Formula 1 testing: Coulthard quits while ahead

Coulthard finished top on day two (Thursday) of the three-day test, recording a best time of 1m14.69s and notching up 101 laps of running during the day, including 12-lap 'endurance' stints in the final part of the afternoon. But with the latest Bridgestone tyre test schedule completed on schedule, the team packed up and headed back to the UK for tomorrow's McLaren Christmas party.

"It's been a good two-day test," said Coulthard. "It's been mainly tyres that we've been working on, and because of that you can't really adjust the set-up too much when you're comparing the various different tyres.

"You can't read too much significance into the times - in fact, they don't count a jot," he added. "What matters is what happens in Melbourne. It all starts now in terms of development, but it doesn't really matter if we're quickest in every single test between now and Melbourne."

Test driver Alex Wurz also put in the miles, completing 64 laps of the Spanish track and recording the third quickest time behind Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello. With just 15 minutes to run, Barrichello beached his car in the turn seven gravel - the scene of Benetton driver Giancarlo Fisichella's massive testing shunt earlier in the year - bringing out the reds and ending the day's running early for everybody.

Jordan-Honda's Heinz-Harald Frentzen took fourth, reeling off 78 laps in total - but the Jordan team had aimed for 100, stoppages permitting. The team's tester Ricardo Zonta finished the day sixth and last after also spinning at turn seven early in the afternoon session.

Jos Verstappen's Arrows-AMT was fifth, but was still only 1.08s slower than Coulthard after putting in 92 laps of running.

Testing - minus McLaren - continues for a final day tomorrow, with Pedro de la Rosa taking over from Verstappen in the Arrows.

Over at Barcelona's Michelin-only test, Jenson Button's 1m21.20s lap edged Fernando Alonso's best by 0.28s on the third and final day of official testing. Button completed a planned tyre and brake testing programme, while Alonso continued in his quest to clock up more than the 300 kilometres needed to apply for a super licence. The soon-to-be Minardi pilot ran 360 km over two days.

Williams new recruit Juan Pablo Montoya was third quickest, ahead of test driver Marc Gene, with Luciano Burti fifth for Jaguar Racing. Andre Lotterer joined Burti for the day, finishing just 0.43s off the Brazilian's best lap.

Prost continued its young driver evaluation programme, with Champ Car driver Oriol Servia running in the morning and Xavier Armant in the afternoon.


1 David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) 1m14.69s - 101 laps
2 Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) 1m14.85s - 84 laps
3 Alex Wurz (McLaren-Mercedes) 1m15.08s - 64 laps
4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan-Honda) 1m15.30 - 78 laps
5 Jos Verstappen (Arrows-AMT) 1m15.61s - 92 laps
4 Ricardo Zonta (Jordan-Honda) 1m15.93s - 32 laps


1 Jenson Button (Benetton-Renault) 1m21.20s - 49 laps
2 Fernando Alonso (Benetton-Renault) 1m21.48s - 34 laps
3 Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW) 1m22.01s - 65 laps
4 Marc Gene (Williams-BMW) 1m22.31s - 48 laps
5 Luciano Burti (Jaguar) 1m22.83s - 55 laps
6 Jean Alesi (Prost-Peugeot) 1m22.84s - 73 laps
7 Andre Lotterer (Jaguar) 1m23.26s - 44 laps
8 Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton-Renault) 1m23.71s - 30 laps
9 Oriol Servia (Prost-Peugeot) 1m24.67s - 22 laps
10 Xavier Armant (Prost-Peugeot) 1m25.55s - 15 laps