Coulthard still on top at Magny-Cours test

Despite a non-points finish in Montreal, the Scot has proved his pace by outpacing team-mate Mika Hakkinen, running Ferrari's Michael Schumacher close for pole in Canada and now outpacing the German during testing. Schumacher was 0.14s behind Coulthard.

Jean Alesi was third fastest at Prost Grand Prix's 'home' track, 0.16s ahead of fourth placed Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello and Benetton's Alexander Wurz completed the top six in fifth and sixth place respectively.

Observers at the test insist that Heinz-Harald Frenzten's Jordan was using the C-spec Honda engine today, which is identical in specification to the unit used by Honda works team British American Racing. If that was the case, it didn't seem to make an immediate difference as Ricardo Zonta finished the day 0.05s faster in his BAR than the Jordan-Mugens of Frentzen and Trulli, but Frentzen is tipped to run the unit again tomorrow.

Pedro De La Rosa replaced Jos Verstappen in the Arrows after the Dutchman wrote off an A21 chassis following an off at the Estoril corner yesterday. Verstappen was seventh fastest yesterday, but De La Rosa ended up with slowest time of the day, some 3.5s off Coulthard's time, after the team spent the bulk of the day readying his chassis for use.


1 Coulthard McLaren 1m15.997s 53
2 Schumacher M. Ferrari 1m16.138s 72
3 Trulli Jordan 1m16.323s 38
4 Alesi Prost 1m16.335s 11
5 Hakkinen McLaren 1m16.483s 36
6 Barrichello Ferrari 1m16.703s 40
7 Wurz Benetton 1m16.965s 61
8 Zonta BAR 1m17.068s 69
9 Frentzen Jordan 1m17.146s 31
10 Fisichella Benetton 1m17.451s 33
11 Irvine Jaguar 1m17.576s 61
12 Salo Sauber 1m17.647s 43
13 Herbert Jaguar 1m17.769s 67
14 Button Williams 1m17.778s 71
15 Schumacher R. Williams 1m17.974s 29
16 Heidfeld Prost 1m18.505s 51
17 Lemarie BAR 1m18.866s 52
18 de la Rosa Arrows 1m20.489s 9