Badoer Sets the Pace in Barcelona - Day One

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer set the pace on the first day of winter testing at the Barcelona circuit in Spain.

The Italian set a time of 1:17.799, ahead of Felipe Massa, also in a Ferrari, who set a time three tenths slower than Badoer.

Massa's teammate for 2004, Giancarlo Fisichella, drove this morning for the first time a Sauber car. Fisichella, who this year achieved his first victory at the Brasilian GP with Jordan, has signed a two-year agreement with the Swiss team. His teammate Massa will be test-driver at Ferrari and at the same time driver at Sauber-Petronas.

This week's Barcelona test sees BAR introduce what is described by the team as their 2004 Concept car. Jenson Button shook down the car today and will commence testing of the car tomorrow, while Takuma Sato, the new BAR driver, will work mainly with this year's 005 chassis.

All the teams testing at the Circuit de Catalunya used Bridgestone tyres today - except for BAR, who began working with Michelin as of today.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:17.799 76 2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:18.103 86 3. Fisichella Sauber Petronas (B) 1:18.527 98 4. Sato BAR Honda (M) 1:18.556 45 5. Burti Ferrari (B) 1:19.154 36 6. Button BAR Honda (M) 1:31.792 5

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