Barcelona, day 2: Wurz ups the pace

The Austrian, who was testing new compound Michelin tyres, producing a great lap of 1m16.938s in the opening hours of the test, the first time a 2002-spec F1 car has lapped the track in under 1m17s.

Williams' Antonio Pizzonia was second quickest, albeit over seven tenths down on the pace-setting McLaren. Like Wurz, he too was concentrating on tyre testing and performed a series of long runs in the FW24. Darren Turner was again out in the second McLaren, and the Brit enjoying 71 tours of the Circuit de Catalunya.

There were just two red flags during a productive day for the six drivers present. Marc Gene's developmental Williams, which has a raft of new components, expired at the first corner on one of the Spaniard's out laps. His countryman Pedro de la Rosa caused the other stoppage when the engine in his Jaguar died with 15 minutes of the session remaining.

Anthony Davidson propped up the times after spending most of the day evaluating various software packages prior to handing the car over to Jacques Villeneuve tomorrow (Thursday).


Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m16.938s 88
Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW M 1m17.747s 90
Darren Turner McLaren-Mercedes M 1m18.586s 71
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m18.830s 83
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m19.722s 40
Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda B 1m21.497s 48

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone