Testing round-up: Rain stops play at Silverstone
McLaren took back the upper hand at Silverstone today (Thursday) with Alex Wurz setting the fastest time on a day when lap times were rendered meaningless by constant rain and flooding at the Northamptonshire circuit
Wurz set a best time of 1m32.20s despite completing just three laps in a 2000-spec McLaren while David Coulthard attempted to add further miles to the newly-completed fourth MP4-16 chassis. The Scot was thwarted by the appalling conditions and finished fourth after just three laps.
Jarno Trulli finished in second spot and completed eight laps of system checks in his Jordan EJ11, before running was cut short by an oil leak in the Italian's Honda V10.
Nick Heidfeld finished three days of running at Magny-Cours with a boost for the Sauber team by topping the time sheets. The German carried out a programme of electronic and aerodynamic development on his way to setting a best time just 0.05s ahead of Marc Gene in the Williams BMW in second place.
Brazilian Grand Prix star Juan Pablo Montoya finished third ahead of the Arrows-AMT of Enrique Bernoldi.
Jean Alesi tumbled from the top of the times yesterday to last place today. The Frenchman wound up almost 1.5 s behind Heidfeld, whose Sauber is powered by the same Ferrari engine as Alesi's Prost.
Running also came to a close at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain for Michelin-shod teams Benetton and Jaguar. The order was almost identical to yesterday with Giancarlo Fisichella fastest and Jenson Button slowest for Benetton. The only change was Eddie Irvine leap-frogging Jaguar team mate Luciano Burti for second place.
World champion Michael Schumacher was in action for Ferrari at Fiorano and spent much of the day honing the set-up of his F1-2001 in preparation for the San Marino Grand Prix in 10 days' time. The German set a best time of 1m07.945s.
Silverstone test, day three (unofficial times)
Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes B (2000 car)1m32.20s 2
Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda B 1m32.40s 13
Ricardo Zonta Jordan-Honda (2000 car) B 1m36.28s 8
David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes B 1m43.83s 3
Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B (2000 car) No time
Magny-Cours test, day three (unofficial times)
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m15.63s 76
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M (2000 car) 1m15.68s 63
Juan-Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m15.99s 32
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-AMT B 1m16.60s 66
Jean Alesi Prost-Acer M 1m17.02s 39
Jerez test, day three (unofficial times)
Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault M 1m21.95s 91
Eddie Irvine Jaguar M 1m22.76s 44
Luciano Burti Jaguar M 1m23.03s 38
Jenson Button Benetton-Renault M 1m24.36s 36
B - Bridgeston
M - Michelin
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