Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Valencia test, day 3: Coulthard sets blistering pace

David Coulthard showed that his McLaren team will be a force to be reckoned with at the Monaco Grand Prix after setting a blistering pace to smash the lap record at the third day of Formula 1 testing at Valencia

As the teams continued to iron out their electronic driver aid glitches and develop a high downforce set-up for next week's Monte Carlo race, Coulthard smashed the lap record set on Tuesday by his team mate Mika Hakkinen by just under half a second with a lap of 1m12.74s.

The Scot's closest rival, as per yesterday (Wednesday), was the Jordan-Honda of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, but the German's best time was more than a second and a half behind the McLaren.

Jacques Villeneuve gave the other Honda team, British American Racing, a boost by finishing in third spot. The Canadian spent the day working on aerodynamic modifications to his BAR 003 and caused two red flags either side of the lunchtime break.

In fourth spot was the Jaguar of Eddie Irvine while DTM ace Darren Turner continue to help out McLaren and put in an impressive performance to finish fifth fastest.

Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top six and spent the day working on tyre development and fine-tuning his Sauber team's traction control system. Behind the young Finn came the Arrows of Enrique Bernoldi who, despite coming to a halt with engine failure during the afternoon session, out-paced his team mate Jos Verstappen by seven places. The Dutchman finished 14th and last.

Unlike the majority of other teams, Williams ignored its launch control system, preferring to concentrate its efforts on traction control. Juan Pablo Monyoya finished eighth while test driver Marc Gene finished a lowly 13th.

The Bridgestone teams have been assessing new tyre compounds and constructions this week and while Villeneuve worked on both, his BAR team mate Olivier Panis, who finished ninth, only had time to try the construction and was not overly satisfied with the results.

"The construction is not very good for us," said the Frenchman, "but as far as we know they [Bridgestone] are going to introduce it for Monaco."

Jarno Trulli took 10th place ahead of Pedro de la Rosa in the second Jaguar. The Spaniard carried out endurance runs on the new Michelin compound with one stint of 16 laps, followed by two runs of 12 laps each.

Jean Alesi worked on the Prost team's new aerodynamic package which is to debut in Monaco. The AP04 ran with new front and rear wings and a new diffuser, the first parts to by be designed by aerodynamicist Henri Durand since he joined the team from McLaren.

"I'm not sure whether the new package will give us a big difference in Monaco," said Alesi who finished 12th fastest. "But so far it has made a small improvement here."



David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes B 1m12.74s 85
Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda B 1m14.13s 68
Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m14.22s 70
Eddie Irvine Jaguar M 1m14.33s 40
Darren Turner McLaren-Mercedes B 1m14.63s 49
Kimi Raikkonen Sauber-Petronas B 1m14.71s 73
Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-AMT B 1m14.77s 74
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m14.77s 64
Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 1m14.77s 80
Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda B 1m14.84s 68
Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar M 1m15.05s 67
Jean Alesi Prost-Acer M 1m15.09s 66
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m15.34s 82
Jos Verstappen Arrows-AMT B 1m15.59s 73

M - Michelin
B - Bridgestone

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Jarno Trulli Q&A
Next article Launch control ignites safety concerns for Monaco

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe