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Williams on Top as Testing Ends at Paul Ricard

Williams remained on top of the timesheets today, as four days of testing were concluded at the French Paul Ricard circuit.

Williams remained on top of the timesheets today, as four days of testing were concluded at the French Paul Ricard circuit.

Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the day, with 1:11.578 - less than two tenths faster than McLaren's David Coulthard, second on the timesheets. Williams have in total completed 383 laps this week at the French circuit, and the team topped the times on all four days.

"The team have spent this week working on setup, traction control and tyre testing," Williams's chief operations engineer Sam Michael stated, revealing that "as a result, we believe we have found an efficient tyre compound for the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend."

Williams were testing alongside Toyota, BAR and Jaguar - the latter running Antonio Pizzonia for the first time this week. The young Brazilian was fourth fastest, with a best time of 1:12.750. He concluded a total of 91 laps.

Most laps of the day, however, were run by Toyota's Olivier Panis who ran 145 laps to set the fifth-fastest time of the day. "Today was particularly productive for us and for Michelin," Panis commented. "Managing to compile 145 laps in one day is great, especially as I feel it comes from a real progress of our package.

"The team achieved extremely good work, and swiftly fixed the few mechanical problems we had. This allowed us to confirm all information gathered this week by completing all the long runs we had on schedule. I am really happy and boosted for next weekend."

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Time Laps 1. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:11.578 80 2. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:11.710 112 3. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:11.800 87 4. Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:12.750 91 5. Panis Toyota (M) 1:12.867 145 6. Sato BAR-Honda (B) 1:13.284 61 7. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:13.308 86 8. Davidson BAR-Honda (B) 1:13.804 41 All Timing Unofficial

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