Barcelona 2: Sato unbeatable

Away from his qualifying style run, Sato completed 76 laps of the Spanish circuit, working largely on a tyre testing programme. Team-mate Jenson Button continued work in the 2004-spec 006, although he was only able to complete 26 laps today.

Alonso's quickest lap of 1m14.687s was 0.890s slower than Sato's flyer, but the Renault star's consistency was highly impressive.

Marc Gene was third fastest for Williams, just ahead of team-mate Ralf Schumacher. The German completed 77 laps while working on a tyre and set-up programme. Nelson Piquet Jr ran a third car for the team, although he was at the wheel of a year-old FW25.

McLaren had three cars in action, with Kimi Raikkonen joining test drivers Alex Wurz and Pedro de la Rosa. Raikkonen, working on a set-up and tyre programme, suffered the ignominy of setting the slowest time of the day, although all three McLarens were apparently running a reasonably high level of fuel.

Wurz, the fastest of the three McLaren drivers, said: "We had a massive tyre programme today. "The car was a bit better, and we were very happy with the lap times given the amount of fuel we were carrying."

Pedro de la Rosa was conducting systems work in the team's third car, but his day was cut short when he broke the floor of the car, and later suffered mechanical problems.

Rubens Barrichello took over from test driver Luca Badoer for Ferrari, completing 69 laps during a tyre test in the F2003-GA.

Both Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta were in action for Toyota, working on developments for the TF104. Giancarlo Fisichella attempted to conduct a tyre development programme for Sauber, although a major gearbox failure curtailed his running early.

Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 1m13.797s 76
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m14.687s 71*
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m15.129s 52*
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m15.206s 77*
Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 1m15.462s 26*
Frank Montagny Renault M 1m15.610s 63*
Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 1m15.779s 69
Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m15.992s 78*
Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m16.009s 83*
Nelson Piquet Jr Williams-BMW M 1m16.431s 67
Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 1m16.610s 72*
Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes M 1m16.875s 12*
Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas B 1m17.153s 30*
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m17.315s 23*

B = Bridgestone
M = Michelin
* denotes 2004 car