Barcelona day 2: Panis tops times

The Toyota driver completed 50 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, concentrating on tyre and engine development. He also did some low fuel runs, in preparation for the new Friday one-lap qualifying sessions.

"I was pleasantly surprised by the time I did," said Panis. "This was the first time I did a run on light fuel with this car and it's nice to know that the car goes quick."

However, Panis also joined the list of drivers criticising the Head and Neck Support system (HANS), which is to be made compulsory in F1 from the start of the year. The Frenchman ran with the system for the second time today, having tried it in testing at Paul Ricard last week. He said: "It is very, very painful so I'm not 100 percent sure about using it."

Renault driver Alonso had set the pace for most of the day, and was only beaten by Panis with less than 15 minutes of the session remaining. The Spaniard was happy with his day, but less so about the new fuel rules being introduce for this year, which mean a driver cannot refuel between qualifying and the race. He said: "The car is very, very good and the balance is excellent. We knew from the numbers that the car would be very quick, and it's nice to know that it is! But it's a shame about the new qualifying rule. It doesn't service any purpose."

Several drivers ran into problems during the day. Jacques Villeneuve's gearbox broke on his second lap this morning, keeping the Canadian in the pit until late in the day, whilst Jarno Trulli was limited to just 12 laps after suffering electrical problems.

Ralph Firman endured his first crash in a Formula 1 car towards the end of the morning session, damaging the front wing, right and left front suspension and the car's barge boards. He was unable to get back on the track for the rest of the day, and may be stopped from running tomorrow, as the Jordan team is short of parts for the new EJ13.

Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m15.508s 50
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m15.943s 50
Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford B 1m17.071s 56
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m17.712s 56
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m17.765s 42*
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m18.377s 53
Jenson Button BAR-Honda B 1m18.889s 41
Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 1m19.170s 53*
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m19.718s 11
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m20.348s 12
Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford B 1m20.593s 48
Allan McNish Renault M 1m21.860s 43*

B = Bridgestone
M = Michelin
* denotes 2002 car