Barcelona, day 3: DC shines

Coulthard was using a McLaren MP4-17 fitted with some revised rear suspension pieces and lapped the Circuit de Catalunya in 1m17.432s, comfortably quicker than his rivals, but half a second shy of Wurz's Wednesday best.

Darren Turner had a quiet day in the second McLaren, covering just 13 laps. He left his best lap until late in the afternoon, but vaulted up into second with a final effort of 1m18.277s.

In contrast, Jacques Villeneuve was much busier and completed 88 tours of Bridgestone tyre testing for BAR. He was just quicker than Ralf Schumacher, who was forced to change from the Williams development car to the standard version after it developed a problem in the morning.

Marc Gene only ran in the morning before handing his car over to Schumacher. Fellow Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa also only did half a day as the sole Jaguar R3 was slated for Antonio Pizzonia's first test for the team.

He was forced to wait for his chance in the car after its engine blew during de la Rosa's last run, but the team did a good job to get him a couple of hours worth of running in the afternoon and the Brazilian got within three tenths of the Spaniard's time.

The on-looking Niki Lauda was apparently quietly impressed and it will be interesting to see how Pizzonia goes in the car tomorrow.


David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes M 1m17.432 88
Darren Turner McLaren-Mercedes M 1m18.277s 13
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m18.827s 88
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m18.889s 73
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m19.116s 19
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m19.231s 16
Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar M 1m19.596s

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone