First Test Session With F1.09 a Success.

I deliberately left out day to day updates on the team’s private test in Valencia simply because it was the first test of the new car and I wanted to see what the final outcome would be after the four days. Apparently it was a good test with little problems accept for the wind that arrived on day three and four just when Nick Heidfeld took over from Robert Kubica.

So how did the test go? A lot of mileage was put on the car, 1, 877 km to be exact with not a technical problem to be found. Right out of the box the F1.09’s reliability was perfect. With no rain and warmer temperatures, the four day session started by testing the individual systems and following the success of that it was setup work. Good hard miles were put on the 2009 v8 limited to 18,00 rpm once again with no problems to deal with. The often controversial KERS system was put under heavy testing as well with no reported problems.

All in all, for the first test of the F1.09 it probably couldn’t have gone any better given that it is a totally new car and that weather can throw just about anything at them this time of year.

Walter Riedl (technical chief)

“Covering a total of 1,887 km, the new BMW Sauber F1.09 was running without any noteworthy problems, which meant we were able to carry out a comprehensive test programme on each day,”

“Overall we are very happy with the testing, particularly with regard to the high reliability of the new car,”

“Now we are naturally very keen to see where we stand in terms of the competition, but we will have to wait for the next test to gain a first impression.”

Next up for the team is Bahrain with two test sessions February 10th-13th and 16th-19th.