“The long test in Bahrain was very productive,” said technical director Willy Rampf. “We could work with the cars in temperatures we would not have encountered in Europe at this time of the year, making it good preparation for the first races of the upcoming season.
“We worked mainly on the general set-up of the F1.09, trying numerous solutions on the mechanical and aero side of the car as well as gaining experience with the three available tyre compounds. We also made good progress with KERS. Overall we reached our target of collecting as much data as possible about the car's reactions to changes in the set-up.”
While Klien tested on Monday, Heidfeld spent three days in the F1.09 and covered 300 laps. The German clocked his best time of the week on Thursday, when he went second quickest with a lap of 1m 32.225s. And after finishing under a tenth of a second down on Ferraris Felipe Massa, Heidfeld was also pleased with progress.
"The track conditions were the best they have been all week," explained the 31 year-old, after Thursdays session had concluded. "We could already try a couple of improvements. The car reacts to changes as planned, so I'm confident we are working in the right direction."
BMW Sauber will return to the test track in a little over a weeks time, when the majority of teams come together for a four-day test at the Spanish circuit of Jerez.
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