Barcelona to work on bumps
The owners of the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain have decided to act following a host of problems with the newly resurfaced track and will shut the circuit down for two days next month to make improvements, autosport.com can reveal
After BAR and Sauber decided to switch their testing efforts to Valencia after it was discovered that oil was seeping through the Barcelona asphalt, making the track surface very slippery, several teams still decided to press on with this week's test.
And although the grip levels steadily improved during the week, problems have been found with major bumps emerging at points around the track. The biggest area of concern is the first corner, where the bump is right on the racing line, but other bumps have appeared on the exits of turns three and four.
Speaking about the bumps Toyota test driver Olivier Panis said: "You cannot see anything when you go over the bump at Turn One. It is right on the racing line so you have no option but to hit it. If you try and avoid it the track is too slippery and you will go off. Something has to be done about it."
It is understood that Barcelona has decided to re-arrange its testing schedule later this month to try and clear two days so it can complete the necessary work. Sources have told autosport.com that the track will now be shut on February 1 and 2 - meaning teams that were originally planning to run at Barcelona will now be at Valencia.
One option to make up for the lost days, however, is for Barcelona to offer testing to teams over the preceding weekend - once McLaren's exclusive use of the track for its new MP4-20 is finished.
It is likely that the track owners will try and grind the bumps out of the surface rather than re-surface the track again. It is expected that the problem with oil seeping through the asphalt will resolve itself over time.
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