Williams reckons times are deceptive

Date published : 02 Feb 2010 - 18:32:25

Williams technical boss Sam Michael reckons it is impossible to say where the teams all stand even after two days of testing, with the new increased variation in fuel loads among the factors making predictions tough. Ferrari has topped the times on both days so far with Felipe Massa, followed by Sauber, while Williams driver Rubens Barrichello has started the week with sixth place. But Michael warned not to take too much notice of the results yet as the rule change that means all cars will start races with enough fuel for the whole grand prix distance would skew the testing picture. "It's still pretty difficult and I think this trend will stay all through winter," he said. "You normally have two or three big variables fuel load being the first one. "Normally in past years it has been anything from 60 kilos [of fuel] down to zero that someone could be running. "Now you've got triple that and then you end up with triple the lap-time deltas. "So instead of seeing a one-and-a-half second band you see a four-and-a-half second band, maybe five "Then on top of that you've got tyre warm-up¦we didn't have any issues with that so far, and I think that's just because of the fuel loads that everybody is running. "The front tyre is narrower so you have increased the stress on the front contact patch.   "In previous years tyre warm-up can sometimes really distort winter testing you can go there [to the circuit] and not be able to warm the tyre up and then by the time you do get it warm you've taken the new [performance] out of the tyre and you think you're really nowhere then you get to the first race where you don't have warm-up issues and suddenly you're really flying." He also suspected that teams might be tempted to go for low-fuel glory runs in testing to help entice sponsors - with several cars notably short on logos at present. "There is always obviously people looking for sponsors but I'm not saying anyone is doing that as there is no point relying on that," said Michael. "You've got to assume everyone is not doing that." Williams is the first team to hit the track with the Cosworth engine since the company left Formula 1 at the end of 2006, and Michael said the initial signs on the engine side were good. "The guys have done a good job and obviously it's been a pretty intense three months to ensure we got to this first test," he said. "There were a few times when we thought maybe we wouldn't get here and we'd have to start in Jerez next week, but we knew how important it was to get here just to debug little bits and pieces. "We had a few little problems, nothing that we can't sort out overnight or during the day so we had a few stops and starts to sort things out but there's nothing fundamental they're all small things."