De la Rosa leads quiet Jerez test
Pedro de la Rosa topped the times on the opening day of testing at Jerez in Spain on Tuesday as his McLaren team were joined only by Alexander Wurz in the Williams
Fresh from his seventh place finish in the French Grand Prix, de la Rosa worked on a new aerodynamic package his team are hoping to introduce in Germany as well as set-up work.
His best time of 1:18.545 was just more than two tenths of a second faster than fellow McLaren test driver Gary Paffett, who was concentrating on tyres and set-up. Like de la Rosa, he also tried the new front wing that the team will debut at Hockenheim.
"Bridgestone have made a step forward, which is clear from the fact that Toyota were ahead of us in Hockenheim, and we have some work to do on tyres for the next few races," de la Rosa told autosport.com. "Today, I did some work on aero (parts), which should run in Hockenheim."
Wurz was a further eight tenths of a second adrift, as he focused on mechanical set-up, primarily in the suspension, following the tyre problems that Williams suffered in Magny-Cours. The team are confident that they are now on top of the issue.
After the heat of France, the teams were quite relieved to find slightly overcast skies in the morning and the occasional spot of drizzle, although not enough to wet the track. The sun finally broke through at lunchtime.
Today's times:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.545 63 2. Paffett McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.800 91 3. Wurz Williams-Cosworth (B) 1:19.647 97
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