Barcelona day 3: Ralf fastest in the rain

The poor conditions at the circuit caused a number of spins and incidents. The resultant 11 red flag periods meant that most teams struggled to conduct any meaningful testing.

The most extreme example of this was Jarno Trulli. The Italian was due to test a new aerodynamic package on his Renault, but the team decided that it wasn't worth bothering given the conditions.

BAR also had a bad day, as both Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button attempted to complete race simulations. However, the high number of red flags prevented them from running for prolonged periods of time, and the team eventually settled on doing some basic wet weather set-up work.

Jaguar rookie Antonio Pizzonia shook down the team's second R4 for the first time, although the conditions were less than ideal.

"We had lots of small problems, but nothing major," said Pizzonia, whose most serious moment came when clutch failure sent his Jaguar into a series of pirouettes. "The conditions were not good, and the car was aquaplaning. I'd prefer to do a shakedown in dry conditions. But obviously we couldn't."

Giancarlo Fisichella continued testing the new Jordan EJ13, but also struggled because of the weather. "We needed dry conditions really," he said. "It was too cold and too wet. The car was okay, but we need more mileage in dry conditions. In these conditions we wouldn't have run anyway. In the afternoon the conditions got better and the balance was very good."

Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m31.569s 54
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m31.931s 42
Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford B 1m32.485s 25
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m32.693s 23
Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford B 1m32.716s 52
Mark Webber Jaguar M 1m33.062s 48
Olivier Panis Toyota M 1m34.017s 39
Jenson Button BAR-Honda B 1m34.148s 31
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m34.189s 34
Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar M 1m35.029s 46
Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 1m38.810s 52
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m39.766s 27
Allan McNish Renault M 1m54.056s 13
Jarno Trulli Renault M no time 1

B = Bridgestone
M = Michelin