Jerez 2: Barrichello quickest
Rubens Barrichello set the fastest time for Ferrari on the second day of testing at Jerez today (Tuesday), although running was once again hampered by heavy rain at the Spanish circuit
The Brazilian set a best time of 1m26.105s but only completed 11 laps of the soaking track. Because of this, the Italian team failed to make any in-roads into its planned dry weather test programme. Luca Badoer was also due to run for the team, but simply didn't take to the track given the conditions.
The rain forced all the Michelin runners to use the manufacturer's extreme wet weather tyres, and also caused a rash of red flags due to cars aquaplaning off the circuit. Cristiano da Matta, Rubens Barrichello, Marc Gene and Takuma Sato all brought running to a halt after spinning off.
Sato was second quickest in BAR's concept car, with the team's test driver Anthony Davidson fifth fastest in the team's 2003 machine. Felipe Massa was an excellent third quickest for Sauber.
Juan Pablo Montoya was the fastest of the Williams drivers present in fourth. Both the Colombian and team-mate Marc Gene (in the team's 2004 hybrid) conducted some wet tyre set-up work.
Another driver to fail to take to the track at all was Satoshi Motoyama, who was due to run for Renault this afternoon, until the team decided that the conditions were simply too bad. The French manufacturer had a quiet day, with Franck Montagny completing 25 laps and Fernando Alonso just seven.
McLaren also found its running severely hampered. Pedro de la Rosa found the MP4-17D a handful in the conditions, while Alex Wurz completed just four laps in the new MP4-19.
The Jaguar duo of Mark Webber and Christian Klien attempted to make the most of the conditions, each completing over 40 laps while working on wet tyre and set-up work.
Toyota's Olivier Panis (sporting a new helmet design) summed up the frustrations of many drivers when he said: "We achieved nothing useful today. We did some mileage on the gearbox and engine, but nothing useful. We just really need dry conditions."
Ironically, the rain stopped and the sun came out right as the track closed at 5pm local time, much to the chagrin of many teams and drivers. Thankfully, fine weather is forecast for tomorrow.
Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 1m26.105s 11
Takuma Sato BAR-Honda (hybrid car) M 1m26.758s 17
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 1m26.918s 18
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m27.423s 44
Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda M 1m27.781s 36
Franck Montagny Renault M 1m27.788s 17
Mark Webber Jaguar M 1m27.861s 36
Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes M 1m28.485s
Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m28.688s 7
Marc Gene Williams-BMW (hybrid car) M 1m28.742s 30
Olivier Panis Toyota (hybrid car) M 1m29.618s 29
Christian Klien Jaguar M 1m30.544s 40
Cristiano da Matta Toyota M 1m32.042s 27
Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m33.726s 4**
B = Bridgestone
M = Michelin
** denotes 2004 car
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