Friday February 4th, 2000

Heinz Harald Frentzen set the fastest time of the day and the week, at the end of the four day Formula One testing in Barcelona. The German set a best time of 1:21.90 after 59 laps of the track, which saw the team working on general set-up and tyre comparisons.

Other than a few sensor problems, the EJ10 car ran virtually trouble free throughout the test. "We still have to understand the new car better, but already the signs are good," said Frentzen. He also ran a few laps in the 1999 car, setting a time that was slower during the heat of the day - which reached an ambient temperature of 17°C.

Jos Verstappen got his first taste of the new Arrows-Supertec to-day, but only completed 19 laps after the replacement nose arrived and was fitted. Despite his limited track time, which ended with a gearbox sensor problem, he set the second fastest time of the day, at 1:22.12 secs.

Alexander Wurz continued his testing programme with the new Benetton-B200 commenting that the redesigned top end of the Playlife engine was a big improvement on last year's engine. He ran a total of 47 laps working on different set-ups for the car to set a best time of 1:22.37 secs. Fisichella did the same number of laps with the old B199 car, lapping just slightly slower at 1:22.51 secs while working on the transmission and software set-up also being used on the new car.

All three teams will remain in Barcelona over the weekend before continuing testing next Tuesday. They are expected to be joined by McLaren, Jaguar, Sauber and Prost during next week when testing will begin for 6 days.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver      Team                Time   
 1.  Frentzen    Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:21.90
 2.  Verstappen  Arrows-Supertec     1:22.12
 3.  Wurz        Benetton-Playlife   1:22.37
 4.  Fischella   Benetton-Playlife   1:22.51

The 1999 Barcelona lap record is 1:20.540 (R. Barrichello)