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Valencia, day 1: Pizzonia fastest

Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia set the pace as a quartet of Formula 1 teams stayed on in Spain to test at the Valencia circuit.

On the first day (Tuesday), Pizzonia managed a 1m12.731s to go six tenths clear of Alex Wurz's McLaren.

The only team to run one of its race drivers was Sauber. Felipe Massa was a tenth slower than Wurz, with Renault's tester Fernando Alonso just 0.01s down on the Brazilian.

Renault was working on its traction control system. Technical director Mike Gascoyne said: "It was a useful day. Fernando concentrated on software modifications in order to further improve the system, and overall we are pleased with what we achieved."

Massa, who will continue testing tomorrow, was working on set-ups for the Monaco GP. He also carried out 10 simulated starts to test the launch control system.

Ferrari tested at Fiorano and Monza today. Test driver Luca Badoer managed 72 laps at Fiorano, 25 being on the short circuit and will contiue work tomorrow (Wednesday). Luciano Burti put an off behind him at Monza to complete 59 laps in a year-old F2001. He concentrated on tyre testing and managed a best time of 1m25.003s.

Toyota chose to test at Estoril in Portugal after the Spanish GP, with Australian Ryan Briscoe behind the wheel. He managed a total of 91 laps. "This circuit is very efficient for testing due to its combination of both fast and slow corners," he said. "Additionally, the bumpy nature of the track puts the car under considerable stress, which gives us a useful basis to gain more information about the car set-up."

Arrows came home to England to test alone at Silverstone. Enrique Bernoldi completed 33 laps in difficult weather conditions, managing a best time of 1m38.542s. He will continue running tomorrow.

Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW M 1m12.731s 96
Alex Wurz McLAren-Mercedes M 1m13.311s 99
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 1m13.474s 59
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m13.481s 81

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