Silverstone test, day 1: Trulli flies for Jordan
Jordan's Jarno Trulli set the Silverstone pace on Tuesday, as 10 Formula 1 teams continued their intensive testing schedule with preparations for the British Grand Prix next month
The Italian, who had impressed in the Canadian GP by hauling his Jordan-Honda up to fourth in qualifying, finished on top ahead of heavyweights McLaren, Ferrari and Williams on the first of a three-day test at the Northamptonshire track.
However, illness was the running theme of the day, with Ricardo Zonta continuing to stand in for the unwell Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Mercedes hotshoe Darren Turner taking over testing duties from Alex Wurz after the McLaren tester succumbed to a bout of food poisoning. The young Englishman had no such tummy worries and finished the day second fastest for the Silver Arrows team.
Eddie Irvine completed just nine laps today before neck pains prevented him from taking further part in the test. The Ulsterman had driven a few tours with the HANS head and neck safety device, but his problems were put down to an injury he picked up in the Monaco GP a fortnight ago. His place was taken by Andre Lotterer - the young German competing in the British Formula 3 series for Jaguar.
Nick Heidfeld felt under the weather too, and when his Sauber C20 broke down with electrical problems after completing just four laps, the German complained of feeling ill as a result of his accident in Canada two day's ago. Sauber's day was cut short and Heidfeld was sent back to Germany for medical tests. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen will take his place tomorrow (Wednesday).
And the car of Marc Gene also felt a little ropey. The Williams-BMW had electrical problems in the morning, then the engine went in the afternoon. Fortunately for Gene, a spare car was made available to the Spaniard and he went on to record the third fastest time of the day, behind Trulli and Turner.
Trulli's team mate Zonta finished fourth quickest, with the Ferrari of Luca Badoer a little further back in fifth and the second Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa setting the sixth fastest lap.
Johnny Herbert set the seventh quickest time of the day for Arrows, before he headed off to France to begin his preparations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which kicks off with first qualifying on Wednesday evening. Lotterer, Mark Webber, in a 2000-spec Benetton, and BAR's Patrick Lemarie (also competing at Le Mans) rounded out the top 10 times.
Jenson Button in a 2001-spec Benetton concentrated mainly on power steering testing to finish 11th, followed by Prost's Stephane Sarrazin, Irvine then Heidfeld.
Testing continues tomorrow, where Mika Hakkinen and Rubens Barrichello come in to bat for McLaren and Ferrari respectively.
Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda B, 1m23.14s, 59
Darren Turner McLaren-Mercedes B, 1m24.09s, 53
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M, 1m24.27s, 27
Ricardo Zonta Jordan-Honda B, 1m24.34s, 75
Luca Badoer Ferrari B, 1m24.40s, 43
Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar M, 1m24.87s, 73
Johnny Herbert, Arrows-AMT B, 1m25.03s, 62
Andre Lotterer, Jaguar M, 1m25.25s, 21
Mark Webber, Benetton-Renault M, 1m25.25s, 45 (2000-spec)
Patrick Lemarie, BAR-Honda B, 1m25.49s, 64
Jenson Button, Benetton-Renault M, 1m26.41s, 28
Stephane Sarrazin, Prost-Acer M, 1m26.46s, 42
Eddie Irvine, Jaguar M, 1m27.54s, 9
Nick Heidfeld, Sauber-Petronas B, 1m28.02, 4
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