Barcelona day 1: Webber quickest
Jaguar driver Mark Webber has set the pace on the first day of testing at Barcelona, although team-mate Antonio Pizzonia had a disastrous day, failing to set a lap-time after crashing this morning
Australian Webber was running a standard 2002-spec R3, and completed 67 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, setting a best lap of 1m18.192s. Juan Pablo Montoya set the second best time for Williams, with McLaren tester Alex Wurz in third.
Pizzonia's bad day began this morning when he crashed the R3B, which features the team's 2003 engine. Although the damage to the car was relatively light, a series of mechanical problems prevented him from completing any further laps.
The test also saw several Formula 1 hopefuls running. Dirk Muller and Nico Rosberg shared a third Williams for the day, with Rosberg proving the fastest of the two, setting a best lap of 1m21.069s.
Olivier Panis was the sole Toyota driver at the test, running a 2002-spec TF102. "It was a very good first day for us," said Panis. "We managed 80 laps, which is a reasonable amount, working again on general car set-up and for me to learn the car. We still have many things to do to continue improving, but it has been a positive start." Team-mate Cristiano da Matta is running the team's interim car at the Paul Ricard circuit.
Former McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Young Driver award winner Gary Paffett joined Wurz in testing for McLaren, although he completed only 13 laps. Fellow young driver award winner Anthony Davidson was also in action at Barcelona, continuing a programme of development work for BAR.
Ferrari tested at Mugello today with Luciano Burti at the wheel of an F2002. He completed 37 laps in wet conditions, managing a best time of 1m30.700s. Burti will continue running tomorrow.
Mark Webber Jaguar M 1m18.192s 67
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m18.206s 57
Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m18.757s 31
Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m18.934s 80
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m19.429s 32
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m19.572s 86
Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda B 1m20.363s 96
Nico Rosberg Williams-BMW M 1m21.069s 37
Gary Paffett McLaren-Mercedes M 1m21.472s 13
Dirk Muller Williams-BMW M 1m.21.605s 45
Romain Dumas Renault M 1m22.375s 48
Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar M no time 3
Share Or Save This Story
What F1 history tells us about three-way title deciders
Top five Australian F1 drivers ranked: Brabham, Webber, Piastri and more
The man who should replace Webber at Porsche
What's Racing Bulls doing that Red Bull isn't?
F1 drivers and cars at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed
Why Williams is still feeling the weight of expectation
Supercars Townsville: Waters takes second win of the season in Ford 1-2-3-4
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments