Schumacher Fastest at Monza - Day Three (Updated)

Ferrari World Champion Michael Schumacher was fastest at the end of the third day of testing at Monza, Italy, where all ten Formula One teams continued testing today ahead of the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.

Schumacher, who clocked a 1:21.286, was less than a tenth faster than Championship rival, Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Some half a second behind Schumacher was third Championship rival, McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen.

Schumacher, along with Ferrari teammate Luca Badoer, concentrated today on endurance testing and tyre evaluation. Teammate Rubens Barrichello concentrated on tyre development and establishing a good set-up, the team said.

Ferrari, Williams and McLaren continue testing tomorrow, while the other teams have concluded their testing today.

Fourth fastest was Fernando Alonso of Renault, his teammate Jarno Trulli ending sixth fastest. The team focused on tyre testing along with the other Michelin partners. "We completed a very positive day’s testing," said Technical Director Mike Gascoyne. "Both drivers focused on their set-ups and we are confident that they made good progress."

BAR concluded an exhaustive testing session today, Jacques Villeneuve commenting this evening: "We have had a very productive test. We have completed a lot of laps over the three days and done a lot of work. I've mainly concentrated on the tyre programme with Bridgestone and we have found some tyres that should be good for the race weekend. We also tested some new aero bits that worked really well."

"The tyres we found should be a step forward and we also worked out a differential glitch that we had experienced in the last couple of races," added teammate Jenson Button. "Overall, the car looked good in testing. Over one lap we were very fast and now we just have to work on set-up and getting the car absolutely right for race day."

BAR's technical director, Geoff Willis, concluded: "This has been an encouraging test and we have completed over 5,000kms with four cars over three days. The main focus has been on an extensive range of new tyre compounds and constructions, both for Monza and for longer-term development.

"We have found some good compounds for the Monza race and have successfully tested the new low-downforce package, which has given us the performance improvement we predicted. Coupled with our aero testing in France the team has successfully run four cars in two separate locations â€" a good sign of the team’s determination to fight to the end of the season."

Toyota, who is currently challenging BAR's fifth spot on the Constructors' Championship table, also concluded a three-day testing session today. "We completed a reasonable amount of running today and continued our Monza preparation programme, working both on mechanical and also aerodynamic set-ups," commented Olivier Panis.

"I think our TF103 car will be reasonably competitive at the Italian Grand Prix, but it should be noted that every team has been testing here this week, so we will not really know until next weekend where we are in comparison to everyone else."

For Cristiano da Matta, the testing session at Monza offered a first drive on the Italian track. "I have never driven an F1 car at Monza prior to this week's test, and although it is a very fast circuit, it is not one I find so technically demanding," he said.

"Myself, Olivier and Ricardo have divided up the work this week between Italian GP preparations and more long-term development. We carried out more useful work today, completing more than 200 laps between us and overall, I believe we should in good shape for next weekend's race."

Jordan were running two cars today, with F3000 Champion Bjorn Wirdheim joining Giancarlo Fisichella. "It was a fairly difficult day with a few problems of our own," Jordan's head of testing Gary Anderson said. "We had to take the engine off to carry out a fuel system repair on Bjorn’s car and fairly early on in the pit lane there was an electronics glitch on his car which meant the throttle stuck fully open, so we had a lot of down time on both cars while we diagnosed and corrected the problem. Bjorn did a good job in difficult circumstances â€" he was cool and calm and got on with work. He probably would have found more lap time with another 20 laps.

"Giancarlo had a gearbox casing failure early-afternoon and we spent a lot of time changing the gearbox. It was a stop-start day which is a bit frustrating but it happens in testing. Both drivers did a reasonable job and all our tyre and damper work is complete; Bjorn had the opportunity to learn about the car and Giancarlo had some time to work on race set-up."

Also running two cars were Minardi, with Nicolas Kiesa and Gianmaria Bruni at the wheel. "It was a good day for us," stated Kiesa. "When we tested the two types of tyres on offer, I felt a big difference between them, so if you ask me which I want for the Italian Grand Prix, I now know pretty much that it's the second set we tried.

"As far as the set-up of the car is concerned, we had a good balance today. We tried it with a little less downforce and still kept the balance, which is good. I'm happy with the job we did, and it has definitely been a constructive day for me."

Minardi team chief Paul Stoddart concluded: "Today the team completed its two-day test at Monza with faultless performances from both the PS03 chassis and the drivers. We have gained valuable data from this test, not only for the upcoming Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but also for the other remaining races this season. The drivers were able to complete their technical programmes and we now look forward to using the information gained to improve our on-track performance."

Times and lap numbers appearing below have been confirmed by each driver's team, except those appearing with an asterisk, which were supplied by Sauber and have not been confirmed by their respective teams.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.286 79 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.361 45 * 3. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.710 79 * 4. Alonso Renault (M) 1:21.735 99 5. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:21.804 74 6. Trulli Renault (M) 1:21.941 83 7. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.956 49 * 8. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.001 77 * 9. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:22.050 53 10. Villeneuve BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.094 75 11. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.114 66 * 12. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:22.240 77 13. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:22.250 30 * 14. Panis Toyota (M) 1:22.293 80 15. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:22.420 72 16. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.465 68 17. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:22.889 35 18. Fisichella Jordan-Ford (B) 1:23.045 41 19. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:23.443 41 20. Wirdheim Jordan-Ford (B) 1:23.633 46 21. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:24.720 27 22. Kiesa Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:25.033 35 All Timing Unofficial

Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information