Algarve Day 4 – Warning, Risk of Flooding

No testing could be conducted today at Portimao on the Algarve circuit. The teams present did try to leave their garages very early, but the torrential rains quickly brought everyone back to the pit…

The session on this 4th and final day of testing scheduled in Portugal between Renault, Williams, Toro Rosso, Toyota, and McLaren began at 9 a.m. The FW31 and the TF109, from Williams and Toyota respectively, completed an installation lap before returning to the pits for good.

Indeed, the session was interrupted by local authorities as early as 9:33 AM. The rains were too heavy, and the civil security helicopter couldn’t take off in case of an accident on the track. The organizers even had to use brooms to clear the water from the pits…

The teams really haven’t had any luck with the weather conditions this week and hope to find better in three weeks, in Jerez, Spain.

Timo Glock commented for Toyota: « It’s a shame to end the test like this, but we can’t do anything about it, it’s the same for everyone here… »

At least during our next test week in Bahrain, we can expect much better weather. This will allow us to cover more kilometers and progress as we would have liked this week with the new car.

Sam Mickael, the technical director of Williams, also admits to being disappointed: « These Portuguese tests have been a real fiasco in terms of time for us… »

« The majority of the test was disrupted by rain, and we couldn’t really discover the car’s potential. We will return to work at the factory despite the limited data we have, hoping for better conditions in Jerez. »

Nico Rosberg, on the other hand, is a bit more optimistic: “Certainly we have suffered from the weather, but I was lucky to have decent weather on my last day. In the end, we were able to learn a lot about the car, particularly about its behavior, which is very reliable so far. However, it remains difficult to gauge our performance level compared to others. We’ll have to wait a bit longer for that…”

Renault and Alonso also expressed great disappointment with these Portuguese tests. Read Renault’s report by clicking here