Summary of the day:
Runs with a heavy fuel load allowed Nick Heidfeld to improve his understanding of Pirelli tires, optimizing his lap times while monitoring his tires. The gathered information confirms that the R31 exhibits a good balance in terms of tire wear, with the front and rear wearing at similar rates.
Nick Heidfeld – 4th fastest time: We started this final day by working on the car’s balance with a view to Melbourne. The settings were useful and taught us a few additional things. We would have liked to do more laps and I hoped to complete a race distance later in the day. But the gearbox problem after lunch kept us stuck in the garage a bit too long. Despite that, we managed to get out for the last hour and drive with a heavy fuel load.
Technical notes of Alan Permane
The morning was good. The car was running well, with a good rhythm. The program was to continue the work on the setup started earlier this week.
We had planned a race simulation for this afternoon, but unfortunately we had to change the gearbox at lunchtime. In the end, we chose to do a long run with a very full tank.
The R31 will return from testing in Barcelona tomorrow and will leave for Melbourne on Tuesday.
