Monza test, day 2: DC forced out

McLaren's Scottish star, who lies second to Michael Schumacher in the World Championship, had been scheduled to take over from test driver Alex Wurz today, but couldn't due to food poisoning. He will likely be out of action for the rest of the week.

With Coulthard out of action, it was the Williams-BMW team which dominated the day's times with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya monopolising the top two spots.

The German finished on top, just over half a second ahead of Montoya, and while the Grove-based team's pace is not in question, its reliability still seems to be a problem, with Schumacher Jr getting through another BMW V10 - his second engine failure in as many days.

All the drivers set their best times in the morning session as the day's running was interrupted by heavy rain in the afternoon. After waiting to see what the Italian weather was going to do, the teams set about working on rain set-ups once the rain looked like it was set to stay.

Alex Wurz finished third fastest in the sole McLaren-Mercedes, but the drama of the day was provided by fourth-placed man Jarno Trulli. The Italian was approaching the Ascari chicane when the rear wing fell off his Jordan-Honda. He took to the gravel, but miraculously avoided the barriers and managed to limp his way back to the pits, albeit minus his rear aerofoil.

"I was really lucky not have hit anything," said Trulli afterwards. "I managed to control the car somehow and come back to the pits."

Trulli bravely took to the track again afterwards, working on the brakes and evaluating further new rear wing configurations on his EJ11.

The Jaguar's of Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa finished fifth and sixth, but there was literally nothing to choose between them as both wound up with an identical time of 1m25.366s.

After setting the second fastest time yesterday, Olivier Panis' BAR was thwarted by engine and gearbox problems and the Frenchman was seventh today. Close behind was Honda stablemate Ricardo Zonta in the second Jordan. The Brazilian is thought to have been using a tuned version of the Honda V10, which has been adapted to the high speed Monza circuit in preparation for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 10 day's time.

Rubens Barrichello took up the reins for the Ferrari team in a new F2001, following Michael Schumacher's crash yesterday. The Maranello number two completed only 13 laps of set-up work before the rain came.

The Minardi team arrived at the Monza track for a rare test session and Alex Yoong was back behind the wheel of a PS01, further fuelling speculation that the young Malaysian could be set to take Tarso Marques' race seat. Yoong finished a distant seven seconds off the pace, but was forced to wear an unfamiliar helmet due to losing his luggage at the airport on his way to Italy.

Nick Heidfeld took over from Sauber team mate Kimi Raikkonen at the Valencia circuit in Spain and set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1m14.385s. The German's time was 1.3s faster than Raikkonen's from the previous day and a full second ahead of BAR test driver Patrick Lemarie, who was also at the track.

"We did a lot of laps today," said Heidfeld. "I am encouraged by our performance and the fact that we had a completely trouble free day. The car felt good and the traction was certainly better in the tight corners."

Luca Badoer continued electronic development work in a second Ferrari at Fiorano and did 73 tours of the Italian team's private test track. Badoer carried out 16 practice starts and set a best time of 1m00.412s


Ralf Schumacher, Williams-BMW M, 1m23.944s, 32 laps
Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW M, 1m24.461, 29 laps
Alex Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m25.008s, 44 laps
Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda B, 1m25.127s, 53 laps
Eddie Irvine, Jaguar M, 1m25.366s 13 laps
Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar M, 1m25.366s 77 laps
Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda B, 1m25.820s, 45 laps
Ricardo Zonta, Jordan-Honda B, 1m26.084s, 65 laps
Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton-Renault M, 1m26.269s, 41 laps
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault M, 1m26.550s, 25 laps
Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari B, 1m27.327, 12 laps
Alex Yoong, Minardi-European M, 1m30.928, 37 laps
Fernando Alonso, Minardi-European M, No time set


Nick Heidfeld, Sauber-Petronas B, 1m14.385s, 88 laps
Patrick Lemarie, BAR-Honda B, 1m15.302, 75 laps