Mugello Test - Day One

Company press release.

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were both in action today as the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team began this week's test programme with the F1 W03 car at the Mugello circuit in Italy.

• With poor weather hitting the circuit, Nico completed 49 laps in the morning session in changeable conditions

• The team were able to use the time to work on set-up with the intermediate tyres, switching to dry hours for the last hour

• Conditions deteriorated in the afternoon, and Michael was only able to use the wet tyres for limited data collection work

• He completed only 5 laps and the team finished the programme early in order to prepare the car for tomorrow

Michael will continue at the wheel of the F1 W03 tomorrow, with Nico concluding the test on Thursday.

Nico Rosberg

'It was a good session for me this morning and a positive start to our testing programme. It's nice to see that we have some new parts for the car and that the ongoing process of in-season developments is working well. We were able to learn some things in the wet conditions this morning which is always useful, and we picked up a few lessons. Mugello is an impressive track which is very fast and good fun to drive. It's also good preparation for the next race in Barcelona with the high-speed corners. I'm looking forward to getting back in the car again on Thursday and continuing our programme.'

Michael Schumacher

'Unfortunately we were not able to achieve much productive work on the track this afternoon as the weather made it nearly impossible to drive. Therefore it's good that we collected some data this morning so that we can prepare the car in the best possible way for tomorrow. This afternoon, I was literally able just go out to check if it made sense to run – which it did not - and at least I could show the spectators who were waiting in the rain a running car for some short moments. Still, it was nice being back in Mugello after so many years, and I must say it was also nice being welcomed back by the tifosi so warmly.'

posted on conceptcarz.com