Rosberg leads sodden final test day

[fasteddy]

By Matt Beer    Saturday, March 12th 2011, 16:02 GMT

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, Catalunya testingNico Rosberg set the fastest time as the 2011 winter testing season ended with a washout at Barcelona today.

Incessant heavy rain left conditions too dangerous even for worthwhile wet tyre testing from the four teams still present.

The morning session passed almost entirely without activity, with Lewis Hamilton only setting the day's first flying laps shortly before the lunchbreak.

The McLaren was joined for more concerted running by Maldonado's Williams and Rosberg's Mercedes in the afternoon, and as the weather finally improved a little in the final quarter of an hour, the trio engaged in a busy battle for the top spot.

It was Rosberg who ultimately emerged ahead, his 1m43.814s half a second quicker than Maldonado and 0.7s clear of Hamilton.

Michael Schumacher had driven the Mercedes in the opening hours, but decided against trying a flying lap before his scheduled handover to Rosberg.

Ferrari limited itself to five exploratory installation laps with Fernando Alonso before calling it a day, and was packing up to leave the circuit by mid-afternoon.

Although Hispania was present, it announced last night that it would not be able to run after all as the F111's dampers were still stuck in customs. The new car will therefore not make its track debut until practice in Melbourne.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car           Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes           1m43.814s            35
 2.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth  1m44.333s  + 0.519s  23
 3.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes   1m44.560s  + 0.746s  33
 4.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes                                5
 5.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari                                 5

All timing unofficial

[fasteddy]

Mercedes now 'on the up' - Rosberg

By Jonathan Noble    Saturday, March 12th 2011, 16:53 GMT

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Catalunya testing 2011Nico Rosberg thinks Mercedes GP is now well prepared for the start of the campaign - after conceding that winter preparations had been harder than he and the team had originally anticipated.

Mercedes GP had decided to hold back on a major update package for its W02 until this week's final test at Barcelona - and that meant it was unable to show its full potential in earlier tests.

That strategy meant the team faced its dramas during early running, but it made big progress over the second half of the last Barcelona test – prior to introducing a major revamp of its car for this weekend's final outing.

And with Michael Schumacher having topped the timesheets on Friday with the updates – which included a new diffuser, exhaust layout, wings and bodywork – hopes are high that the team is now in a position to build on its form last year.

"Definitely the team has made a lot of progress, so it has been great to see how much progress has come on," said Rosberg at the conclusion of testing on Saturday.

"Of course we are not there yet, as we want to win the world championship and we are not the fastest car yet, but things are going in the right direction so that is really nice to see."

Rosberg believes that the team has regained its momentum in the last two tests – after a tough time in the early spell of its winter preparations.

"We are on the up for sure," he said. "It has been a much more difficult winter than we anticipated, although it was always going to be that we would not be quick in the beginning.

"But still, it was more difficult and it has been great to see how the team turned things around and pushed on with the new upgrades and everything.

"The team managed to get them on the car and working as expected – which is also a bit different to last year where very often things they got on the car weren't working as expected.

"The theory says that it is going to be 0.4 seconds quicker, you put it on, generally there are very few issues with them and they are 0.4 seconds quicker. So that is nice to see."

Despite being hopeful that Mercedes GP now has the platform to improve on its 2010 campaign, Rosberg does not believe the team is a match for pre-season favourite Red Bull Racing.

"I think there is one team that is clear ahead and that is not us at the moment – but I may be wrong," he said. "We expect that we are better than last year and that is the main thing."