New Ferrari Fastest Again at Barcelona - Day Four

The Ferrari team again showed the speed of their F2002 car by topping the timesheets on the fourth day of testing at the Barcelona circuit.

Testing today continued with the presence of FIA president Max Mosley, who visited the Spanish circuit and flew around the track on a helicopter to check the work being carried out on the new grandstands.

After Michael Schumacher had gone quickest on Thursday, it was teammate Rubens Barrichello who topped the times today with the new machine. Schumacher completed a race distance without any technical problems, while Barrichello concentrated on set-up work, being more than half a second faster than the German.

Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer continued with a development programme for new Bridgestone tyres, driving the updated version of last year's F2001. The Italian finished behind Olivier Panis in the BAR and Alexander Wurz in the McLaren MP4-16B, a revised version of last year's machine. Scot David Coulthard, working with this year's MP4-17, was sixth quickest.

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa was joined today by Jaguar teammate Eddie Irvine, as both continued with the comparison work between the new R3 and last year's R2 chassis. De la Rosa was the fastest of the two at the wheel of the Cosworth-powered R3, and the team said they would decide tonight which car they will use at the San Marino Grand Prix next month.

Williams test driver Marc Gene was eighth quickest on a very busy day for him, completing nearly two Grand Prix distances with the FW23B to finish ahead of Ralf Schumacher in the FW24. Williams will artificially soak the circuit tomorrow to do some wet weather tyre testing.

Following two difficult days, the Renault team today completed a more productive programme on Friday. Having solved the steering problem which affected the car yesterday, the team spent the morning testing systems on the newly-rebuilt R202-4 chassis.

Briton Jenson Button, who took over from teammate Jarno Trulli, concentrated on setup work in the afternoon, setting the 11th quickest time.

"After a difficult start, we had a much more useful day's running," said Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne. "Although the track was quicker this morning, Jenson nevertheless gathered some useful data on chassis set-up."

Toyota completed their three-day test at the Spanish track, with Mika Salo setting the 12th fastest time at the wheel of the Michelin-shod TF102. The Finn's progress, however, was hampered by a hydraulics problem, but was still happy with the test.

"We were planning some tyres test today but again our job has been interrupted by some problems with the hydraulics," said Salo at the end of day. "In any case we are learning a lot about the car and I am happy with the 2 days I spent in Barcelona.

"Tuesday I will fly to Brazil where I think we can expect a relatively good result because Interlagos will suit the TF102 very well. It's a horsepower circuit, and our engine is good, and you don't have to run maximum downforce."

German Nick Heidfeld driving the Sauber, and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella with the Jordan, were the slowest men today at Barcelona.

"We did a lot of running today," said Heidfeld after setting the 14th fastest time. "Barcelona is one of the toughest tracks on the calendar.

"We never configured the car for quick lap times, but instead focused on race running and were able to gather a great deal of valuable data. There's a lot to cover in our debrief before Brazil."

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:18.256 43 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:18.747 85 3. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:19.452 74 4. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:19.738 49 5. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:19.829 36 6. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:19.838 52 7. De la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.842 51 8. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.871 131 9. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:19.872 102 10. Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:19.886 70 11. Button Renault (M) 1:20.081 48 12. Salo Toyota (M) 1:20.099 54 13. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:20.314 91 14. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:20.416 99 15. Fisichella Jordan-Honda (B) 1:21.262 80 All Timing Unofficial

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