Thursday October 21st, 1999

Several teams resumed testing ahead of the last Grand Prix of the season, next weekend in Japan.

Ferrari's test driver, Luca Badoer, was testing on Tuesday and yesterday at Fiorano, The Italian driver worked mainly on development parts to be used on next year's car. On Tuesday he completed a total of 85 laps with a best time of 1:00.881 - a record for the F399 on this circuit. On Wednesday, as it was raining, Badoer worked mainly on set-up and components. He did a total of 102 laps with a best time of 1:07.118. Badoer continues testing today.

In the mean time, Williams and McLaren were testing yesterday at Magny Cours, where Olivier Panis was invited to test the McLaren Mercedes MP4-14. Alongside him were Nick Heidfeld for McLaren, and Tom Kristensen for Williams. The 32-year old Dane's career credits include German Formula 3 Champion, Japanese Formula 3 Champion, runner-up in the Japanese F3000 Championship, sixth position in the FIA F3000 Championship and victory at the Le Mans 24-hour race and this year's 12-hour race at Sebring. He has previously tested for the Minardi and Tyrrell F1 teams.

The weather at Magny Cours was damp to start with, then intermittent rain throughout the morning. The track dried out in the afternoon, when all three drivers set their best time - Panis ahead of Heidfeld and Kristensen.

Magny Cours Test Times

Pos  Driver          Team               Time     Laps
 1.  Olivier Panis   McLaren Mercedes   1:19.76   42 
 2.  Nick Heidfeld   McLaren Mercedes   1:20.41   44 
 3.  Tom Kristensen  Williams Supertec  1:21.29   40