A precautionary engine change meant that Nico Rosberg could complete only 45 laps on the final day of testing in Jerez.
“Every lap is beneficial in pre-season testing and the work that we achieved today was good, however the long stoppage was unfortunate,” said the Mercedes driver, who was to continue the set-up and development work from the previous three days, alongside further acclimatisation to KERS.
“It's a steep learning curve and there is a lot of hard work ahead, but with the developments that we have to come, I am confident that we will continue to progress.”
Rosberg’s team-mate Michael Schumacher managed to accumulate much more mileage in the MGP W02 this week (226 laps on Friday and Saturday to Rosberg’s 112 on Thursday and today). As team principal Ross Brawn points out, the team need to find more consistent reliability if they are to make the most of the final two pre-season test sessions:
“We had good reliability for the middle two days which allowed us to accumulate a lot of mileage, however there are issues to be resolved so that we can maximise our track time for the remaining two tests,” Brawn commented. “Both Michael and Nico continue to feel comfortable in the car and our priorities remain on reliability, developing our understanding of the tyres and the KERS, whilst simultaneously pushing on with the developments still to come.”
The next pre-season test begins in Barcelona on Friday 18th February.
