Pizzonia Leads the Way at Valencia - Day One

Formula One teams got back to work two days after the Spanish Grand Prix, kicking off a four-day test at the Valencia circuit in Southern Spain.

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, working at the wheel of the Michelin-shod Williams-BMW chassis, was the fastest of the four men on track on Tuesday after completing 95 laps.

"A useful day working on cooling options, brake tests and a small amount of tyre work," said Williams test team manager Tim Newton. "We were happy with the reliability of the car and Antonio's performance"

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz was the busiest driver, completing a total of 101 laps with the Mercedes-powered MP4-17. The Austrian was slightly slower than Pizzonia's time.

The Woking-based team were the only ones working with two cars today, with Briton Darren Turner using an updated version of last year's MP4-16. Turner, however, did not set a time.

Brazilian Felipe Massa, who scored his best result this season with a fifth place at Barcelona last Sunday, was the only racing driver in action at Barcelona today. The young rookie completed 59 laps and finished as third quickest with the Sauber.

"Today we spent quite a lot of time trying different mechanical set-ups on the car, and I was able to do ten simulated racing starts to hone the launch control system," said Massa. "I like the Valencia track, and I'm looking forward to pushing hard again tomorrow as we continue our programme."

Spaniard Fernando Alonso finished at the bottom of the timesheets with a new Renault chassis that made its debut today.

"Now I can start my real job as a test driver because up until now it was hard sharing the car with the two official drivers," said Alonso at the end of the day. "This test is very important for me and for the team because we are testing new things that could be used within two Grands Prix."

Testing at Valencia resumes on Wednesday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.711 95 2. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.111 101 3. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:13.475 59 4. Alonso Renault (M) 1:13.505 80 All Timing Unofficial

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