Heidfeld outpaces Ferrari at Mugello

World Champion Michael Schumacher was on hand on Saturday to put further miles on the Maranello team's second completed 2001 chassis. The German was forced to stop for almost three hours after an engine problem, but managed to set a best time of 1m23.780s. Sauber's F1 rookie Kim Raikkonen was 0.438s behind after 40 laps in the Ferrari-engined C20.

It was all change on Sunday as Heidfeld drove for Sauber and Ferrari number two Rubens Barrichello took over to try various set-ups in the new car. While the Brazilian managed to get down to within 0.299s of his team mate's time from the previous day, Heidfeld completed 78 laps and finished the day almost half a second ahead of Schumacher.

"This test confirmed the reliability of our cars and we were pleased that Nick beat the lap record," said test team manager Jacky Eckelaert. "It was a good plan to come to Mugello and it gave us a chance to run with useful tyre specifications for Melbourne."

Ferrari continue testing at the Tuscan circuit alone on Monday with Barricehllo in the car for the morning session and Schumacher taking over for the afternoon.


Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, B 1m23.780s 45
Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber-Petronas, B 1m24.218s 40


Nick Heidfeld,Sauber-Petronas, B 1m23.364s 77
Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, B 1m24.079s 84