Barcelona
Mika Hakkinen, drove the 99 challenger, while his teammate David Coulthard, drove the MP4-13 last years car.
Pedro Martinez de la Rosa signed a three year contract with Arrows. This ends speculation over the Arrows driver lineup. The Spaniard joins Finland's Mika Salo in the upcoming season.
Driver Car Time Laps
Hakkinen McLaren 1.21.141 26
Wurz Benetton 1.21.560 62
Coulthard McLaren 1.21.562 79
Fisichella Benetton 1.21.899 20
Alesi Sauber 1.22.214 47
Frentzen Jordan 1.22.397 76
Verstappen Honda 1.22.427 50
Diniz Sauber 1.22.925 56
Takagi Arrows 1.23.326 27
Trulli Prost 1.23.411 46
Salo Arrows 1.23.919 48
News from Ferrari at Fiorano
Scuderia Ferrari-Marlboro will test next Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February at Barcelona with Michael Schumacher driving the F399.
Wednesday's Details
McLaren stays ahead in testing.
With Mika Hakkinen taking over the new MP4/14 chassis to-day and David Coulthard the 1998 chassis the two McLaren drivers continued to set the fastest times of the Barcelona test with Hakkinen setting a best of 1m 21,910 secs , three tenth's faster than Coulthard. Hakkinen, delayed by gearbox problems, ran only 42 laps for the day as he got used to the set-up of the car. Coulthard completed 74 laps working on engine reliability tests and practice starts, the new McLaren and Mercedes engine an impressive 7 kph quicker on the straight than its predecessor.
Hill third fastest for Jordan.
Despite gearbox problems which ended his practice early after just 31 laps, Damon Hill improved the handling of the new Jordan today and set the third fastest time of the day with a 1m 22,465 secs, the new car 6 kph quicker in top speed than the old one. His team-mate Heinz Harald Frentzen continued general tyre and reliability testing with last year's car, the German also stopping early after 72 laps and tenth best of 1m 23,922 secs. "I have to say it was hard work here as the old car does not have power steering that I am used to," said Frentzen, who will drive the new car on Thursday. Hill returned to Ireland at the end of the day.
Gene impresses for Minardi.
Despite the fact that it was a "qualifying" set up for the new Minardi , their new Spanish driver Marc Gene set an impressive fourth fastest time of the day just two laps from the end of his day's total of 64 laps. He was delayed in the afternoon by electrical problems which were rectified in time for him to set his best time to the delight of his team. The Minardi, fitted with last year's Ford works engine, was also second fastest through the speed traps with 293,8 kph, only 3 kph slower than Hakkinen.
Panis makes progress for Prost.
A relatively trouble free day for Olivier Panis in the Prost AP02 saw the Frenchman fifth fastest with a 1m 22,953 secs on lap 23 of his 35 laps for the day when the track conditions were not at their best because of winds in the middle of the day. "We are making good progress with the set up of the car," said Panis who will hand over to Jarno Trulli for the final day of the test. Benetton sixth and seventh.
Fisichella and Wurz continued their test programme of the new Benetton B199 throughout the day, both running almost 40 laps each and setting almost identical time of 1m 23,354 and 1m 23,409 respectively without any major problems.
Verstappen eight quickest for Honda.
Jos Verstappen ran another 54 laps with the Honda 01 test car to- day , the Dutchman eighth fastest after another trouble free day.
Arrows run both cars.
The Arrows team continued to run both their new and old car to- day, both drivers having a few laps in the new car despite some teething problems. Pedro de la Rosa ran 32 laps total with his best time in the old car of 1m 23,549 secs. Salo set a 1m 24,504 secs in the new car running just 18 laps for the day.