Valencia test, day 2: DC takes over
David Coulthard took over the reigns of the McLaren testing schedule from team mate Mika Hakkinen and immediately picked up from where the Finn left off by setting the fastest time of the day at Valencia
In scorching Spanish conditions, Coulthard spent much of the morning trying to work on the set-up of his MP4-16, but it didn't seem to help his speed any as the Scot set his fastest lap early in the morning session.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen continued to hone the Jordan team's traction and launch control system on his way to finishing second fastest. The German also spent time on a tyre development programme for Bridgestone in an effort to find the ideal tyre choice for the Monaco Grand Prix in 10 days' time.
Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta reiterated the pace of the EJ11 by finishing in fourth place despite not being able to run until the afternoon due to a gearbox problem. The Brazilian finished behind the Williams-BMW of Ralf Schumacher, who took third place after he too was thwarted by mechanical problems and had his engine changed halfway through the day.
Test driver Marc Gene set the fifth fastest time in the second Williams and kept with the running theme by coming to a halt on the pit straight after his engine also expired.
Eddie Irvine spent much of the day trying to find a set-up for his Jaguar that worked with the team's traction control system and took sixth place ahead of the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi in seventh.
The young Brazilian caused two lots of red flags for the second day running, once after he spun and the second after his Aisatech-powered A22 stopped out on the circuit. He also tried to improve his traction control system which seemed to be working intermittently.
"I spent a lot of time working on the traction control system," said Bernoldi, "because in some corners it works and in some corners it doesn't."
Pedro de la Rosa, who said he was running a heavier fuel load than his Jaguar team mate Irvine, finished eighth with the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld in ninth while Luciano Burti rounded out the top 10 for Prost.
DTM ace and former BRDC McLaren Autosport young driver Darren Turner was racking up the testing miles for McLaren and finished 11th, one place ahead of the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian was not due to run today (Wednesday) due to a bout of flu, but did make it behind the wheel.
Ferrari continued to rack up the testing miles with test driver Luca Badoer setting a new lap record for the Fiorano circuit of 59.540s on his way to completing a total of 118 laps.
The Italian team was joined by Fernando Alonso who completed 43 laps for the Minardi team and set a best lap more than three seconds behind Badoer's record time.
David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes B 1m13.50s 30
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda B 1m14.20s 80
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m14.84s 21
Ricardo Zonta Jordan-Honda B 1m15.02s 29
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m15.04s 62
Eddie Irvine Jaguar M 1m15.10s 34
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-AMT B 1m15.10s 55
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m15.36s 58
Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 1m15.45s 45
Luciano Burti Prost-Acer M 1m15.56s 53
Darren Turner McLaren-Mercedes B 1m15.63s 44
Jacques Villeneueve BAR-Honda B 1m15.76s 48
Johnny Herbert Arrows-AMT B 1m15.79s 70
Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 1m15.95s 84
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