Feb.18 (GMM) After intermittent rain disrupted the opening of Wednesday’s Jerez test, the weather is expected to be even worse on day two.
“The forecast (for Thursday) is not really encouraging,” Ferrari’s Felipe Massa acknowledged after braving the slippery conditions alongside 11 of his peers on Wednesday.
Also frustrated on Wednesday was Pedro de la Rosa, the Spanish veteran who is desperate for some dry running in order to cast out the rust of his seven years on the test bench.
“Last week (at Jerez) we had some very bad days, and it seems like it is going to be raining tomorrow (on Thursday),” he said.
Wednesday was another very bad day in the short history of the Virgin team, whose VR-01 circulated just 10 times all day due to an “elusive hydraulics problem”.
In Timo Glock’s hands, the Cosworth powered car was slower even than the brand new Lotus, despite the T127 not yet featuring power steering due to “supplier issues”.
The system will be up and running when Heikki Kovalainen tries the car for the first time on Thursday.
Some lap times were lost forever when Jerez’s official timing system crashed on Wednesday, but Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull recorded the fastest recorded time of the day.
Meanwhile, reserve drivers Paul di Resta (Force India) and Fairuz Fauzy (Lotus) circulated enough to qualify for their mandatory FIA super licenses.
