Valencia test, day 1: Hakkinen sets new lap record

After stalling on the grid and registering yet another no points finish at the A1-Ring on Sunday, Hakkinen was back in the throes of testing at the twisty Valencia circuit as teams prepare for the low downforce Monaco GP in 10 days' time.

Despite causing two of the day's six red flags - once after a spin and the second due to a gearbox related problem - the Finn bolted on some fresh rubber 10 minutes before the close of play and set a blistering time of 1m13.21s, a massive 1.62s ahead of his closest rival Nick Heidfeld in second place.

Heidfeld continued his impressive run of form and completed traction control work and tyre development for his Sauber team. In fact, all of the Bridgestone-shod teams were carrying out evaluations of a new tyre construction and compound to be used in Monaco.

Williams test driver Marc Gene finished third and continued to develop the Grove-based team's troublesome traction control system, which despite teething problems did not hinder the cars of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya in Austria.

Unlike the Jordans of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli which both failed to get off the line in Sunday's race. Frentzen insists the team is on top of its traction and launch control work in Valencia and finished fourth at the end of the first day.

Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta finished in fifth, but brought proceedings to a halt when he stopped out on the track with gearbox problems.

Alex Wurz took sixth spot in the second McLaren, with Formula 1's most experienced test driver Johnny Herbert back behind the wheel for Arrows finishing seventh fastest.

Arrows race driver Enrique Bernoldi finished one place behind the Englishman and caused two red flags, the first by spinning and the second by stopping mid-lap when his Asiatech V10 died.

Luciano Burti was due to begin testing a new aerodynamic package for the Prost team this week, but only half of it ready and a fuel pump problem in the middle of the day, the Brazilian was unable to complete a proper evaluation.

Testing continues until Friday and tomorrow the teams will be joined by both Jaguar and British American Racing.

Elsewhere the Ferrari team was also in action with test driver Luca Badoer completing 107 laps at Fiorano with a best time of 1m00.211s.



Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes B 1m13.21s 57
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m14.83s 34
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m14.86s 65
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda M 1m15.03s 81
Ricardo Zonta Jordan-Honda M 1m15.58s 72
Alex Wurz McLaren-Mercedes B 1m15.79s 34
Johnny Herbert Arrows-AMT (2000 car) B 1m16.22s 66
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-AMT B 1m16.56s 74
Luciano Burti Jaguar M 1m16.59s 38

M - Michelin
B - Bridgestone