Silverstone test, day 3: Panis heads Trulli

Panis lapped the Silverstone GP venue in 1m23.784s to Trulli's 1m23.929s, with BAR test driver Patrick Lemarie a further four-tenths slower.

"I know that Olivier feels we have made progress, and many of the parts we have been running during this test will make their race debut in Austria," said BAR's chief engineer Steve Farrell. "The objectives were largely met, with a wide menu of braking, suspension, gearbox and traction control, including lots of work on launch starts."

Jos Verstappen was third quickest in his Arrows-Asiatech, just half a second off Panis's fastest time. Nick Heidfeld's Petronas-powered Sauber also upset Honda's party, as he outpaced Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta by 0.3secs. Heidfeld drove the car which had been involved in an accident in Kimi Raikkonen's hands yesterday, and had been rebuilt overnight.

"The good weather today gave us a valuable opportunity to do some intensive work on traction control, which will stand us in good stead in Austria," said Heidfeld. "The ability to program the system to suit individual circuits and individual drivers has created a large range of settings, so such test work is essential if we are to get the best out of it."

Meanwhile, in Italy, Rubens Barrichello and Luca Badoer did the donkey work for Ferrari before Michael Schumacher turns up at Fiorano tomorrow (Friday). Barrichello was four-tenths quicker than test driver Badoer around the Prancing Horse's test track, and they completed 22 practice starts between them.


Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda, B, 1m23.784s,44
Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda, B, 1m23.929s, 87
Jos Verstappen, Arrows-Asiatech, 1m24.205s, 43
Patrick Lemarie, BAR-Honda, B, 1m24.370s, 69
Nick Heidfeld, Sauber-Petronas, B, 1m24.676s, 59
Ricardo Zonta, Jordan-Honda, B, 1m24.939s, 66
Enrique Bernoldi, Arrows-Asiatech, 1m25.218s, 54


Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, B, 59.672s, 110
Luca Badoer, Ferrari, B, 1m00.075s, 84