Yes, though we are testing only one car for the moment and we are looking at it, because it also changes the balance of the car. There are a few things which are quite interesting so we still have to learn and progress.
Given that your powertrain is provided by another team (Venturi), do they send their engineers to support yours?
For sure they send some people to us to make sure everything works. Basically we work with the same people/team as last year and it’s a close relationship with Venturi because we are using their powertrain.
So their engineers come over to make sure everything works and we do have briefing after each session to find out the problems we had, what’s positive, try and resolve the problems and to continue to improve the positive side of the package.
Will they be able to compare your data directly with theirs?
For sure they can. It’s a positive thing. Of course, we’re not going to share the set-up (information); this is something which is really private and we are working on that on our own and this is where you make the difference.
But in terms of issues we have, or positive things or in terms of software, we do share because it’s good for everybody, the more data we get, the better it is.
I was speaking to Jacques Villeneuve (Venturi driver) and he said he hadn’t tested at the 170kW power level yet and that his first opportunity will be in Beijing (1st race)
Well for him it’d be good to use it (during the test). It’s a really difficult car to drive, it’s not something similar compared to what he’s used to, to what he drove in the past. The more laps you have the better it is. Testing at the 170kW level will be always better because you get a different feeling on the braking; the car behaves differently because you have more power so you have to adjust the setup a little bit: aerodynamics and stuff like that. And the more laps you do, the better it is.