Barrichello on Top at Silverstone - Day One

Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello finished on top of the times on the first day of testing at the Silverstone circuit in England.

The Ferrari team were in action with three cars, two F2003-GA and one of the old F2002s. Barrichello and World Champion Michael Schumacher drove the new cars, while Brazilian test driver Felipe Massa worked with the F2002, which had a mechanical failure that saw the young driver stopping on track in the afternoon.

Barrichello posted a fastest time of 1:21.094, with Schumacher finishing as third quickest and Massa at the bottom of the times after 61 laps working on tyre testing for Bridgestone while the two racing drivers concentrated on set-up work.

German Nick Heidfeld was second fastest with the only Sauber on track.

"Today we have tried some revised aerodynamic components in readiness for the forthcoming races, and evaluated tyres on behalf of Bridgestone," said Sauber's race engineer Remi Decorzent. "Thanks to good weather conditions we were able to complete our programme as scheduled.

"The agenda for tomorrow basically reflects the test procedure of today. On Thursday we will do some set-up work with Heinz-Harald Frentzen in addition to the verification of data which we will collect during the first two test days."

Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished third at Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, was fourth quickest today with the only car from the Grove-based squad in action today. The Colombian concentrated on general set-up work of the FW25 for the Nurburgring.

"We had a fairly satisfactory day today running the FW25 for 63 laps under clear skies at Silverstone," said Sam Michael, Williams' chief operations engineer. "The main focus of this week's programme will be optimising the mechanical set-up of the car in preparation for the Nurburgring GP next weekend."

The BAR and Jaguar teams were also at work at Silverstone with one car each. Japanese BAR test driver Takuma Sato posted the fifth fastest time, while Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia finished in sixth.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:21.094 38 2. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:21.568 76 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.668 60 4. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.134 52 5. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.341 63 6. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.377 41 7. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:22.723 59 All Timing Unofficial

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