Hakkinen Tops Times at Valencia - Day Two

McLaren's Mika Hakkinen topped the time sheets on the second day of testing at the Valencia circuit in Spain, only three days after one on the biggest disappointment of his Formula One career at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he retired on the final lap while leading.

However, the two time world champion demonstrated on Wednesday he is determined to fight back by posting the fastest time of the day at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in southern Spain, where the teams enjoyed much better weather than on Tuesday, when a thunderstorm hampered their day's work.

Hakkinen was nearly four tenths quicker than McLaren team mate David Coulthard, who replaced test driver Alexander Wurz at the wheel of the Mercedes-powered MP4-16. German Ralf Schumacher also joined the session today, working for the Williams team alongside Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya. They were third and fourth quickest respectively.

"In the morning I did some tyres testing for Michelin, trying out different compounds for the Austrian Grand Prix," said Schumacher. "My programme today has also included some aero work. Tomorrow our plan is to do a race simulation."

Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was fifth driving the team's R2, edging Benetton's test driver Mark Webber, who continued working with the 2000-spec B200. Luciano Burti was seventh fastest for the Prost team, outpacing team mate Jean Alesi, who set the ninth quickest time of the day behind Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa driving the second Jaguar.

Benetton's Jenson Button continued to struggle with this year's B201, posting the slowest time of the session, nearly four seconds behind Hakkinen.

Testing at Valencia will resume on Thursday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:13.495 2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:13.849 3. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.536 4. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.609 5. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:15.432 6. Webber Benetton-Renault (M) 1:15.893 7. Burti Prost-Acer (M) 1:16.143 8. De la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:16.144 9. Alesi Prost-Acer (M) 1:16.184 10. Button Benetton-Renault (M) 1:18.090 All Timing Unofficial