Coulthard Fastest at Monza

McLaren's David Coulthard set the fastest time on the second day of Formula One testing at the Monza circuit in Italy.

The Scot clocked the fastest lap during the morning session before heavy rain fell during the afternoon, making it impossible for the drivers to improve their times.

Ricardo Zonta was second fastest in his BAR-Honda, while Belgian Grand Prix winner Mika Hakkinen joined his teammate at the test, and set the third quickest time of the day.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Jordan, Jacques Villeneuve in the second BAR, and Jarno Trulli in the other Jordan were fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, showing their Honda engines are amongst the most powerful.

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher also was present, the German being tenth fastest in the dry but lapping two seconds quicker than his nearest rival when rain hit the track.

A total of nineteen out of the 22 Grand Prix drivers tested at Monza, and only Prost's Jean Alesi, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa from the Arrows team were absent.

The morning session had to be red flagged after Giancarlo Fisichella suffered a terrifying shunt when his Benetton's brakes failed to work at the Ascari chicane. The Italian had to lay on the ground for a couple of minutes before he was taken to the medical centre.

"I started braking but the pedal wasn't working. I only remember steering so that I crashed with the tail end of the car," said Fisichella, who only suffered bruises on his elbows and knees.

Yesterday, Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer praised the modifications made to the track, but today both Coulthard and Frentzen criticised the revised first chicane.

"I don't want to criticise circuits that spend a lot of money but this isn't a racing curve," complained the Scot. "It's too tight and narrow, it won't make overtaking any easier and it could become dangerous."

"The chicane, which was modified in order to avoid bottlenecks at the start of the races, is now easier to cut, according to Frentzen. "At least ten cars are going to go straight on at the start," the German said. "Maybe we should start the race behind the safety car like last Sunday at Spa."

Teams will continue working tomorrow, for the third of the four day test at Monza.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.054 43 2. Zonta BAR-Honda 1:26.264 42 3. Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.339 32 4. Frentzen Jordan-Mugen Honda 1:26.417 49 5. Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:26.506 65 6. Trulli Jordan-Mugen Honda 1:26.557 47 7. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:26.634 15 8. Verstappen Arrows-Supertec 1:26.701 52 9. Gene Minardi-Fondmetal 1:26.764 63 10. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:26.842 65 11. Button Williams-BMW 1:26.847 28 12. Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:26.918 28 13. Salo Sauber-Petronas 1:26.955 34 14. Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:27.029 29 15. Barrichello Ferrari 1:27.227 50 16. Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1:27.576 48 17. Mazzacane Minardi-Fondmetal 1:27.609 28 18. Herbert Jaguar-Cosworth 1:28.182 31 19. Heidfeld Prost-Peugeot 1:28.185 49 All Timing Unofficial