Monday January 10th, 2000

Today was the final day of the current testing session at Barcelona, Spain, where Ferrari, Jaguar, BAR, Sauber and Prost tested for the last three days.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fastest, also setting the overall fastest time this week. He was over two seconds faster than second man Jacques Villeneuve, in the BAR-Honda. During the morning, Barrichello worked on the set-up of his car as well as tyre testing. In the afternoon, the track began to dry out allowing Barrichello to continue with the programme of developing electronic components and also did some brake testing, completing all the intended testing with no mechanical problems.

Villeneuve, second fastest, was happier after two days of minor problems. "We lost a bit of time on the second day of the test because we kept having small problems, but these were then fixed and we learned some useful things in the process. We did quite a lot of work today figuring out suspension geometry and helping the Honda engineers to collect engine data. We're not quick enough yet, but it's coming along," commented Villeneuve.

Meanwhile, the second BAR 02 chassis is nearing completion at the team's Brackley headquarters and is scheduled to be shaken down at Silverstone, on January 26, by the team's newly signed test driver, Darren Manning.

Despite being slowest of the teams testing today, the Jaguar drivers Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert seemed impressed by the new car. "It was my first time in the brand-new car, and I'm impressed," said Irvine, who has swapped seats with Barrichello. "The engine is very driveable, and there is no shortage of power. The whole package is very tight, and we should give our rivals something to think about this season."

Meanwhile Herbert explained that they were suffering the expected teething problems that new cars suffer, but sees a bright future for Jaguar this year.

"You always find little problems on the first day at school, as it were," Herbert said, "but we are delighted that the car worked well straight out of the box. Obviously there's still a way to go, and we will no doubt find improvement before the first race in Melbourne. But to come here so early in the season and prove that we can be on the pace straightaway is a big boost for the team."

Today's times:

Pos  Driver       Team             Time    
 1.  Barrichello  Ferrari          1:21.007
 2.  Villeneuve   BAR-Honda        1:23.189
 3.  Salo         Sauber-Petronas  1:23.365
 4.  Sarrazin     Prost-Peugeot    1:23.661
 5.  Herbert      Jaguar-Cosworth  1:23.851
 6.  Irvine       Jaguar-Cosworth  1:24.039