Valencia, day 4 am: Frentzen's first run

It was the first time he had driven since the Japanese GP and he was delighted to be back in action. Although his initial run was cut short on his out-lap after a software problem caused the engine to cut out.

"I'm in the process of familiarising myself with the car and with the team," he said. "It's nice to be back in the cockpit and racing for Arrows. It's taken a long time for this to happen but now things are getting better.

"I feel very sad for Prost. It was disappointing how it ended, but it's one of those things."

He set a best lap of 1m15.124s, although the cool conditions meant that times were generally slower than they have been so far this winter. Once again it was the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld that set the pace, the former F3000 champion recording a time of 1m14.169s.

Felipe Massa made it a Sauber one-two despite a sizeable crash (see separate story), which destroyed the right-hand side of his car. Jacques Villeneuve was an encouraging third quickest in the new BAR, the cooler conditions suiting the Bridgestone tyres.

Ralf Schumacher was the quickest Michelin runner in fourth ahead of Jarno Trulli in the Renault. The Italian was one of a number of drivers to run off the track and almost lost his rear wing in the process.


Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m14.169s 36
Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas B 1m14.217s 22
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m14.350s 28
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m14.669s 32
Jarno Trulli Renault M 1m14.671s 26
Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW* M 1m14.748s 31
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m14.782s 46
Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda B 1m15.098s 20
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Arrows-Cosworth B 1m15.124s 28
Fernando Alonso Renault* M 1m15.490s 35
Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda B 1m15.522s 24
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m15.774s 26
Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda B 1m16.122s 20
Mark Webber Minardi-Asiatech M 1m16.651s 19
Alex Yoong Minardi-Asiatech M 1m18.136s 36

M = Michelin
B = Bridgestone
* denotes 2001 car