AFTER two days of lagging behind, the McLaren-Mercedes pits seemed to have gotten their act together as Lewis Hamilton ran fastest all day on the third day of the F1 Teams Official Test at the Sepang Circuit yesterday.
A rain-drenched circuit had dampened both the morning and afternoon sessions, but Hamilton's time of one minute 35.918 seconds in the wet conditions of the afternoon session must have proven the team are on track heading into the Petronas Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix on April 8, but that came with some mechanical problems.
Hamilton's engine seemed to have blown early in the afternoon session, but the McLaren pits remained secretive, the driver himself not wishing to make any comments until after the sessions conclude today, as all teams testing at Sepang requested an extension of one day.
The fastest time posted by McLaren yesterday only ranked sixth fastest in the three days of testing, with the 1:35.258s lap posted by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen on Wednesday the fastest, albeit with rain spoiling most of the two sessions as Hamilton only did 57 laps of testing yesterday, while the most active test car yesterday, that of Honda's Jenson Button did just 93.
Red Bull, Toyota and Scuderia Toro Rosso had a fruitful outing, all posting faster times than the Ferrari that switched from Raikkonen to his Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa for yesterday's sessions.
The Red Bull of Australian Mark Webber came within 0.220s of Hamilton's fastest time and ranked second yesterday, while Ralf Schumacher's Toyota went third fastest with a time of 1:36.700s. Liuzzi's Toro Rosso was fourth fastest with a time of 1:36.712s, just a notch quicker than Massa who posted 1:36.947s.
Which probably prompted Massa's response to questions after the sessions were over, when he said,"No interviews today (yesterday). We'll have time for it tomorrow (today)." It was as if to indicate the same flow within the Ferrari garage, as Raikkonen did the same on Tuesday when the F2007 lagged behind the BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica, only to clock in the fastest time of the three days, the day after.
The Sepang International Circuit (SIC) yesterday announced that upon the request of the teams, and the agreement of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), the F1 Teams Official Test, which is being held for the first time at Sepang, will be extended for one more day today.
"The teams had unanimously made the request and it was granted. So, we will have one more day of testing at Sepang tomorrow (today) and the fans can still enter free-of-charge," said SIC Press officer Azhar Ghazali.
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