Silverstone, day 3: Frentzen quickest

Overnight rain meant the test began on a damp track and, with temperatures of nine degrees Celsius, the track took a long time to dry despite the sunny conditions. However, by mid-morning the cloud cover thickened and just after the teams broke for lunch the rain started to fall again.

The rain showers ensured Frentzen's place at the head of the timesheets, ahead of Takuma Sato's Jordan-Honda. The Japanese driver spent most of the morning testing new electrics in a 2001-spec car, but also took to the track in the EJ12 to record a best lap of 1m26.09s.

Enrique Bernoldi was a couple of tenths behind Sato in third, but well clear of Eddie Irvine's Jaguar, the quickest of the Michelin runners present. The Ulsterman caused the session to be stopped when his engine blew on the start/finish straight towards the end of the morning session.

Jenson Button shook down Renault's third R202 chassis, while team-mate Jarno Trulli, who was fastest on the previous two days, completed even fewer miles and was at the foot of the times.

Rubens Barrichello once again proved that Ferrari's F2001 chassis is a better bet for the start of the season by outpacing test driver Luca Badoer in the 2002 Ferrari at Imola today (Wednesday). Barrichello lapped in 1m23.593s, compared Badoer's 1m24.533s best. Badoer now switches to Fiorano to shakedown the three F2001s the Scuderia will use at the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth B 1m24.91s 43
Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda B 1m26.09s 15
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Cosworth B 1m26.27s 37
Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda* B 1m27.19s 21
Eddie Irvine Jaguar M 1m27.42s 26
Jenson Button Renault M 1m34.08s 26
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m44.24s 21

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone
* denotes 2001 car