Button Fastest at Paul Ricard - Day Three

BAR's Jenson Button was the fastest man in the third day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit today, the Briton also setting the fastest time of the week, with 1:11.047.

Five of the Michelin-shod teams have been testing at the Southern France test track this week, in preparations for next weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. Most teams have brought their test drivers to the session, concentrating primarily on tyre testing but also on aerodynamic solutions and engine reliability runs.

Button's time was less than two tenths faster than Williams's Antonio Pizzonia, who in turn was less than two tenths faster than McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa. Along with Button and his BAR teammate Takuma Sato, Williams were also the only team to run one of their racing drivers, with Ralf Schumacher setting up the fifth fastest time.

"Today Ralf joined the test and spent the morning tyre testing for Michelin," commented Sam Michael, Williams's Chief Operations Engineer. "In the afternoon he worked on traction control and set-up options for the forthcoming races. Antonio also spent the day tyre testing, performing long runs on the favoured tyres that he evaluated yesterday. He also completed some fuel system checks."

Renault were the only team to field only one car at the test today, but test driver Franck Montagny was also the driver with most laps of the day - 134 in total, his best time was also the 7th fastest.

"Our second day at Paul Ricard proved much more productive," said Executive Director of Engineering Pat Symonds. "Conditions were much more favourable today, and we made good progress with our programme. Tomorrow, we will concentrate on longer runs. We also tested some tyre solutions for Bahrain today."

Testing continues at Paul Ricard tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:11.047 119 2. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:11.211 129 3. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:11.390 30 4. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:11.427 80 5. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:11.520 104 6. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:12.358 31 7. Montagny Renault (M) 1:12.468 134 8. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:12.585 94 9. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:12.641 110

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