Sunday February 20th, 2000

Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello put Ferrari's new F1-2000 car through its first race simulation on Sunday with a test over 300 kilometres.

New signing Barrichello completed 60 laps in three 20-lap sessions at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany. The simulation included pit stops and a safety car.

His fastest time was 1:24.990 seconds at an average speed of 222.167 km/h, just outside the track record of 1:24.850 set by teammate Michael Schumacher on Friday.

Barrichello said: "The F1-2000 is without doubt better than its predecessor in every sense - traction, settings, brakes.

"I'm happy with my performance which was due to the set-up we had which allowed us to improve on the times from yesterday."