British American Racing today put its cars through their paces at Silverstone in a final pre-season test before they are shipped to Melbourne, Australia, for the first Grand Prix of the new season. The team took the opportunity to present its revised livery, which complies fully with the FIA regulation requiring Formula One teams to field cars in substantially the same livery.

"While this design is obviously not our first choice, we believe it provides value for our sponsors and maintains the first-class image of the team," commented British American Racing Managing Director, Craig Pollock. Both cars will be identical in appearance with the Lucky Strike brand featured on one side and State Express 555 on the other.

"An unbelievable amount has been accomplished in the last 15 months at British American Racing by an extremely dedicated group of individuals," observed Pollock. "Now it is time to re-focus on the business of racing. Ultimately, it is on the track where British American Racing must make its mark. I believe we're capable of doing just that."

The Williams team were also at Silverstone today, where they ran a shakedown with Ralf Schumacher. Benetton team, on the other hand, continued with development testing for the second day running at Silverstone. The team worked on pit-stop practice with Alexander Wurz. Giancarlo Fisichella completed a race distance. Work also focused on aerodynamic development on both cars.

Tomorrow is the last day for teams to shake down their cars in Silverstone, before shipping it onward to Australia.

Silvertone, Tuesday:

Driver         Car        Time      Laps 
Fisichella     Benetton   1:25.670   70 
Wurz           Benetton   1:26.838   49 
Verstappen     Honda      1:26.915   23 
R. Schumacher  Williams   1:27.832   38 
Villeneuve     BAR        1:29.749    8