McLaren Trio Dominate at Barcelona - Day Three

The McLaren team were dominant on the third day of testing at the Barcelona circuit in Spain, where all three of the Woking-based outfit's drivers finished on top of the timesheets.

Scot David Coulthard, already fastest in the morning session, kept the top spot with a best lap of 1:15.278, only 12 thousands of a second off the track record set by himself on Tuesday. Coulthard finished ahead of teammates Alexander Wurz and Finn Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn joining the session today after missing the first day of work.

Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen was the fastest of the non-McLaren drivers, the German continuing with the development work of the new Petronas-powered C22. The car, which made its track debut on Monday, showed promising speed, with Frentzen finishing around half a second behind Raikkonen. Frentzen's teammate Nick Heidfeld was eighth fastest in the old C21.

"I was very excited to get my hands on the C22 for the first time today, after the way Nick spoke about it yesterday," said Frentzen. "I have to say he was right. The car feels more stable than the C21 and easier to drive. It's going to be good."

Frenchman Olivier Panis, again at the wheel of the new Toyota TF103, was fifth quickest ahead of the two Williams of Marc Gene and Juan Pablo Montoya, who both continued to work on components for the FW25, which will be unveiled later this month in Barcelona. Panis's day, however, was hampered by mechanical problems.

"The car continued to show a very promising level of performance but we encountered various problems, which shortened our on-track time," said Panis. "We could not complete as many laps as we expected today and, in that respect, I am not so happy.

"I am not worried by these difficulties though, they are typical from the first tests you do with a new car and we are effectively carrying out a sort of large shakedown. Everything should be fine for tomorrow."

The Grove-based squad worked with three drivers, with Olivier Beretta standing in for Ralf Schumacher, who is to skip testing during January due to problems with his back. Brazilian Cristiano da Matta continued acclimatising to the requirements of a Formula One car, the CART champion finishing the day as ninth fastest at the wheel of the hybrid TF102B.

"Overall I am extremely pleased with the work we have done today. I have had a much more productive session, probably one of the most effective I had with the team so far," said da Matta at the end of the day.

"We did some work on mechanical car set-up, as well as some Michelin tyre testing. It feels good to cover so many kilometres, even in the TF102B, to get a real feel for the car and to get to know the track."

Briton Jenson Button finished in tenth position on his first day of work with the new Honda-powered 005 BAR, which was unveiled yesterday. Button completed a total of 28 laps and was happy with the car.

"We covered 14 laps this morning and the car feels well-balanced already," he said after the morning session. "It's really just shakedown work we're doing today; we aren't spending time on set-up yet. There've been no problems so we're quite pleased. So far so good."

Australian Mark Webber, joining the test today, wound up 11th fastest with the only Jaguar R3 on track today, while Renault drivers Fernando Alonso and Allan McNish finished at the bottom of the times. The Scot, a former Toyota driver, was making his debut as the French squad's test driver today, standing in for Italian Jarno Trulli, who was feeling unwell.

"An unpredictable day of testing for the team," said Renault's Mike Gascoyne. "While Fernando continued to do suspension evaluation in the R202-02, which he started in Jerez last week, Jarno was not able to test at all due to not feeling well.

"Luckily, our new test driver Allan McNish was at hand and so he took over Jarno's seat, for the day. It was his first drive with the team and it was a good opportunity to shakedown the car so early and start getting to know the team."

Testing continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.278 38 2. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.756 65 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.158 37 4. Frentzen Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:16.656 75 5. Panis Toyota (M) 1:16.884 33 6. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.115 67 7. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.278 74 8. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.775 30 9. Da Matta Toyota (M) 1:18.124 95 10. Button BAR-Honda (B) 1:18.388 28 11. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:18.732 73 12. Beretta Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.395 45 13. Alonso Renault (M) 1:20.515 46 14. McNish Renault (M) 1:21.157 24 All Timing Unofficial

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