Silverstone test day 1: Frentzen on form

Joining Jordan-Honda at the Northamptonshire circuit were McLaren, BAR, Jaguar, Williams and Prost, but it was the German driver who finished fastest at the end of the day with an unofficial best time of 1m23.0s.

Alex Wurz in a 2001-spec McLaren finished second, but the star of the day was Formula 3 sensation Takuma Sato. The young Japanese driver finished the day third quickest in his BAR-Honda.

Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa was fourth, while the Williams-BMW of Juan Pablo Montoya finished fifth quickest. The Colombian's chances of improving his times took a dive at midday when his car stopped on the circuit with mechanical gremlins. He did not get back out until after 3pm in the afternoon.

Darren Turner, due to get his DTM season underway at Hockenheim this weekend, was in a 2000-spec McLaren and finished in fifth spot. Just behind, the second Jaguar, piloted by Luciano Burti, was the sixth fastest car of the day.

The two Prosts driven by Gaston Mazzacane and Jean Alesi rounded out Tuesday's times. Jean Alesi crashed his AP04 on his first run of the day. The Frenchman damaged the front suspension and front right wing of his car when he went off at Becketts. However, he is confident his machine will be fixed in time for the second day of testing on Wednesday, where he will be joined by new Prost test driver Jonathan Cochet (see separate story) and the Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella.




Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan-Honda) B 1m23.008s 69
Alexander Wurz (McLaren-Mercedes) B 1m23.618s 26
Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda) B 1m23.926s 65
Pedro de la Rosa (Jaguar) M 1m24.864s 50
Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW) M 1m25.149s 20
Darren Turner (McLaren-Mercedes) B 1m25.641s 55
Luciano Burti (Jaguar) M 1m25.663s 18
Gaston Mazzacane (Prost-Acer) M 1m25.827s 44
Jean Alesi (Prost-Acer) M 9m28.128s 4