Panis fastest in test shock!

The Frenchman, who is set to drive for BAR in 2001, topped day one of the three day test by the slimmest of margins - a mere three and a half seconds over Jordan's Heinz Harald Frentzen...

Jos Verstappen was third quickest in the Arrows-Supertec, a whisker behind Frentzen, while the real news of the day was the first F1 appearance of Tomas Scheckter in the Jaguar R1 (see separate story).

The South African acquitted himself well on what was also his first drive on the full Grand Prix circuit. He was less than a second off regular test driver Luciano Burti in the morning, but trailed the Brazilian by around a second and a half by the day's end.

Splitting the Jaguars was WilliamsF1 tester and Formula 3000 title favourite Bruno Junqueira, who completed 55 laps with a best time some four seconds adrift of Panis.


1 Panis McLaren 1m23.945 - 48 laps
2 Frentzen Jordan 1m27.252 - 26 laps
3 Verstappen Arrows 1m27.380 - 39 laps
4 Burti Jaguar 1m27.788 - 34 laps
5 Junqueira Williams 1m27.846 - 55 laps
6 Scheckter Jaguar 1m29.447 - 40 laps