Wednesday February 23rd, 2000

With the exception of Ferrari, Minardi and Arrows, all the Grand Prix teams gathered in Jerez today (Wednesday) for a final three day test before the Australian Grand Prix, March 12th.

A final two-day shakedown test of new cars and race cars is planned for Silverstone the week prior to the race, but they will certainly not encounter the idyllic summer-like 23 degree temperatures of Jerez this week.

By the end of the first day of the test it was Heinz Harald Frentzen who set the pace for the Jordan team, a revised set-up, lesser fuel load and a fresh set of tyres putting the German a full second ahead of his rivals on 1m 23.49s, despite running in the heat of the day which saw a total of 65 laps with improved reliability over previous tests. Jarno Trulli is scheduled to take over the second half of the test with the single chassis on Thursday lunch time.

Mika Hakkinen was back behind the wheel of the new McLaren and responded to Frentzen's best time with his own of 1m 24.40 secs on fresh tyres, his day finishing a few minutes earlier than scheduled when his car stopped out on the track 15 minutes before the scheduled 6pm flag.

Test driver Olivier Panis was running the 1999 MP 4/14 chassis to set the third fastest time of the day, but completed only 31 laps after a harmless spin in the morning and then a smoky retirement mid-afternoon with a suspected gearbox problem.

Eddie Irvine demonstrated improved reliability from his Jaguar mount this week. He completed 61 laps for the day and fourth fastest time of 1m 25.47 secs working on improving the handling which he described as, "Very nervous, especially over the bumps under braking."

Johnny Herbert was unable to run more than 19 laps for the day, an engine problem keeping his car in the garage for most of the day which saw a best time of 1m 26.51 secs.

Engine problems kept Ralf Schumacher in the garage for much of the morning, the German taking the fifth fastest time early in the morning with a best of 1m 25.85s in 45 laps of running. He had two cars at his disposal, for Jenson Button had to miss the test after pulling a back muscle during a training session. He hopes to be back in action for the Silverstone test in a week's time.

Ricardo Zonta began testing for the BAR-Honda team, which after 76 laps, the day's best, proved reliable if not so quick with a best time of 1m 26.12 secs as he worked on different set-ups for the car.

Pedro Diniz had a lucky escape with the new Sauber after 29 laps when the rear wing flew off as he reached the braking area of the pit straight. He slid across the gravel trap and into the tyre barrier without any injury, but was unable to run for the rest of the day as the team lacked the parts necessary for repairs to his car.

It was a troubled day for the Benetton team. Giancarlo Fisichella struggled to find a balance and was sidelined after just 20 laps and a best of 1m 26.62 secs. Alexander Wurz ran only 13 laps and a best of 1m 27.80 secs before coming to a halt with a broken gearbox which lost all its oil on the track.

It was another frustrating day for Jean Alesi and the Prost team after stopping half way around the first lap of the day with a gearbox problem. After a long delay he ran a couple of laps at a time before completing a total of 23 for the day and a best time of only 1m 27.95 secs. When he was running, his dramatic driving style underlined what must have been his frustration over the unreliability of his new car.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                Time      Laps
 1.  Frentzen      Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:23.49   65 
 2.  Hakkinen      McLaren-Mercedes    1:24.40   58 
 3.  Panis         McLaren-Mercedes    1:25.02   31 
 4.  Irvine        Jaguar-Cosworth     1:25.47   61 
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        1:25.85   45 
 6.  Zonta         BAR-Honda           1:26.12   76 
 7.  Diniz         Sauber-Petronas     1:26.14   29 
 8.  Herbert       Jaguar-Cosworth     1:26.51   19 
 9.  Fisichella    Benetton-Playlife   1:26.62   20 
10.  Wurz          Benetton-Playlife   1:27.80   13 
11.  Alesi         Prost-Peugeot       1:27:95   23 

The Jerez lap record is 1:23.072 (R. Barrichello)