Williams: Timesheets aren't a true reflection

Williams technical director Sam Michael has downplayed the lap times set in Valencia, believing there are too many variables to get an accurate picture of who is on top.

Pre-season testing got underway at the Spanish circuit on Monday with Rubens Barrichello behind the wheel of the new Williams FW32. And although he's put in some solid performances, there has been nothing spectacular about his times.

Barrichello finished sixth quickest on the opening two days, 1.8s off Felipe Massa's pace on Monday and 1.6s on Tuesday.

Michael, though, insists one can't read too much into the times as the new 2010 regulations are throwing out a distorted picture.

"It's still pretty difficult and I think this trend will stay all through winter," he told ITV. "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."

If taken as fact, there have been some surprises on the timesheets especially as the Sauber team has managed to claim second place on both days.

But Michael reckons some outfits, although he didn't name Sauber, could be putting in low-fuel glory runs in order to attract sponsors.

"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," he said. "You've got to assume everyone is not doing that."

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