Formula One news

Ralf upbeat despite bad weather

Ralf Schumacher started what should have been the final day of testing for Toyota. Heavy rain, just before the session started, left a lot of standing water on the track and the German did his first laps on extreme wet Bridgestone tyres before the Malaysian heat began to dry the track and bring wet and then dry tyres on to the car. The programme was the same as the previous two days; improving the set-up of the TF107 in hot conditions on the Sepang circuit in preparation for the Grand Prix on 8 April.

Despite the heavy rain in the morning, the team was able to switch Schumacher to dry tyres around 90 minutes into the session and he enjoyed a trouble-free run. However, the rain returned with just over an hour remaining and a torrential thunderstorm effectively washed out the remainder of the day. The time lost due to rain gave the team the chance to extend the test by a day and Franck Montagny will take over testing duties for the unexpected extra session tomorrow.

Schumacher commented: "This morning was very wet so there was very little grip on the circuit but as we have seen in previous years, the hot temperatures here dry the track quickly so our programme was not delayed too much. Once again we looked at set-ups for the race here, trying to realise more of the car's potential.

"Today was another day without mechanical problems which is very positive and shows we have made improvements since the start of winter testing. Unfortunately we could not complete everything we wanted to do due to the rain in the afternoon but that is the same for all the teams and now we will have an extra day of testing to make up for it."

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