Mugello test, day 3: Schuey fastest
New Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher survived his second big accident in five weeks to finish at the top of the time sheets on the third day of testing at Mugello
The Ferrari ace walked away unscathed from a 180 mph shunt (Click here for separate story), which is thought to have been caused by the rear wing coming off his F2001, but not before the German had lapped the Italian track in 1m24.90s, eight tenths ahead of Jarno Trulli in second place.
Before his accident, Schumacher managed to complete some tyre development work as well as assessing the electronic systems that team mates Rubens Barrichello and Luca Badoer had been working on for the previous two days. Ferrari was due to continue testing tomorrow (Friday), but the team has decided to cut things short and will return to its Maranello base.
Benetton-bound Trulli carried out some aerodynamic work while Jordan team mate Jean Alesi continued to familiarise himself with the EJ11 to good effect. The Frenchman finished the day third fastest but his day was cut short by a driveshaft problem in the middle of the afternoon session.
BAR's Olivier Panis shared a car with Takuma Sato (seventh) and managed to out pace both the Japanese test driver and team mate Jacques Villeneuve (sixth). Panis drove during the afternoon session and set a best time just 0.24s slower than Alesi for fourth spot.
Kimi Raikkonen took over the reins at Sauber from Nick Heidfeld and the young Finn was almost half a second slower than his team mate's best time of Wednesday in fifth place.
Alex Yoong continued to rack up the miles with Minardi as the Malaysian puts together a case to become a fully-fledged Formula 1 driver. He did not do himself any favours today however, after finishing in last place with a time almost seven seconds off Schumacher's pace.
Testing continues on Friday, but Jordan only planned to run for three days and with Ferrari calling it a day, only BAR and Minardi will be present.
Michael Schumacher, Ferrari B, 1m24.90s, 89 laps
Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda B, 1m25.70s, 103 laps
Jean Alesi, Jordan-Honda B, 1m25.87s, 87 laps
Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda B, 1m26.11s, 40 laps
Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber-Petronas B, 1m26.16s, 72 laps
Jacques Villeneuve, BAR-Honda B, 1m26.33s, 58 laps
Takuma Sato, BAR-Honda B, 1m27.74s, 27 laps
Alex Yoong, Minardi-European M, 1m31.33s, 70 laps
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