Magny-Cours test, day 3: Kimi crashes

Raikkonen's car, however, was too badly damaged for his Sauber team to repair, so the Hinwil-based outfit headed home to Switzerland early, leaving Williams, Benetton and Prost to complete the test.

Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene made the most of the changeable conditions at the French Grand Prix circuit, with Colombian Montoya setting the fastest time of the whole three days, shading his Spanish team-mate to finish top of the timesheets.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Prost was third quickest at Magny-Cours, just ahead of Benetton duo Jenson Button and Mark Webber. Button was unable to complete his planned dry weather programme because of the morning's rain, but despite the weather, technical director Mike Gascoyne was happy with the team's performance.

"Overall, we have had a successful three days," he said. "We are looking forward to the Italian Grand Prix."

The McLaren team completed its fourth and final day of running behind closed doors at the tight and twisty Valencia circuit on Friday. In an effort to make up lost ground to its Ferrari rival, the Woking-based team had two MP4-16s on hand with David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen and test driver Alex Wurz sharing the driving duties.

Meanwhile, Ferrari tester Luca Badoer completed a packed week's work for the Italian team by completing 300 km round the Fiorano test track. Badoer evaluated electronic and mechanical components for the F2001 and set a best time of 59.741s.


Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW M, 1m13.896s, 76
Marc Gene, Williams-BMW M, 1m14.371s, 70
Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Prost-Acer M, 1m15.398s, 59
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault M, 1m15.396s, 10
Mark Webber, Benetton-Renault M, 1m16.312s, 13