Barcelona test, day 2: Engine problems continue

Hakkinen managed to avoid the lack of running that afflicted team mate David Coulthard yesterday when the Scot managed to complete just four laps. Hakkinen notched up 81 tours of the Catalan circuit and looked to have lasted the day without incident, bar an hour-long mid-morning foray into the pits.

However, on the final corner of the Finn's final lap of the day, his MP4-16's Mercedes engine expired causing Hakkinen to spin on his own oil and end the day in the gravel trap.

"I'm very pleased with today's work," said Hakkinen, "because when we drove at Valencia, it wasn't really a proper circuit, so this is the first run on a full Grand Prix track.

"The car seems very reliable, but it's not very nice that the engine blew up on the last lap. It's just a shame that there's not really anybody else to compete against."

McLaren-Mercedes big wigs Adrian Newey, Norbert Haug and Mario Ilien were all on hand to oversee the Woking team's final preparations before Australia. Test driver Alex Wurz completed a mammoth 82 laps on his way to setting the day's second fastest time. The Austrian's running was interrupted during the morning session when his 2000-spec car required an engine change.

The third car present was the Williams-BMW of Juan Pablo Montoya who concentrated on the brakes and cooling system of his FW23. The Colombian is to make his debut at the Australian Grand Prix in 10 days time and has undergone a hectic winter testing schedule.

"I am looking forward to my first Grand Prix," said Montoya. "It's been a very demanding winter test period for everybody involved and I hope we are well placed to make good use of this work in Melbourne next week."

The Williams team heads back to its Grove base tonight while the McLaren test team finish running tomorrow. The Woking race team was at Silverstone today practising pit stops with David Coulthard.


Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes, B 1m20.46s, 81 laps
Alex Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes, B (2000) 1m20.49s, 82 laps
Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW, M 1m22.00s, 75 laps