Coulthard flies in Barcelona test

Driving the new McLaren-Mercedes MP4-15, the Scot completed 64 laps, setting a fastest time of 1m21.43s.

The new Jordan again looked promising, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was only 0.4s slower than Coulthard despite losing time with electrical problems.

His team-mate Jarno Trulli ended the day 0.9s off the German's pace after encountering similar difficulties.

Mika Hakkinen was third fastest in McLaren's 1999 car, ahead of the two Saubers, but he was 0.7s slower than Coulthard's best effort in the MP4-15.

Prost, Arrows and Jaguar all had a difficult day. Nick Heidfeld and Jean Alesi shared the sole Prost AP03 present, but near the end of the morning session their test was disrupted by a bizarre incident.

A barge board fell off and went underneath the car, eventually breaking the gearbox. Repairs took some time, meaning that Alesi could only manage 14 laps when he finally got his hands on the car in the afternoon.

Both Jaguars suffered persistent problems with oil pick-up, a fault that Cosworth will now try and resolve. Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert both caused two red flag stoppages each after their cars came to a halt on the circuit.

Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa also had a frustrating day. Cooling problems meant that the Spaniard only completed 30 laps, forced to abandon running while the team waited for new parts to arrive from England.

Testing times from Barcelona: