Doornbos Puts on the Miles in Malaysia

By Ian Lockwood
March 17 2006

In tropical conditions, Robert Doornbos successfully completed a busy programme for Red Bull Racing today. In the afternoon session, the 24-year old Dutchman only focussed on race stint simulations by driving two longruns of 14 laps each.

At the 5.543 kilometer long track near the Malaysian capital, Doornbos drove 46 laps in total, in which he set a personal best time of 1:37.604 already in the openingssession today.

In contrast to last weekend in Bahrain Red Bull Racing did not concentrate on finding the correct set-up for qualifying today, but the Milton Keynes outfit decided to work towards Sunday’s 56 lap race instead. The unusual high temperatures (air/track) and humidity demanded a sound judgment in the behaviour of both compounds of tyres Michelin brought with them for this race as well as the expected tyre wear, before the team can make a solid decision on which choice to make.

The first session between 11:00 and 12:00 hours was used by Doornbos to find a good basic set-up for his RB2 and to make a start with the extensive tyre-evaluation programme. Separated over three runs, RBR’s test and reserve driver drove 18 laps under relatively ‘cool’ conditions in which he set a fastest time of 1:37.604 handing him 8th position.

With a track temperature of 43 degrees Celsius and an air temperature of only a few degrees less, the team assigned Doornbos to complete two long runs in the afternoon session to collect further data on the tyres. In two runs of 14 laps each, Doornbos focussed on producing a sequence of constant laps on heavy fuel, without making any attempts to set a quick laptime.

ROBERT DOORNBOS: “Today was pretty hectic! Because I enjoyed a good physical preparation with my trainer in the last few days, I was able to drive a sort of a mini GP today! In the morning session we did some set-up work while carrying a constant fuel load and still managed to be in the top 10 the entire session, just behind both the Ferrari’s. This afternoon I simulated half a Grand Prix distance including formation laps and pitstops. After we have examined all data tonight, we will make the right decision regarding our tyre choice. I guess this will will be very important for our fortune in the remainder of this weekend.”