Benetton behind, Minardi tests new blood

With temperatures rising to 28 degrees C, Gene had another fun-packed day of tyre testing and traction and launch control development at his home circuit.

"It was very hot again," he said. "And we had no reliability problems, which is important. Tomorrow (Friday) we are planning to do wet track testing for Michelin and are hoping the forecast for rain comes true, as in these conditions, I am sure that any water sprayed on the track will dry too quickly."

Button was once again outpaced by test driver Webber in the 2000-spec car and the young Brit's running was cut short due to an engine problem in his Renault-powered B201.

"We had a good day testing, although the running of the B201 was cut short due to an engine problem," said Benetton technical director Mike Gascoyne. "We were, however, able to make some progress on the aerodynamic handling of the car before running was curtailed."


Marc Gene, Williams-BMW, M 1m21.382s 71 laps
Mark Webber, Benetton-Renault, M (2000) 1m21.804s 50 laps
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault, M 1m22.411s 14 laps



Formula Nippon ace Alex Yoong had his first taste of Formula 1 today (Thursday) when he got behind the wheel of a Minardi PS01 at Mugello. The Malaysian took over from Andrea Piccini, who drives for the European Minardi Formula 3000 squad, and completed just 20 laps in the afternoon session. Yoong will have a full day in the car on Friday.

"He's done really well," said Yoong's manager Simon Munger. "He's really just learning the circuit and learning the car. The real test for him will be tomorrow."

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer continued the Italian team's preparations for next week's British Grand Prix and completed 77 laps of the Fiorano circuit. The Italian was working mainly on electronic development and put in a slightly slower fastest lap of 1m00.483s.

Ricardo Sperafico managed to avoid any thunder storms and concluded his straight-line aerodynamic testing for Williams at the Lurcy-Levis track in France.