Ferrari Dominate at Wet Jerez - Day Three

World Champions Ferrari dominated the third day of testing at the Jerez circuit, where the rain hindered the progress of the 11 drivers present at the Spanish track.

With the track already wet after an overnight shower, the rain began to fall again at around lunch time, so the teams were forced to alter their programmes. Italian Luca Badoer was the quickest man in today's session after 124 laps at the wheel of the F2003-GA.

The test driver finished in front of Brazilian Felipe Massa, who is testing for Ferrari for the last time before joining Sauber. Massa was over half a second slower than Badoer, with German Nick Heidfeld third quickest on his second day of work with the Jordan team, with whom he has a preliminary contract for 2004.

The BMW-powered Williams team tested with four drivers today. Spaniard Marc Gene was the fastest of the four, with German Ralf Schumacher, fastest in the first two sessions, finishing only seventh today. The Grove-based squad continued to evaluate young drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Nico Rosberg.

Piquet, son of three-time World Champion Nelson, had a better session than Rosberg and posted the ninth quickest time. The Finn, meanwhile, finished at the bottom of the times right behind Czech Jarek Janis in the second of the Jordans on track today.

Jenson Button and Takuma Sato were again in action for the BAR-Honda team, with the Briton driving last season's 005 chassis while Sato worked at the wheel of the new concept car. Button was the fastest of the two after 26 laps.

Testing at Jerez concludes tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:25.432 124 2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:26.043 53 3. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:26.541 50 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:26.597 76 5. Burti Ferrari (B) 1:26.630 9 6. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:26.709 26 7. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:26.956 69 8. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:27.437 49 9. Piquet Williams-BMW (M) 1:28.640 46 10. Janis Jordan-Ford (B) 1:29.001 46 11. Rosberg Williams-BMW (M) 1:30.262 30 All Timing Unofficial

Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information