Barcelona day 3: Irvine bottom

The Ulsterman started the day in the standard car and set his best time of the day, before switching over to the new version at 14.30 in the afternoon. He completed about 15 laps altogether, but never managed a representative time with the modifications in place.

Both team principal Niki Lauda and Irvine gave very brief statements after the test.

"It's too early to say, but it is encouraging," said Lauda.

Irvine echoed his sentiments: "It's very difficult to say anything, because it's a different car. I never got much running in it today, so we've got a lot of work to do."

Irvine has now left the test, and hands over to Pedro de la Rosa and Minardi's Mark Webber for tomorrow (Friday). Both will test cars fitted with the new aero parts, which include a new nose, bargeboards and undertray.

The McLarens of Kimi Raikkonen and Alexander Wurz set the pace, as a large number of red flags broke up the sessions. The most serious incident occurred right at the end of the day when Felipe Massa crashed heavily at the first corner, badly damaging the front of his Sauber. He escaped with a minor cut to his right collarbone.

The other incidents that caused red flags were more mundane. Williams tester Marc Gene stopped in the morning with an engine problem. The team changed his BMW motor, but more gremlins hit him again in the afternoon.

Antonio Pizzonia suffered an electrical problem too, completing a difficult day for Williams.

Wurz caused one red flag when the 'development' McLaren he was driving stopped just before lunch. Giancarolo Fisichella was the cause of two stoppages with a hydraulics problem and a spin.

Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m17.76s 93
Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m17.86s 54
Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW M 1m18.07s 94
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth B 1m18.84s 68
Jenson Button Renault M 1m19.07s 107
Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda B 1m19.29s
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 1m19.34s 92
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m19.44s 80
Eddie Irvine Jaguar M 1m19.91s 51

M=Michelin
B=Bridgestone