Williams announces Barcelona driver schedule

Williams has confirmed its driver line-up for the upcoming pre-season test in Barcelona as the British team looks to further fine-tune their preparation with the F1 season opener in Melbourne less than three weeks away.

Despite losing an afternoon of running after reserve driver Susie Wolff and Sauber rookie Felipe Nasr collided on track last Thursday, Williams still managed to complete 407 laps during last week’s pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya.

Chief test and support engineer Rod Nelson acknowledges that Mercedes remains the team to beat performance-wise, but hopes the Grove-based squad has a slight edge on both Red Bull and Ferrari.

Regular drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas will alternate testing duties in the FW37 over the final four days in Barcelona. The Brazilian veteran will run on Thursday and Saturday with his Finnish team-mate in action the other days.

The third and final pre-season test of 2015 will begin this Thursday 26 February at Circuit de Catalunya and end on Sunday 1 March.

Click here to see the second test in numbers

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Julien Billiotte

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