Williams carry Brazilian pace into testing

After the washed out proceedings at Silversone (click here for separate story) the second big gathering of the day was at Magny-Cours in France where Williams, the star team of the Brazilian Grand Prix, was in action joined by Sauber, Arrows and locals Prost.

Test driver Marc Gene topped the times for the Grove-based team in an FW23. The Spaniard drove both this year's car and the interim FW22B, but finished the day faster in the newer of the two chassis.

"I am very pleased," said Gene, "mostly because I could drive the FW23 for quite a long time and I can tell that it has dramatically improved since the first time I tried it a few months ago. The team has done a fantastic job, especially on the aerodynamic side."

In second place was the Sauber of young hotshoe Kimi Raikkonen while Arrows development driver Johnny Herbert finished in third. Gaston Mazzacane wound up last for Prost, just less than two seconds behind Gene.

The Jerez circuit in southern Spain was also in use with the struggling Benetton team fielding a sole example of last year's B200 chassis. Mark Webber arrived in Spain straight from a disallowed second place in the Formula 3000 race in Brazil, but the Australian was able to complete just two laps due to a damaged rib. Race drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Buttona are due to arrive tomorrow as well as fellow Michelin runner Jaguar.

Finally, the world championship Ferrari team returned to Italy to lick its wounds at Mugello after ending its seven-race winning streak. Test peddlar Luca Badoer was behind the wheel of an F1-2000 and completed a mammoth 81 laps with a best time of 1m01.479s.

Magny-Cours test, day one (unofficial times)

Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m15.972s 50
Kimi Raikkonen Sauber B 1m16.651s 46
Johnny Herbert Arrows-AMT B 1m16.760s 73
Marc Gene Williams-BMW (2000 car) M 1m17.039s 39
Gaston Mazzacane Prost-Acer M 1m17.736s 47