Magny-Cours test, day 2: Schuey Jr still on top

Schumacher demoted the Ferraris of Rubens Barrichello and his brother Michael into second and third places.

Schumacher Jr smashed the French track's lap record on Tuesday and although his time was slower today (Wednesday) due to a searing track temperature of 55 degrees C, his quickest lap was still good enough to put him top.

Ralf spent much of the day evaluating tyre compounds for Michelin and the French rubber seemed to stand up better to the hot weather than the Bridgestone tyres used by Ferrari.

Barrichello took second place ahead of his team mate, while Schumacher Sr concentrated on finding a set-up for the French Grand Prix circuit. The world champion also carried out some aerodynamic development before moving on to tyre work in the afternoon.

Eddie Irvine did much to maintain morale in the Jaguar garage by going fourth fastest. Irvine was fifth yesterday and notched up a podium finish in Monaco on Sunday, but it is not known whether the Ulsterman's pace in France can be attributed to the Big Cat's aerodynamic revisions or the development tyres from Michelin.

Olivier Panis seemed to get to grips with the harder Bridgestone tyres better than his British American Racing team mate Jacques Villeneuve, by finishing fifth, while the 1997 world champion finished ninth.

David Coulthard was hampered by gearbox problems during the morning session and did not make it out onto the track until the afternoon. The Scot finished a disappointing sixth fastest.

Ricardo Zonta was seventh and he, too, only ran in the afternoon as the Jordan drivers had a quick round of musical chairs. Heinz-Harald Frentzen had been due to take over from the Brazilian today and completed 11 laps in the morning, but felt too dizzy due to after-effects from a 160mph shunt during Sunday's Monaco GP. Frentzen then flew back to his Monaco apartment at lunch time in his private jet, which picked up Zonta, who had just returned home after testing yesterday, to take him back to Magny-Cours.

Pedro de la Rosa finished eighth in the second Jaguar after completing several endurance runs, including one of 25 laps, for more tyre evaluation.

Prost GP's Luciano Burti (11th fastest) caused the day's only red flag when his Acer-badged customer Ferrari engine spectacularly blew up causing the Brazilian to spin off the track, breaking the undertray on his AP04 in the process.

Enrique Bernoldi was equally unlucky after an engine problem with his Arrows-AMT kept him in the pits for most of the morning. When the Brazilian finally made it out onto the track he completed just one lap before his engine and gearbox expired.


Ralf Schumacher, Williams-BMW M, 1m15.24s, 61 laps
Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari B, 1m15.39s, 78 laps
Michael Schumacher, Ferrari B, 1m15.52s, 79 laps
Eddie Irvine, Jaguar M, 1m15.56s, 57 laps
Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda B, 1m15.67s, 81 laps
David Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m15.76s, 31 laps
Ricardo Zonta, Jordan-Honda B, 1m15.81s, 34 laps (PM only)
Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar M, 1m15.90s, 70 laps
Jacques Villeneuve, BAR-Honda B, 1m16.00s, 79 laps
Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda B, 1m16.40s, 100 laps
Luciano Burti, Prost-Acer M, 1m16.79s, 58 laps
Jos Verstappen, Arrows-AMT B, 1m16.82s, 58 laps
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault M, 1m17.03s, 51 laps
Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan-Honda B, 1m17.19s, 11 laps (AM only)
Enrique Bernoldi, Arrows-AMT B, 1m17.35s, 32 laps
M - Michelin
B - Bridgestone