Ralf Sets the Pace at Valencia - Day Five

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher set the quickest time of the session on the fifth day of testing at the Valencia circuit.

The German driver, who for the first time tried driving with his new glasses, completed a total of 100 laps to finish the day nearly one second ahead of Frenchman Olivier Panis in the first of the BARs. The Brackley-based squad continued working with their first two 004 chassis, with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve driving the second Honda-powered car.

Mika Salo put an end to Toyota's testing programme at the Ricardo Tormo circuit by completing 72 laps at the wheel of the Michelin-shod TF102. The Finn, who set the sixth quickest time of the day, and his team were pleased with their progress during the four days.

"Well we have made some small progress, chipping away in different areas and getting better lap by lap," said Toyota's technical director Gustav Brunner. "We move to Paul Ricard next week where we will concentrate on long runs and reliability before we return to Barcelona the week after to continue our test programme."

The Minardi team concluded today their four-day test at Valencia, again with both Australian Mark Webber and Dutch Christijan Albers at the wheel of last year's PS01 chassis. Webber, who impressed team boss Paul Stoddart with his performance, was again able to lap within the 1m16s bracket.

"It's certainly great to be back in Formula One testing after the winter break," said Webber. "I really enjoyed working with this new team and the Minardi F1 PS01 chassis. The car ran very reliably which gives me the confidence to push harder. I'm very happy and feel pleased to help the team."

Albers was the slowest driver again today, nearly a second behind Webber. The Dutch, however, completed only 11 laps compared to the Australian's 34.

"I did not know this track and honestly it hasn't been so easy to learn the circuit so quickly," added Albers. "However, I'm pretty satisfied with the work we have done yesterday and today."

Testing at the Spanish circuit continues on Saturday, when the Ferrari team will be working alongside Williams and BAR.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:12.997 100 2. Panis BAR-Honda (B) 1:13.771 79 3. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:13.897 57 4. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:14.023 34 5. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.098 59 6. Salo Toyota (M) 1:14.661 74 7. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:15.102 63 8. Webber Minardi-European (M) 1:16.730 34 9. Albers Minardi-European (M) 1:17.620 11 All Timing Unofficial