Olivier Panis crashed heavily during the tests but fortunately the Frenchman could walk away unhurt. He was also fastest with a time of 1m 19.42s. Rubens Barrichello was second and Damon Hill third.

David Coulthard was fastest with a 1m 19.94s. Michael Schumacher was second with a 1m 20.04s. The German covered 100 laps using the 046/1 V10 engine, this engine was used last year, without any real problems. Irvine, who was third, tested the 046/2 engine and covered 51 laps. Jean Todt commented: "Our objective was a trouble-free long run and in this we were successful. Now we have to concentrate on getting a consistent performance over alap: at the moment we are suffering from a drop in tyre performance towards the end of every run."

Gerhard Berger was the fastest man on the track today with a 1m 22.15s. His team-mate Jean Alesi was second with a 1m 22.20s.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 'just' third because the new Williams gearbox still brings up some problems.