By Renault F1
March 1 2007

Last test, last day... it’s all over for the 2007 pre-season. They think it’s all over… it is now! The ING Renault F1 Team today completed its pre-season testing with a promising final day in Bahrain.

The final three-day test at the Sakhir circuit concludes nineteen days of track running since the R27’s first test on 16 January in Jerez, which have seen the team complete over 12,000 km of running with the new car ahead of the start of the season. The ING Renault F1 Team is now ready to attack the first race of the 2007 F1 season in Melbourne, in just a fortnight’s time…

The final day in Sakhir was once again a busy one for the world champions. The aim was once again to perfect the set-up of the R27, and to prepare the drivers and technical teams for certain race weekend-specific procedures. Fisico experience a mechanical problem in the middle of the day, but the Italian nevertheless had a productive day: the components in question had achieved their target mileage, and he demonstrated a good level of performance, finishing the day third-fastest with a best lap of 1:30.498.

His team-mate enjoyed a similarly fruitful day’s work. In spite of a mechanical incident on his car, Heikki ran a total of 61 laps, and concentrating on set-up evaluations, the Finn set second-fastest time in 1:30.384.

So what’s left to do? Nothing… and everything. The team will be hard at work studying the data recorded in Sakhir in order to prepare for the ING Australian Grand Prix as thoroughly as possible… while the cars will return to Enstone for a full rebuild ahead of their departure to Australia on 9 March. It’s going to be a week of intense work… but the season is nearly here…

 

	DRIVER	TEAM	BEST	LAPS
1	MASSA	Ferrari	1'29.989	44
2	KOVALAINEN	Renault	1'30.384	61
3	FISICHELLA	Renault	1'30.498	64
4	RAIKKONEN	Ferrari	1'30.534	77
5	ALONSO	McLaren	1'30.564	113
6	BARRICHELLO	Honda	1’31.067	118
7	DELAROSA	McLaren	1'31.354	90
8	SPEED	Toro Rosso	1'31.500	124
9	COULTHARD	Red Bull	1'31.589	66
10	HEIDFELD	BMW	1'31.720	82
11	WEBBER	Red Bull	1'31.742	92
12	KUBICA	BMW	1'31.751	97
13	SCHUMACHER	Toyota	1’31.791	81
14	BUTTON	Honda	1’31.837	97
15	MONTAGNY	Toyota	1'32.264	119
16	HAMILTON	McLaren	1'32.474	48
17	SATO	Super Aguri	1'33.337	51