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F1: Raikkonen Paces Final Spa Test Day
Written by: RACER Staff   http://www.racer.com
07/11/2007 - 07:00 PM
Spa, Belgium
 
Raikkonen now trails Hamilton by 13 points with three races remaining; Alonso is just two markers off the Brit. (LAT Photo) » More Photos

Kimi Raikkonen ensured another chart-topping performance for Ferrari in the final day of Formula 1 testing activities at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

Taking over from teammate Felipe Massa, who led the timesheets yesterday, the Finn posted a best lap of 1:47.042 after 69 laps, not quite as fast as Massa's quickest run from Wednesday but enough to outpace BMW's Robert Kubica by 0.2sec. McLaren's Fernando Alonso had to settle for third, another 0.2sec further back.
Red Bull's Mark Webber was fourth and Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella rounded out the top-five, one spot ahead of Williams' Alex Wurz. Toyota's Jarno Trulli was seventh, and pleased with the outcome of his day's work.

"It's nice to come back here to Spa because it's the best track in the world," the Italian praised. "The organizers have done major work in the paddock and the results look good. The circuit has also been resurfaced and there have been changes to the Bus Stop which have improved the corner.

"The pit entry and the pit exit are a bit narrow but overall I like what has been done. Of course you never know what weather you'll get here and it's always difficult to test in conditions like we saw today. We went out for a few runs on the damp track in the morning but the racing line soon became inconsistent.

"It was dry in the corners but wet on the straights so that meant it was difficult to carry out much useful comparative work. The track was dry in the afternoon so we were able to run through our program. We haven't concentrated on laptimes but the car felt good. So it's been a positive day and I look forward to coming back for the race."

Triple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais drove for Toro Rosso for the second consecutive day, replicating his P8 performance from yesterday. The Frenchman, however, ended up just 1.5sec off the ultimate pace – he was some three seconds slower than
Massa on Wednesday. Honda tester Christian Klien made his first appearance with the Spyker team (the Dutch is believed to be the frontrunner to replace the sacked Christijan Albers) and occupied the bottom of the timesheets.

"Obviously it was a new team, new car and a new seat and it took some time to get used to it, but there is a good bunch of people here and I felt at home straight away," the Austrian said. "We did a lot of mileage, but obviously today's focus was to get used to the car and how the engine and gearbox works.

"I think it all went well, there is potential in the car and I enjoyed the day testing with Spyker. Thanks again to Honda Racing F1 Team for allowing me this opportunity."
Klien made his Spyker debut with the slowest time in the 11-car field. (LAT Photo) » More Photos




Get the inside story of the people, science and history of Formula 1 each month in RACER. On the 40th anniversary of the Cosworth DFV's introduction, we chart the record and influence of the great V8 in our August issue, on sale now.


Spa F1 testing times – Thursday:

1) Raikkonen, Ferrari (B), 1:47.042, 69 laps
2) Kubica, BMW-Sauber (B), 1:47.265, 78
3) Alonso, McLaren-Mercedes (B), 1:47.645, 75
4) Webber, Red Bull-Renault (B), 1:47.699, 44
5) Fisichella, Renault (B), 1:47.724, 76
6) Wurz , Williams-Toyota (B), 1:48.437, 76
7) Trulli, Toyota (B), 1:48.491, 76
8) Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B), 1:48.585, 91
9) Sato, Super Aguri-Honda (B), 1:48.610, 99
10) Barrichello, Honda (B), 1:48.704, 81
11) Klien, Spyker-Ferrari (B), 1:49.119, 63