Schumacher Fastest at Mugello - Day Three

World Champion Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of today's testing at Mugello, Italy, where the Ferrari and BAR teams continued testing ahead of next week's Japanese Grand Prix.

The German, accompanied by Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer, carried out tyre testing, electronics and set-up work for Japan. Schumacher ran a grand total of 129 laps, the team saying he finished the program ahead of schedule and was able to finalise tomorrow's program as well. His best laptime was 1:22.001.

BAR were running three test drivers at the Tuscan circuit, with F3000 champion Bjorn Wirdheim taking a brief run in the afternoon. "Although I didn't have long, I was really impressed with the car, and extremely impressed with the brakes," Wirdheim said afterwards.

"I haven't run in high-downforce before and there is a lot to learn. I've now had a brief taste of the car and the controls, and hopefully I will get the chance to have a longer run once the test ban has finished."

Test drivers Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato were behind the wheel for most of the day, the two concentrating on tyre development work for Bridgestone. "It's been a very busy three days but we've managed a lot of laps and completed all the preparation work for Suzuka," Sato concluded.

"We tried out a lot of new tyres, and have had a good result from testing them. We also did some longer-term development work. Usually on a test, we suffer with the weather but we have finally had three days of dry sessions."

Sato, who had a major accident on Tuesday, said he has now fully recovered from the crash. "I am totally fine," he said. "I did 105 laps the day after with some long runs involved, and I had no problems at all. We didn't have any major reliability problems and have had a very good test. This has been a long season of testing, but very rewarding for me."

"I worked with Takuma on the first day selecting tyres for Suzuka," Davidson added. "I tried out several options and hopefully we now have some good soft compound rubber for the race. After that, I concentrated on aero, brake and suspension testing as well as putting some mileage on the Suzuka specification engine, which ran faultlessly. We got a really positive result on everything we tested, and we got through the whole programme and more. The car was very reliable for the duration of the test. It was a tiring three days but well worth it."

Ferrari continue testing at Mugello tomorrow, with Badoer and second test driver Felipe Massa at the track.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:22.001 129 2. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:22.468 81 3. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:24.031 70 4. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:24.070 88 5. Wirdheim BAR-Honda (B) 1:26.728 5 All Timing Unofficial

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