Only hours after the MP4-14 was launched in Barcelona, disaster struck. With global media looking on, the 1999 challenger took its first strides. David Coulthard, McLaren's 2nd driver, took the honors. As he disappeared into the distance, the screaming of his Mercedes Benz Engine was replaced by dead silence. It is speculated that the cause of the breakdown was due to electrical failure.

Coulthard's teammate, Mika Hakkinen, was, however, fastest on the Barcelona track, driving the 1998 challenger, the McLaren MP-13. The Finnish was over a second faster than Benetton's Fisichella. As it was the first time the B199 had run in Barcelona, Benetton focussed on setting the car up for the circuit and evaluating tyre performance. Fisichella ran in the B199-01 and Alexander Wurz in the B199-02.

Driver         Car                Time      Laps 
Hakkinen       McLaren ('98 car)  1:22.821  40  
Fisichella     Benetton           1:23.927  41  
Wurz           Benetton           1:23.967  38  
Herbert        Stewart            1:24.386  67  
Verstappen     Honda              1:24.480  52  
Barrichello    Stewart            1:24.535  34  
Coulthard      McLaren ('99 car)  1:25.534  12  
Gene           Minardi            1:27.349  28  

Testing will continue tomorrow in Barcelona.