Friday January 21st, 2000

Ferrari Happy with Two Day Test

Michael Schumacher and the Ferrari team were very happy with their two day test at Barcelona, where they tried new brakes, transmission and electronic components fitted to the old Ferrari F399. In addition, Bridgestone brought some new development tyres to the Spanish track. Schumacher was alone on the circuit and completed 114 laps over the two days, having a spin on Monday and losing time on Tuesday with a broken gearbox. Michael's best time was 1:21.010s and he was happy with the performance of the car.

"The F399 has never been so good at Barcelona," he said. "It handled like a kart. Taking into account that the new car has to be better than the old one, we have every reason to be optimistic." Schumacher has now gone to Dubai where he plans to train for five hours a day on his physical fitness. He will return to Italy just before the new car is launched. Meanwhile, Luca Badoer will test at the Vairano circuit during the first week of February, concentrating on aerodynamic development.

McLaren Fastest at Barcelona

David Coulthard set the fastest time at Barcelona by Thursday this week, lapping his McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14 in 1:22.086s after completing a total of 26 laps during the day. Mika Hakkinen is expected to resume testing next week, having enjoyed a lay-off for two and a half months in order to prepare mentally and physically to best effect for the coming season. The launch of the new McLaren-Mercedes is expected during the first week of February.

Jordan Run New Car

The Jordan Mugen-Honda team tested its new F1 car, the EJ10, for the first time on Monday. Heinz-Harald Frentzen gave the car a shakedown on the club straight at the Silverstone circuit and the programme continued on Tuesday and Wednesday. The new car will be unveiled in London on January 31st and Jarno Trulli will be given his first acclimatisation tests later this month.

Jaguar has Promising Test

Johnny Herbert opened the Jaguar R1 test at Barcelona on Wednesday on an upbeat note by setting fastest time of the day on 1:22.79s. On Thursday he was joined by Eddie Irvine who managed a 1:22.83s while Herbert improved to 1m 22.35s. Jaguar's programme is all concentrating on engine development work at the present time, in addition to running systems checks on electronics and engine management systems.

Technical director Gary Anderson said he is delighted with the progress. "Already we are more advanced than we were at this stage last year," he said. "Also, we have done a lot of running with the new chassis pre-season.The chassis itself has many differences from last year's car and has undergone significant aerodynamic refinements."

Williams Face Frustrations

The Williams-BMW team has had a frustrating first two days to its Barcelona test, which began on Wednesday and was intended to assess the driving talent of Jenson Button and Bruno Junqueira. Recurrent oil system problems prevented Button from managing more than six flying laps on Wednesday (best 1:24.13s) while Junquiera did just three for a best of 1:25.22s.

On Thursday neither driver was able to produce a serious flying lap and the team is working hard to resolve the problems in the hope of having better luck today (Friday) and perhaps extending the test over the weekend. Ralf Schumacher did not take part in the tests; he will be back in the cockpit next week at Barcelona with the new Williams FW22.

Benetton Assess New Car

The Benetton-Playlife B200 was unveiled at Barcelona on Monday before carrying out a routine shakedown programme during the course of the week with both Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz taking a turn at the wheel. "We have attempted to make the new car as simple and uncomplicated as possible," said Technical Director Pat Symonds, "and we are particularly encouraged with the way the engine development programme is progressing."

Prost Put Final Touches to New Car

As the Prost-Peugeot team concentrated on completing the first of the new AP03s in preparation for the official launch at Barcelona on February 2nd, the team's interim development car was scheduled to test today (Friday) at Magny-Cours. Stephane Sarrazin will do the driving on this occasion.

Sauber Successful at Jerez

The Sauber-Petronas team spent three days with one car driven by Pedro Diniz at Jerez last week and initial problems with the engine oil system now seem to be solved. Last Friday Diniz had a clutch problem and two spins, but from then on things ran trouble-free.

Diniz completed 185 laps in three days and tried the car in both race and qualifying trim. His best time was set on Saturday when he posted a 1:25.37s, which was only 0.05sec slower than Irvine, then the fastest of the day. Technical Director Leo Ress was satisfied. "Everything seems to run well," he said. "We did not even touch the suspension settings, so there is more to come." Diniz commented: "The new car is much better under braking and in traction than the old one. We still have a slight problem with mid-corner understeer, but that is a question of set-up." Next week Sauber will test with two cars and both drivers in Barcelona.

Arrows Test Webber Again

Mark Webber completed 19 laps on a damp Silverstone national circuit on Wednesday, having managed 25 laps in dry conditions the previous day. Once again the focus of the test was the electronic systems being developed for this year's new car and the team's engineers reported that all the systems were operating as intended. Meanwhile, Pedro de la Rosa was the only F1 driver to attend a gathering at Heathrow airport, where a Qantas Boeing 747-400 - aptly named 'City of Melbourne' - was unveiled in the colours of the 2000 Australian GP to highlight the first FIA Formula One World Championship race of the new millenium.

Minardi to Test at Fiorano

Marc Gene is scheduled to test a 1999 Minardi M01, fitted with components for next year's car, at Fiorano on January 27/28. No decision has yet been made on the second driver.

British American Ready for Unveiling

The new BAR-Honda 02 will be unveiled in London next Monday after which test driver Darren Manning will shake down the second chassis at Silverstone on 26/27 January. After the Kyalami test, on 8-14 February, the team will return to Jerez from 23-25 February and then have a final pre-season shakedown at Silverstone from February 29th to March 1st.