BAR, Williams, Sauber, Stewart - at Nogaro

Mika Salo of British American Racing, sitting in for the injured Ricardo Zonta, turned in the fastest time in testing at the Nogaro circuit yesterday. Salo punched in a 1:19.37 in the afternoon session, bettering the time set by teammate Jacques Villeneuve earlier in the day. Salo's afternoon test run came after tyre chicanes had been added to the track, and heavy rains in the late afternoon made it difficult for other drivers to turn in competitive times.

The Williams, Sauber and Stewart team were also present at the Nogaro circuit, deep in the Armagnac region of southern France. For the first session this year, Alex Zanardi managed to better his teammate Ralf Schumacher in both the morning and the afternoon test sessions. "We have got a lot of set-up work done," said Zanardi, who ended up third fastest in the morning session. "We have found a new tyre which is better but unfortunately everybody else will have it too! Other than this it was the normal routine and everything went smoothly."

Williams and Sauber also tested the day before, on Thursday. Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the three drivers testing - himslef, Pedro Diniz and Zanardi - when he set in the afternoon session a 1:18.92. The morning session, however, saw Diniz the fastest, with a best lap time of 1:20.15. The Brazilian carried out some chassis set-up checks and completed an engine endurance test which ran over 290km without any problems.

The Stewart-Ford team were evaluating aerodynamics preparation for Monaco. Ford was also continuing to develop the new CR-1 engine with the view to deciding which rev limit will be used in the Monaco race. At Imola, the engines ran at a reduced rev limit compared with that used in Brazil.

Nogaro Friday Testing times:

Driver	Team	AM Time	PM Time	AM laps	PM laps
Jacques Villeneuve	BAR	1:19.79	N/A	10	N/A
Pedro Diniz	Sauber	1:19.83	N/A	50	N/A
Alex Zanardi	Williams	1:19.86	1:20.56	31	10
Mika Salo	BAR	1:20.72	1:19.37	17	8
Rubens Barrichello	Stewart	1:21.04	N/A	16	N/A
Johnny Herbert	Stewart	1:21.96	N/A	33	N/A
Ralf Schumacher	Williams	1:23.77	1:19.53	32	2

Weather - Rain in the morning, track dry by 11:00am. Very heavy rain from 4pm. Maximum ambient temperature 24°C

Ferrari Prepares for Monaco at Fiorano

Michael Schumacher took over the Ferrari test programme from Eddie Irvine at Fiorano on Thursday after the British driver had been running the F399 for two days. Irvine did 38 laps on Tuesday and 63 on Wednesday for a best time of 1m 2.794s as he worked on chassis set-ups for Monaco as well as further evaluating the new front wing which was introduced at Imola and might be modified for Monaco. On Wednesday Irvine had to wait until the afternoon after early rain abated in order to complete a 63 lap run.

On Thursday Schumacher continued with that programme and on Friday tested some power steering modifications and software changes. No mechanical problems occurred and the entire test programme was successfully completed. Schumacher covered a total of 69 laps, with a best time of 1:01.919. Today at Fiorano, Luca Badoer shook down two of the cars destined for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Heidfeld Tests McLaren at Magny Cours

Imola Formula 3000 race winner Nick Heidfeld joined the McLaren-Mercedes team for this week's test outing at Magny-Cours, running two days at the wheel of a 1998 MP4/13 while Hakkinen drove a current MP4/14 on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday Hakkinen suffered an engine problem and then had some more minor technical snags on Thursday, but still managed 21 laps for a best of 1:18.10. Heidfeld, meanwhile, covered no fewer than 90 laps for a best of 1:17.90 which placed both McLarens easily quickest ahead of the two Prosts. Yesterday David Coulthard was scheduled to take over the MP4/14 from Hakkinen.

Prost Too at Magny-Cours

The Prost-Peugeot team had a short test session at Magny-Cours on Thursday, the car arriving late from a wind tunnel session in Toulouse the programme of lapping stopped at 6.00pm. Olivier Panis covered 31 laps for a best time of 1:19.65 while Jarno Trulli had only seven laps with a best of 1:20.62.

Jordan at Lurcy-Levis

The Jordan Team did not go to any of the main tests this week but spent Monday and Tuesday doing aerodynamics tests at the air field track of Lurcy-Levis. Andrew Gilbert-Scott did the driving on this occasion and it is possible that the team will shake-down their car at this venue next Tuesday.

Benetton at Barcelona

The Benetton team began a three day test at Barcelona on Wednesday, the programme involving engine and chassis modifications designed specifically for use at low speed circuits. The circuit, however, was alos modified to incorporate requirements for Monaco, therefore no times were issued for that test.

Arrows Busy Repairing

The Arrows Team did not participate in any tests after Imola, but set about repairing the damaged A20 monocoques from the San Marino race. That damage was minimal, repairs were successfully concluded and Tora Takagi will once again be reinstated in his race car. The cars in Monaco will feature some improved components, but the same E-spec engine as before. Takagi shook down all three cars at Santa Pod on Friday.

Minardi Test Long Wheelbase at Fiorano

Minardi tested the revised long wheelbase version of the car which they first took to Imola at Fiorano with Luca Badoer. The technical team was satisfied with the results of the test.