Silverstone day 3: Alonso impresses
Renault test driver Fernando Alonso produced an impressive performance on his one-off test for Jaguar, setting a quicker time than team regular Pedro de la Rosa at Silverstone today (Thursday). Alonso ended the day with the fourth best time, but once again it was Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello who topped the times
Conditions were far from ideal at Silverstone, but the on/off rain showers did hold off long enough for the track to dry and all of the drivers set their best times on dry tyres. Ominously for the opposition, Barrichello ended the day with a substantial advantage over the rest. His best lap of 1m20.72s, was almost two seconds quicker than Allan McNish needed to finish second in the times.
Barrichello spent most of his day tyre testing for Bridgestone. McNish worked on set-up for July's British GP, when hopefully the weather will be a bit better... Enrique Bernoldi was third quickest, but his test was interrupted when his Cosworth engine let go in spectacular fashion at the end of the start/finish straight midway through the afternoon session.
Alonso was just hundredths behind the Arrows in fourth, after covering 57 laps for Jaguar. De la Rosa's car spent a lot of the test in the garage, but the Spaniard did manage 34 laps. Just 0.04s separated the two Jags.
Jacques Villeneuve got his first taste of Honda's latest engine, but the V10 he used was so new that the former world champ felt it was too early to assess its potential.
The test was punctuated by a steady stream of red flags although most were due to mechanical gremlins rather than drivers being caught out by the tricky conditions. Jarno Trulli and BAR tester Patrick Lemarie both visited the gravel, but Marc Gene, David Coulthard and Villeneuve all stopped due to circumstances beyond their control.
Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 1m20.72s 60
Allan McNish Toyota M 1m22.58s 51
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows B 1m22.74s 22
Fernando Alonso Jaguar M 1m22.78s 57
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m22.82s 34
David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m22.84s 42
Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda B 1m23.06s 60
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m23.16s 52
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m23.27s 26
Jenson Button Renault M 1m23.28s 57
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m23.94s 40
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m24.07s 78
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m24.17s 58
Mika Salo Toyota Toyota M 1m24.74s 34
Patrick Lemarie BAR-Honda B 1m26.14s
M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone
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