Wednesday April 12th, 2000

Williams' Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the second day of testing at Silverstone, where almost a full grid of cars were running their cars in preparation for the British Grand Prix next week.

Conditions at Silverstone today were changable, with the track again being wet for most of the day.

Ralf Schumacher was fastest around the Silverstone track, with the Williams-BMW showing impressive speed. "The car feels quite good around Silverstone and we hope to build on this between now and Friday," said Schumacher. "We mustn't read too much into testing lap times, but I feel quite positive in the run up to next week’s British Grand Prix."

Ferrari continued with Rubens Barrichello, who was third fastest for the day. Barrichello spent the day working on the set-up of his car, and also tried rain tyres. At the end of the day, Barrichello said: "It was a good day, even if the rain which came and went meant that I never drove on a completely dry track. Only right at the end was I able to use dry weather tyres, but then the session was red flagged. I am satisfied with the work we have done, but there are still some things we want to test." Tomorrow, Michael Schumacher will take over from Barrichello at Silverstone.

The testing went well for the Benetton-Playlife team with Alexander Wurz posting the third and Giancarlo Fisichella the sixth fastest time of the day after poor performances in San Marino. The team continued the aerodynamic studies begun yesterday and carried out development work on engine software. "I really enjoyed driving today in the wet conditions, it was fun as the car was running well. We were the fastest on quite a few occasions today so this is a good indication for performance, but it is difficult to do consistent work when the weather is changing so much", commenteed Wurz.

Jordan tested with both their drivers, with Jarno Trulli suffering electrical problems, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen had no problems.

BAR also tested with both drivers and reported a successful day. However, Jacques Villeneuve's morning session was cut short in dramatic fashion, as his car hit a fox around the back of the circuit. The car suffered minimal damage but the animal was not so fortunate...

Testing will continue tomorrow at Silverstone.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                Time      Laps
 1.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        1:30.288   17
 2.  Diniz         Sauber-Petronas     1:30.947   20
 3.  Barrichello   Ferrari             1:30.977   42
 4.  Wurz          Benetton-Playlife   1:30.988   43
 5.  Zonta         BAR-Honda           1:31.012   58
 6.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda           1:31.014   27
 7.  Fisichella    Benetton-Playlife   1:31.029   35
 8.  Frentzen      Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:31.047   50
 9.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    1:31.190   48
10.  de la Rosa    Arrows-Supertec     1:31.637   20
11.  Hakkinen      McLaren-Mercedes    1:32.013   32
12.  Verstappen    Arrows-Supertec     1:32.577   38
13.  Herbert       Jaguar-Cosworth     1:33.178   25
14.  Irvine        Jaguar-Cosworth     1:34.329    9
15.  Gene          Minardi-Fondmetal   1:34.523   23
16.  Trulli        Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:36.004   11
17.  Salo          Sauber-Petronas     1:36.971   12
18.  Button        Williams-BMW        1:38.057    2
19.  Heidfeld      Prost-Peugeot       1:38.652   19

The 2000 fastest testing time is 1:24.84 (O. Panis)
The 1999 fastest testing time is 1:25.670 (G. Fisichella)