Valencia day 3: Kimi tops the times
The yo-yo battle between Formula 1 heavyweights McLaren and Williams swung back in favour of the former today (Thursday), as Kimi Raikkonen led the way
The Finn lapped a tenth of a second quicker than Juan Pablo Montoya managed for Williams yesterday, setting the fastest lap of the week so far at 1m10.647s.
Nick Heidfeld was a solid second fastest for Sauber-Petronas as it puts more laps on its new C22 challenger. He was over a second shy of Raikkonen, however.
"Apart from an engine problem just before lunch we had another good day," said Heidfeld. "We gathered plenty of fresh data that will be analysed [at the factory] in Hinwil prior to our next test back here in Valencia next week."
Williams test driver Marc Gene was third quickest, ahead of the impressive Gary Paffett. The German F3 champion continued to fill in for the unwell David Coulthard at McLaren, who has been laid low with a stomach bug.
Paffett was two-tenths clear of Montoya on his second day of running, with McLaren tester Alexander Wurz propping up the timesheets. Montoya completed the most amount of laps at 84.
Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m10.647s 62
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m11.778s 71*
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m12.735s 62
Gary Paffett McLaren-Mercedes M 1m12.896s 54
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m13.072s 84
Alexander Wurz McLaren-Mercedes M 1m13.120s 18
B = Bridgestone
M = Michelin
* denotes 2003 car
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