Tuesday January 29th, 2002

World Champion Michael Schumacher and teammate Rubens Barrichello topped the timesheets on the ninth day of testing at the Barcelona circuit.

Both Ferrari drivers, who joined the test today at the Spanish track, worked on tyre development and electronics at the wheel of last year's car, with Schumacher being the busiest man after completing a total of 102 laps.

Today's session was dominated by the Bridgestone-shod runners, with Sauber's Nick Heidfeld finishing in third with the new Ferrari-powered C21.

"I had a trouble-free day and the car felt fantastic," said Heidfeld. "It is more stable and has more grip than the C20, and everything we did with it today had a positive outcome. I am feeling very optimistic for the season ahead."

Briton Anthony Davidson was fourth with the BAR 003, while Antonio Pizzonia was the quickest of the Michelin runners. The Brazilian, driving the Williams FW23, was the fastest of the four drivers present for the Grove-based squad today. German Ralf Schumacher and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya spent the day practicing pit-stops, with the Colombian not completing any flying laps.

Renault continued with the development of their new R202 car, which was unveiled last Sunday. After making its track debut yesterday, Briton Jenson Button was again at the wheel of the new machine, finishing ahead of Italian teammate Jarno Trulli with the 2001-spec car.

The Toyota team did not enjoy a promising day, with both Mika Salo and Allan McNish suffering mechanical problems in their TF102. The Finn driver was the quickest of the two, but could only complete 18 laps due to a gearbox problem. McNish, who completed 41 laps, was more than three tenths of a second slower than his teammate.

"It has not been very good today following a promising first day," said McNish. "We had some problems in the morning that took some time to solve. This meant that we did not get out until the early afternoon and after that we concentrated on suspension work."

German teenager Marcel Lasee followed in the footsteps of both Schumacher brothers by testing for the Jordan Formula One team. The 19-year-old German Formula Renault champion tested Jordan's 2001 specification EJ11 car, being more than half a second slower than Jordan's Japanese newcomer Takuma Sato.

Testing at Barcelona continues on Wednesday.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine     Tyres  Time     Laps   
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari          (B)   1:18.444 102
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari          (B)   1:18.607  66
 3.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas  (B)   1:18.798  89
 4.  Davidson      BAR-Honda        (B)   1:19.032  85
 5.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW     (M)   1:19.220  85
 6.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW     (M)   1:19.407  25
 7.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas  (B)   1:19.507  73
 8.  Gene          Williams-BMW     (M)   1:19.747  23 
 9.  Button        Renault          (M)   1:20.073  47
10.  Trulli        Renault          (M)   1:20.359  39
11.  Villeneuve    BAR-Honda        (B)   1:21.077  43
12.  Salo          Toyota           (M)   1:21.358  18
13.  McNish        Toyota           (M)   1:21.684  41  
14.  Sato          Jordan-Honda     (B)   1:22.578  43
15.  Lassee        Jordan-Honda     (B)   1:23.137  71
16.  Montoya       Williams-BMW     (M)   1:46.189  16

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 17:30:09 GMT