F1 testing day two: Heidfeld holds onto top spot

Sauber's Heidfeld spent most of the morning trading the top spot with Jordan's Jarno Trulli and a decreasing track temperature in the afternoon ensured the young German's time would not be beaten.

"Today was another good day," said Heidfeld, "I completed over 100 laps and also posted the fastest time this morning. We mainly worked on the different tyre choices."

The top five fastest men of the day were all using the latest Bridgestone tyres as part of a development programme for 2001 rubber.

With McLaren-Mercedes race driver David Coulthard in fourth place, test driver Alex Wurz spent much of the day concentrating on the development of the new Ilmor-built Mercedes V10.

Finnish hotshoe Kimi Raikkonen set the seventh fastest time, but had to cut short his running before the afternoon session had finished due to a problem with the 20-year-old's Petronas-badged Ferrari engine.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan-Honda) was closest to the group of five on development tyres and finished 0.210s behind fifth-placed Jacques Villeneuve's BAR-Honda. Frentzen had a new Mugen-Honda engine fitted to his Jordan midway through the afternoon and then proceeded to complete two 17-lap stints.

A broken driveshaft left second fastest man Jarno Trulli stranded in the middle of the Circuit de Catalunya's main straight. A tow to the pits and immediate repairs enabled the Italian to do another 10-lap run before the session came to a close.

British Formula 3 ace Takuma Sato took over the second BAR-Honda from Mark Hynes and bettered the Englishman's morning time by six tenths of a second.

"Considering I've had a year out of racing I think my time was respectable," said Hynes. "I felt I progressed from yesterday and learned a lot more as I went along, which will be good for whenever I get another chance. I need to find another tenth on the brakes and find some time in the quick stuff, but it's all coming together after only about 50 laps. It went well and I feel good about it."

Sato, who has signed to drive for Carlin Motorsport in F3 next year, kept the crews on the pit-wall awake after running wide at the last 140 mph corner onto the pit straight. The Japanese star just managed to collect the BAR 02 without hitting the barrier and returned to the track unscathed.

Wet weather Michelin testing continued at Estoril in Portugal with Ralf Schumacher setting the fastest time despite completing just 12 laps in his Williams-BMW. The German was closely followed by 2001 team mate Juan Pablo Montoya in second and Jenson Button was third for Benetton.

Running was restricted by a lack of rain in the morning, but as soon as tankers had finished wetting the track after lunch, a heavy downpour water-logged the track. The cars were not able to run until after 1500 (BST).

Testing continues at both venues tomorrow.


1 Nick Heidfeld (Sauber-Petronas) 1m20.132s 101
2 Jarno Trulli (Jordan-Mugen Honda) 1m20.207s 43
3 Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) 1m20.282s 61
4 David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) 1m20.331s 94
5 Jacques Villeneuve (BAR-Honda) 1m20.474s 95
6 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan-Mugen Honda) 1m20.664s 67
7 Alex Wurz * (McLaren-Mercedes) 1m20.852s 58
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Sauber-Petronas) 1m21.045s 43
9 Antonio Pizzonia * (Arrows-AMT) 1m22.520s 63
10 Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda) 1m23.480s 34
11 Mark Hynes * (BAR-Honda) 1m24.158s 21 33



1 Ralf Schumacher (Williams-BMW) 1m31.09s 12
2 Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW) 1m31.90s 35
3 Jenson Button (Benetton-Renault) 1m31.97s 36
4 Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) 1m32.11 29s
5 Luciano Burti (Jaguar) 1m32.53 20s
6 Marc Gene * (Williams-BMW) 1m33.05s 28