Flying Dutchman sets pace at Silverstone test

The Dutchman went 1.21s faster than second fastest time of 1m24.99s set by Eddie Irvine, who was carrying out general set up work on his Jaguar in the run up to the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend. Also in a Jaguar was test driver Luciano Burti who took over from Johnny Herbert, concentrating on aerodynamic work.

Mika Salo went third fastest in his Sauber, which had a new qualifying version of the team's Petronas-Ferrari engine. Test driver Antonio Pizzonia was also testing a qualifying engine for the Benetton team, but only managed to complete 29 laps before the engine blew. Alex Wurz also suffered engine problems in the second car while practising starts. The Austrian finished the day fourth fastest.

Jarno Trulli took over from Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the revised Jordan EJ10-B completing the most laps of the day at 73 and posted the fifth fastest time of 1m26.78s. Jacques Villeneuve also carried out development work on the BAR-Honda chassis which is dubbed 'Athena' and incorporates suspension designed with the help of Honda.

Today was the final day of the Silverstone test, but work continues tomorrow for Williams-BMW which is testing at Estoril and is joined by a second BAR test team.

Times from day three of three Silverstone testing

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
J Verstappen Arrows-Supertec 1m24.99s 46
E Irvine Jaguar 1m26.20s 53
M Salo Sauber-Petronas 1m26.23s 67
A Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1m26.29s 18
J Trulli Jordan-Mugen Honda 1m26.78s 73
L Burti Jaguar 1m26.99s 57
P De La Rosa Arrows 1m27.05s 47
J Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1m27.07s 51
A Pizzonia Benetton-Playlife 1m28.25s 29
P Lemarie BAR-Honda 1m28.54s 59