Williams continues Estoril test

The team had only one FW22 available, which race drivers Jenson Button and Ralf Schumacher shared. Button ended the day some two seconds faster than his team-mate, after taking the lions share of the running.

The Englishman claimed to like the new layout of the Estoril track, particularly after a couple of days running cleaned off the surface and laid rubber down. "I had quite a positive day of testing achieving quite a good mileage," he said.

"We also tried some items in preparation for the forthcoming Austrian Grand Prix," he added, alluding to the team's programme for the three-day test which includes engine mapping and set-up work. Button completed 72 laps of the circuit over the course of the day, despite sporadic rain. His fastest time was a lap of 1m22.612s.

Ralf Schumacher took over for 15 laps at the end of the day, in order to dial himself into the circuit before starting work in earnest today. His best time was a 1m24.023s lap.

"We are very pleased with today's test programme," said Mario Theissen, BMW's motorsport director. "On the engine side, there was no problem during the entire day," he added.

Ralf Schumacher will run exclusively for WilliamsF1 today, but the team will be joined by BAR.