Valencia day one: Jos fastest, Mika back in action

The Benetton B200B of Giancarlo Fisichella was second, closely followed by the Jaguar R1B of Eddie Irvine. The test also marked a return to the cockpit for former world champion Mika Hakkinen, who has not been behind the wheel of his McLaren-Mercedes since the final Grand Prix of 2000 in Malaysia. The double world champ set the sixth fastest time.

"It's very, very nice to be back and to see all the team," said Hakkinen. "When I was first told about the test it was the day after [my son] Hugo was born, which wasn't good timing. But now I'm here I'm very happy to be back.

Hakkinen caused one of two red flags during the day for coming to a halt out on the circuit. The McLaren team is believed to have instructed the Finn to stop when a problem was detected via the telemetry on the all-new Ilmor-built engine.

Heavy overnight rain, followed by a wet and cloudy day meant the twisty Valencia circuit never completely dried out, but Verstappen completed a mammoth 78 laps and posted the fastest time on a dry line at approximately 1430 local time, before the rain began to fall again.

Britain's Jenson Button had another frustrating day in the second Benetton, managing to only set a time in the wet. The 20-year-old completed just two laps after waiting much of the day for his B200B to be prepared and after finally making it onto the circuit, his run was cut short by a trip into the gravel at turn six, bringing out the second set of red flags.

Williams-BMW new-boy Juan Pablo Montoya managed the fourth fastest time on his first time at the Spanish circuit, while team mate Ralf Schumacher finished the day eighth.
Jaguar's new R2 completed 29 laps with Luciano Burti at the wheel, but could only set a 1m32.21s best time in the damp and changing conditions.

"I did more laps than Silverstone," said Burti, "but because of the conditions, I can't really tell the potential of the car at all yet. I have a good feeling about the new engine, but with the car, it needs to be dry to get a true picture. I really hope it's dry tomorrow."

Testing continues tomorrow (Tuesday) and concludes on Wednesday.


1 Jos Verstappen (Arrows-AMT A21) 1m18.33s, 78 laps
2 Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton-Renault B200B) 1m19.35s, 49 laps
3 Eddie Irvine (Jaguar R1B) 1m19.72s, 22 laps
4 Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams-BMW FW22) 1m19.85s, 37 laps
5 Marc Gene * (Williams-BMW FW22) 1m20.33s, 32 laps
6 Mika Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-15K) 1m20.67s, 39 laps
7 Alex Wurz * (McLaren-Mercedes MP4-15K) 1m24.70s, 37 laps
8 Ralf Schumacher (Williams-BMW FW22) 1m28.34s, 27 laps
9 Luciano Burti (Jaguar R2) 1m32.21s, 29 laps
10 Jenson Button (Benetton-Renault B200B) 1m51.16s, 2 laps