Saturday February 12th, 2000

Rubens Barrichello has completed his first test with the F1-2000 at Fiorano today. He did a total of 82 laps in an eight hour session that focused on reliability and ended with a lap of 1:00.88. Test driver Luca Badoer continues the test tomorrow at Fiorano, while both Rubens and Michael Schumacher drive the new Ferrari at Mugello from next Wednesday onwards.

The car ran for the first time at Fiorano on Wednesday evening when Michael Schumacher conducted the shakedown with less than five laps. Next day, the team were hoping for a hard day's testing, but after some six laps, Schumacher complained of a stiff neck and a chill. Schumacher flew back to his home at Switzerland, where his doctor concluded he should rest for 10 days - although Schumacher has already decided to resume testing on Wednesday.

"The cold wind entered through my helmet and my neck got stiff," Schumacher explained. "I can not continue testing now because I would make things even worse. I will try to recover as soon as possible. The only thing that makes me happy is the car, it's great."

Schumacher was replaced in the mean time by Barrichello, the Brazilian ran on Wednesday some 15 laps, with a best time of 1:01.31 - just 0.05s slower than Schumacher's best time.

On Friday, Barrichello was again in the driving seat but after around five laps had a spin, during which time it was found that the fuel pump was damaged. As it is fairly inaccessible and required the engine to be removed, the F1-2000 was sidelined for the day and Barrichello continued testing in last year's F399.

Today Barrichello again got down to work early in the F1-2000, driving batches of five or six laps at a time and then later batches of 12 or 13 laps. In fact the set-up of the car was scarcely touched throughout the test, but the Brazilian was happy with the basis of the car.

Rubens jets off to Amsterdam tomorrow, Sunday, while Luca Badoer takes up testing duties at Fiorano before the emphasis moves to Mugello, where testing will resume on Wednesday.

The Fiorano lap record is 1:00.226 (L. Badoer)