F1 teams set for last major test

BAR, Benetton, Jaguar, McLaren and Williams will all be present at Spanish circuit Jerez from Wednesday to Friday.

The teams, which are also planning to take part in a two-day session at Silverstone next week, are preparing for the first race of the season in Melbourne, Australia on March 12.

BAR will be giving its new Honda-powered chassis a run with Ricardo Zonta on Wednesday. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve will get behind the wheel on Thursday and Friday.

Benetton drivers Alexander Wurz and Giancarlo Fisichella are scheduled to test the team's B200 racecar on all three days of the test.

Jaguar drivers Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert will carry out final development work on their 2000 racecars for the duration of the test.

Meanwhile, McLaren plans to run world champion Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard at the track from February 23-25. Both drivers will continue fine tuning the MP4-15 for Melbourne.

Williams, which spent a week testing at South African track Kyalami recently, will rejoin other F1 teams at the Spanish session.

Both Ralf Schumacher and new driver Jenson Button will test the new racecar on all three days.