Barcelona, day 3 : DC racks up miles

The Scot, who was at the wheel of last year's MP4-16, was only 0.1s off the mark set by the team's test driver Alexander Wurz yesterday. Coulthard completed 86 laps as he ran in new components, including this year's gearbox. He also completed a lot of tyre testing work for Michelin and set his best time on new rubber.

His team mate Kimi Raikkonen had his first run in the new McLaren-Mercedes MP4-17, completing 58 laps. A problem in the morning prevented the Finn from managing as many miles as he planned. "We had a problem, but the car was good," Raikkonen said. "I need more running."

The only other driver running at the track was Felipe Massa who was racking up his first miles in Sauber's new car, the C21. He completed the vast majority of his laps late in the afternoon after suffering a transmission problem during launch control testing.

Luca Badoer completed 44 laps at Fiorano today, as Ferrari continued testing new components on last year's F2001 chassis. The track had been artificially watered to simulate rainy conditions and his quickest lap was a 1m06.684s.


David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m18.236s 86
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes* M 1m20.215s 58
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas* B 1m20.376s 51

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone
* denotes 2002 car