Coulthard Quickest at Barcelona - Day One

McLaren's David Coulthard set the pace on the first day of testing at the Barcelona circuit, where six Formula One teams kicked off their preparation work for the British Grand Prix next week.

On a day with temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius, the Scot driver, at the wheel of the Michelin-shod MP4-17, lead a closely matched field, with all eight drivers being covered by only one second.

Coulthard, however, was nearly half a second quicker than Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, whose Williams team worked with two cars, the second driven by Spaniard Marc Gene.

"We've concentrated on set-up work to try to solve the problems we experienced at the Nurburgring and we are finding positive solutions," said Gene, who was sixth quickest, at the end of the day. "This track and the weather also help us evaluate the tyres."

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz was fourth fastest, behind German Nick Heidfeld in the only Sauber present today at Barcelona.

"It has been a very constructive day for us," said Heidfeld. "We completed considerably more than a Grand Prix distance in total. I am pleased with what we were able to accomplish. I am now leaving for Vairano and for the next two days I will be completing some straightline aerodynamic validation with the rest of the test team."

Briton Jenson Button was fifth fastest, as the Renault team concentrated on basic set-up work for the circuit and systems development.

"A typical first day's testing which allowed us to commence our four-day programme this week at Barcelona," commented Renault's technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Jordan's Takuma Sato and Enrique Bernoldi with the Arrows finished at the bottom of the timesheets.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:19.494 59 2. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.008 104 3. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:20.129 86 4. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:20.170 73 5. Button Renault (M) 1:20.257 44 6. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:20.277 79 7. Sato Jordan-Honda (B) 1:20.458 95 8. Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth (B) 1:20.495 34 All Timing Unofficial

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