Ralf Fastest Again at Barcelona - Final Day

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher finished on top of the timesheets on the final day of testing at the Barcelona circuit in Spain.

The German driver had already gone quickest on Thursday, and despite spinning off the track in the morning session due to a wet circuit, Schumacher was capable of recovering well in the afternoon, when the track dried up. The Williams, however, was more than two seconds slower than yesterday.

"From the BMW perspective the Barcelona test was a successful one," said BMW boss Mario Theissen. "Apart from supporting tyre testing and the development programme for the FW25 chassis, we have tested further improvements on the engine with regards to Sao Paulo and completed a race simulation without any problems. "

McLaren's David Coulthard was again second quickest as the Woking-based outfit put more miles on their race-winning MP4-17D chassis. The Championship leaders again worked with two cars, the second driven by Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who finished as seventh fastest after topping the times in the morning session.

Toyota driver Olivier Panis was third with the Michelin-shod TF103, as the Japanese squad concentrated on solving the fuel pressure problems the car suffered in the first two races of the season. The Frenchman finished ahead of Spaniard Marc Gene who, with 108 laps, was the busiest man on track.

"We had a lot of rain this morning but we were still able to make use of this to test wet weather Michelin tyres and it was very productive," said Panis. "Once the track dried up in the afternoon we managed many more kilometres, and generally over the last two days, we have completed a lot of laps and learned a lot for next week's Brazilian race."

World Champion Michael Schumacher was fifth fastest with the Ferrari F2002 after completing 40 laps. The German driver and his team finished the session earlier as, given the poor weather conditions, Ferrari decided to send the F2003-GA back to the Fiorano circuit, where Schumacher will drive it tomorrow alongside test driver Luca Badoer.

Jacques Villeneuve with the BAR and Nick Heidfeld with the Sauber were the only drivers working for the respective teams, with the German finishing at the bottom of the times after being hit by a mechanical problem that cost him a lot of track time.

"The test today was actually planned to function as a synergy of the last two days and was supposed to confirm the data gathered so far," said Jacky Eeckelaert, Sauber's head of vehicle engineering. "However, the weather and track conditions changed quite a bit today from completely wet to completely dry and therefore it turned out to be difficult to back-check and compare the data of the last days.

"In addition to that Nick's car experienced a mechanical problem in the afternoon at a time when the track finally became dry which had perfectly fitted our intentions. Unluckily, the defect could only be fixed just 15 minutes before the test finished and by that time it started to drizzle again."

Formula One teams will not return to the Barcelona track until the Spanish Grand Prix in May.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:17.591 53 2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:18.258 61 3. Panis Toyota (M) 1:18.687 63 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:18.728 108 5. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:19.051 40 6. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:19.793 65 7. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:20.417 75 8. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:20.818 36 All Timing Unofficial

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