Montoya Leads the Way at Barcelona - Day Four

Colombian Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya set the pace on the fourth consecutive day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

Montoya, working with the new FW26, set a quickest time of 1:14.804, over a second slower than the track record set by Japanese Takuma Sato at the start of the week. The Williams driver finished ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who was once again testing the new Renault R24, completing more than a Grand Prix distance for the third consecutive day.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, now confirmed as Williams' fourth driver, today made his debut at the wheel of the new BMW-powered FW26 car. He was joined by Nelsinho Piquet, who after skipping yesterday's session, was back in action with last year's FW25.

Pizzonia was third fastest while Piquet finished in sixth, behind Renault's test driver Franck Montagny in the R23 chassis.

Frenchman Olivier Panis became the second Formula One driver to end up in hospital in the last 24 hours following Felipe Massa's accident on Wednesday. Toyota driver Panis lost the back of his car at the fast third corner of the Spanish circuit and crashed heavily against the tyre barriers.

The French veteran was able to get out of the car by himself but had to be taken to a Barcelona hospital for further checks after he complained of vision problems. His Brazilian teammate Cristiano da Matta continued testing after Panis's accident and posted the fifth fastest time of the session.

The McLaren-Mercedes team continued to struggle for pace with their new MP4-19 car. Scot David Coulthard finished as seventh quickest while the team's test driver Alexander Wurz was the slowest man of the day after 64 laps.

Testing at Barcelona concludes tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.804 50 2. Alonso Renault (M) 1:15.080 75 3. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.112 51 4. Montagny Renault (M) 1:15.170 75 5. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:15.705 96 6. Piquet Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.809 51 7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:15.908 51 8. Panis Toyota (M) 1:15.911 37 9. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.022 64 All Timing Unofficial

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