Valencia 1: McLaren fastest

The Spaniard completed fewer laps than Ferrari tester Luca Badoer and BAR's Anthony Davidson but still shaded Badoer's best time, marking a return to McLaren's strong pre-season testing form.

McLaren driver David Coulthard finished eighth in Australia while Kimi Raikkonen retired but de la Rosa hinted that the performance gap between his team and Melbourne victors Ferrari should not be as wide at next weekend's second round in Malaysia.

"The car is so easy to drive," he said. "There is more to come from the car for sure."

McLaren was planning ahead for next month's San Marino Grand Prix by conducting Michelin tyre tests. Valencia's track surface shares several similarities with that of the Imola circuit the F1 circus will visit on April 23-25.

Meanwhile, Italian Badoer continued Ferrari's early-season momentum by lapping second-quickest in a year-old car. The team's tyre supplier Bridgestone, so dominant in Australia, was trying out eight different specifications ahead of Malaysia.

Many of Ferrari's rivals are hoping that higher temperatures in Sepang and the following Grand Prix in Bahrain render the Bridgestone rubber less useful than its Michelin counterpart but the Japanese supplier is keen to prove that Melbourne was not just a one-off.

Davidson completed 120 laps of Valencia in BAR's hybrid machine as he tested new suspension components that were due to have been tried out last month, only to be lost in transit.

The second day of the test tomorrow should be spiced up by the arrival of Ferrari's Melbourne runner-up Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian was due to test the 2004 at Italian track Mugello but heavy snowfall has caused the cancellation of any sessions there.


Pedro de la Rosa McLaren 1m00.124s 81
Luca Badoer Ferrari* 1m00.151s 88
Anthony Davidson BAR 1m00.740s 120
*2003 car