Reported from Kyalami by Michele Lupini
Photography by Marc Bow

BAR and Williams ended their five-day test session at Kyalami today, with Ralf Schumacher topping the time sheets for the week. Four drivers tested during the five days, with Jacques Villeneuve running the first three days in the BAR prior to being relieved by Ricardo Zonta, while Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher each had a new Williams FW21 at their disposal.

But the test will be remembered mainly for two aspects, one being the incredible support given to the F1 visitors by the South African public, and the other was the frustrating time had by both teams, clearly struggling with reliability on their new machinery.

Excellent weather conditions greeted the teams each day, with temperatures soaring to the low thirties and a carnival atmosphere reigning at the circuit. The testing attracted some 70 000 spectators over the five day test period.

Saturday 14 February saw twenty five thousand grand prix-starved South African race fans converge Kyalami to witness the first real F1 action there since the 1993 SA Grand Prix. In perfect, sunny South African conditions, the trio of drivers swapped fastest times towards the end of the session as the afternoon shadows stretched over Kyalami, and track and ambient temperatures dropped off from highs of 40deg.C and 28deg.C respectively. In the end, Ralf Schumacher topped the time sheets in the Winfield Williams, from team mate Alex Zanardi and the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve.

Testing continued on Sunday, with thirty thousand spectators thrilled by three Grand Prix cars testing on a lazy northern Johannesburg Valentine Sunday. But only the Winfield Williamses were out for most of the morning session - The BAR team working frenetically on their car, after Jacques Villeneuve experienced his first gear selection problems of the week, his car apparently stuck in first gear.

Ralf Schumacher pushed the morning pace to 1min23.9sec before lunch, but ended his charge with another spin just before lunch. Alex Zanardi, though not as quick as his team mate on a given lap, was impressive by his reliably quick pace and ended the morning at 1min24.4se. In ideal conditions reaching a warm 31C ambient, and the track at 42C after lunch, testing continued into a perfect highveld day under striking partly-cloudy skies, those which can only be had on a balmy African afternoon.

But for BAR, another transmission gremlin raised its ugly head on the car’s first lap out of the pits. BAR requested an extra half hour at the end of the session, but when Villeneuve returned to the track, he managed a few runs before another transmission failure. But Villeneuve managed a slightly quicker time than Saturday, albeit with very little circuit time. Zanardi left the track on the first lap of his last run - the left front corner of his Williams damaged in the shunt, but Alex walked away.

Only Jacques Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher took advantage of a Monday session extended to six `o clock this evening, Zanardi’s car confined to its garage, awaiting parts. Even so, gremlins got the better of both the BAR and Williams’ planned long-distance runs, and the track closed ten minutes early. Villeneuve had a good day though, getting three quarters through a race distance simulation in before the gearbox control software problem raised its unhappy head once again. Fastest on the day, Villeneuve’s quickest time of 1min24.2sec was only 0.3 sec off Schumacher’s fastest Sunday time, adding some cheer in BAR’s labour-intensive Kyalami garage that evening. Schumacher,’s planned day’s activity was curtailed when the FW21 also succumbed to a gearbox snag early in the session, Williams too, had a difficult day on Monday.

Villeneuve left on Monday evening with team mate Riccardo Zonta taking over testing duties.

Monday’s session was watched by a crowd of 5 000, despite it being a normal work day at Kyalami, in cooler temperatures than the previous days at 26C ambient and 35C track.

Alex Zanardi emerged second quickest from Tuesday’s test at Kyalami, but only after squeezing the very last seconds of sunlight out of the day in an attempt to regain lost time. Also challenging the sunset, was Ricardo Zonta, he too making up for lost time for BAR. Sadly, the problem struck again late in the evening, albeit after a good number of clearly constructive laps.

Ralf Schumacher continued, and despite a spin in the morning and some niggling troubles during the day, he appeared to make good progress, ending quickest for the third day out of four on Tuesday. Zanardi concluded his run with three practice starts after the sun had dropped below the distant horizon amid a nearby late evening thunderstorm.

The last day at Kyalami saw both Williamses chasing faster times, with lap times dipping down below the 1min22sec barrier for the first time at Kyalami in its current format. On another glorious, sunny day, with temperatures once again chasing the low thirties, Schumacher circulated at 1min21.9sec, just one tenth faster than team mate Zanardi. BAR’s troubles resulted in the team unable to respond to the Willams duo’s quick lappery. But a shunt each for Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher, and ongoing technical troubles at BAR, saw both teams starting to pack up at Kyalami for the long haul home after lunch.

With that, South Africa once again bids Formula 1 fare well. Hopefully though, their wait for a grand prix will not have be too long now...

Kyalami Times for Day Five:

Pos Driver              Car                         Time*     
 1  Ralf Schumacher     Williams FW 21 Mecachrome   1:21.9sec
 2  Alex Zanardi        Williams FW 21 Mecachrome   1:22.0sec
 3  Ricardo Zonta       BAR 01 Supertech            1:26.6sec

Circuit Length: 4.270km
Track temperature: 43C
Ambient temperature: 32C
Conditions: Warm, Sunny. 
* All times unofficial, no official timing in place.

Credit: Michele Lupini, South Africa
Photography: Marc Bow, South Africa