Silverstone test, day 2: Panis sets the pace
British American Racing's Olivier Panis replaced Jarno Trulli as the top Honda runner by setting the fastest time on the second day of Formula 1 testing at Silverstone, ahead of 'big guns' Mclaren and Ferrari
With BAR and Jordan both receiving works Honda engines this year, both teams are vying for the upper hand and after Trulli topped the times on Tuesday, it was Panis' turn today (Wednesday).
The Frenchman stopped the clocks around the British Grand Prix circuit at 1m22.80s, three tenths of second faster than Trulli's time of the previous day. With most teams working on set up for the British round of the world championship on July 15, Panis was trying out a new Bridgestone compound and it seemed to agree with his BAR003.
"This compound is more stable and consistent in performance," said Panis, "and we will probably use this one for the British Grand Prix. To be honest, I'm very happy."
The McLaren-Mercedes of Mika Hakkinen was in second place after the Finn had his best result of the season so far, with third place in Canada at the weekend.
The double world champion was closely followed by the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello with the Brazilian, for once, outpacing team mate Michael Schumacher. The German was, by his standards, languishing in fifth place, but is using the test to fine tune the set-up on his F2001.
"This is the last test before the British race," said Schumacher, "so we are mainly working on tyres and also set-up because, unlike the British teams, we don't have much data for this track."
Williams ace Juan Pablo Montoya finished in fourth place ahead of Schumacher, but the Grove-based team did not have a good day. Montoya was forced to stop for an engine change in the morning, only for the Colombian's BMW V10 to expire during the afternoon session. Team mate Ralf Schumacher, who finished sixth behind his brother, also suffered and the German's Michelin tyre testing was cut short when his engine went the same way.
Trulli wound up seventh and seemed unable to recapture his form of the previous day. The Italian was ahead of Jaguar's Andre Lotterer, who is standing in for the injured Eddie Irvine.
Darren Turner continued to impress, carrying out testing duties for McLaren, with the DTM ace finishing ninth ahead of Pedro de la Rosa in the second Jaguar.
Olivier Panis, BAR-Honda, 1m22.80s, 47 laps
Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m22.91s, 73
Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, 1m23.24s, 64
Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW, 1m23.42s, 38
Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1m23.50s, 63
Ralf Schumacher, Williams-BMW, 1m23.55s, 61
Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Honda, 1m24.41s, 47
Andre Lotterer, Jaguar, 1m24.42s, 55
Darren Turner, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m24.44s, 52
Pedro de la Rosa, Jaguar, 1m24.51s, 67
Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber-Petronas, 1m24.63s, 40
Takuma Sato, BAR-Honda, 1m24.73s, 33
Mark Webber, Benetton-Renault (2000), 1m25.18s, 52
Enrique Bernoldi, Arrows-AMT, 1m25.45s, 48
Jos Verstappen, Arrows-AMT, 1m25.46s, 60
Luciano Burti, Prost-Acer, 1m25.66s, 45
Jean Alesi, Prost-Acer, 1m25.72s, 37
Ricardo Zonta, Jordan-Honda, 1m25.73s, 18
Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton-Renault, 1m27.84s, 19
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