Michael Schumacher was the fastest driver on the fourth day of the pre-season test in Barcelona – but only the third day for Mercedes – whilst Nico Rosberg, who was in the car for the final hour of the day, was third on the timesheets.
The team were testing further new aerodynamic parts to its upgrade package as Schumacher completed 67 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, and Rosberg added a further 22.
“We have been developing the car step-by-step this week with new parts arriving each day,” explained Schumacher. “So our focus today has been on understanding how to get the best from the car now that it is pretty much in its final configuration for the first time.
“The car has behaved as we expected and it's been a very productive day. We completed our programme and I should also be able to get some experience of the expected wet conditions tomorrow.”
Rosberg was grateful to the team for giving him a chance to drive the car in dry conditions today, as heavy rain is scheduled for the final day tomorrow, when Rosberg was scheduled to drive the car for the entire day. Like his team-mate, Rosberg also sounded very positive about the upgrades Mercedes have brought to Spain this week.
“First of all, it's super that I was able to do some laps today, given the forecast for tomorrow,” he said. “It was a good few laps, and obviously now that we have most of the developments for the car, it was handling much better and I had a good feeling. So I'm pretty pleased with the situation and would like to thank the whole team for getting everything onto the car that we wanted. We've made good progress over the winter.”
Both drivers will be back in the car tomorrow for Mercedes‘ fifteenth and final day of pre-season testing.
