, this is not easy and it takes time. We had some little issues today but I think this is normal with a new engine and a new package. I am quite happy and hopefully it will get much better by the end of the week."
Thomas Biagi commented: "I am happy with the result of this test. For the first time in my career, I have done a lot of kilometres in a Formula One car. I was working step by step with the team and all the engineers helped me understand the car. We have tried different settings on traction control for instance, which is something new for me. I think my performance today was quite good but for sure, if I had been running tomorrow, I would have improved my lap times still further. Since August, I have been preparing hard physically with my trainers from the ISO Kinetic centre in order to be ready for this opportunity and I would like to thank him for that. I also want to thank MF1 Racing my sponsors and my manager Eva for that great experience."
James Key, Technical Director of MF1 Racing added: "We have run the V8 car for the first time today and we did not have any major issues with it which is positive. The installation that we did for the interim car has been good, the engine has performed as we expected and hoped and has proved reliable. We have a few issues we have to solve for tomorrow but nothing fundamental. Christijan’s feedback has been very useful. He picked up on a few things which we can work on tonight to improve his set-up. We also have some work to do with Bridgestone on the new tyres for next year in the next few days. Thomas has done a great job today with some good lap times. He did not have any problems adapting to an F1 car and has contributed well to our efforts today. All in all, we are pleased with the progress."
Driver Team Time
T. Biagi MF1 Racing 1:21.82
C. Albers MF1 Racing 1:23.19
Unofficial times
- Annouck Heinrichs,Midland F1 -
photos SUTTON Images
