Ferrari Duo Dominate at Barcelona - Day Three

Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher posted the quickest time on the third day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.

After a shaky start on Tuesday, when he crashed into the tyre barriers during his first lap, the German five-time champion proved to be back in form today, setting a quickest time of 1:17.204 to finish less than half a second ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Both men, driving the F2002 chassis, continued with the tyre programme started on Tuesday. Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer was also on track today, the Italian completing 39 laps on his way to the fourth fastest time behind Canadian Jacques Villeneuve.

The 1997 World Champion, who tested the new BAR 005 for the first time yesterday, continued to show a promising pace with the Honda-powered car. Villeneuve completed 56 laps and was slightly over 1.5 seconds off the pace of the dominant Schumacher.

Jaguar's Antonio Pizzonia was fifth quickest in the recently-launched R4 chassis. The Brazilian rookie drove the new machine for the first time today and could complete 46 laps despite suffering a mechanical problem halfway through the session. His car stopped on track with smoke coming out of the back and the session had to be red-flagged in order to remove the car.

Briton Jenson Button, driving the second BAR 005, was sixth quickest some four tenths of a second behind teammate Villeneuve, while Australian Mark Webber, using last year's Jaguar R3 finished at the bottom of the times.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was unable to test today, as some modified components for his Jordan EJ13 did not arrive on time.

Testing at Barcelona continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:17.204 90 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:17.606 54 3. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:18.799 56 4. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:18.845 39 5. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.126 46 6. Button BAR-Honda (B) 1:19.148 20 7. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.834 29 All Timing Unofficial

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