Felipe Massa made good progress in Jerez today by topping the times after running on Pirelli’s soft tyres, although the Brazilian was not getting too excited about the Ferrari’s pace.
The team moved on from aero and exhaust work to focus on testing the 2013 spec rubber as the red car continued to run reliably. Pedro de la Rosa takes over tomorrow.
“These were three very important days,” said Massa. “They were especially useful in the sense of finding the right direction for the team to focus on when it come to the development work between now and the opening round in Australia.
“We had a lot of items to test and the car went well, it was not difficult to drive and it seemed to me to be quite stable and balanced. Today, we fitted the soft compound tyres for the first time, and I went faster than I had expected. “
Massa said there was little significance in being quickest so far this week: “It means nothing and while I’m pleased to have done a good time, that was not the priority – we must still concentrate on the car set-up and we will definitely be doing this during the next test in Barcelona. Several teams have very quick and well balanced cars, and so I am one hundred percent keeping my feet on the ground.”
Adam Cooper F1 