Friday June 23rd, 2000

David Coulthard was fastest in testing again at Magny-Cours yesterday.

Coulthard was just under two tenths of a second faster than anyone else around the Magny-Cours circuit, which saw most of the eleven Formula One teams testing, gaining useful information for the upcoming French Grand Prix.

Second and sixth fastest were the two Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Schumacher continued his set-up work in the morning, while in the afternoon he attempted a race simulation which was cut short by other events on the track. Schumacher completed a total of 72 laps, with a fastest time of 1:16.145. Barrichello tried out various tyres as well as working on set-up, before a transmission problem ended his day early, with a best time of 1:16.689.

Arrows resumed testing, after having to send one of the cars that had just arrived back from Canada to France to replace the car Verstappen damaged the previous day. Once the car arrived at the track, many parts needed to be changed to suit the Magny-Cours circuit, allowing Pedro de la Rosa to complete only 9 laps before a minor oil leak saw the car return to the pits. de la Rosa will continue testing today.

Benetton again had two drivers yesterday, with Giancarlo Fisichella joining Alexander Wurz for the second day at Magny Cours. As usual with a pre-race test, both drivers worked on set-up work and tyre comparisons. Wurz ran 61 laps setting the seventh fastest time of 1:16.965, while Fisichella completed 33 laps setting the tenth fastest time of 1:17.451 despute having repairs made to the car after damaging the underside of the chassis after he ran wide over the kerbs. Both drivers will continue today.

Testing continues at Magny-Cours today.

Yesterday's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                Time      Laps 
 1.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    1:15.997  53
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari             1:16.145  72
 3.  Trulli        Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:16.323  38
 4.  Alesi         Prost-Peugeot       1:16.335  11
 5.  Hakkinen      McLaren-Mercedes    1:16.483  36
 6.  Barrichello   Ferrari             1:16.689  40
 7.  Wurz          Benetton-Playlife   1:16.965  61
 8.  Zonta         BAR-Honda           1:17.068  69
 9.  Frentzen      Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:17.146  31
10.  Fisichella    Benetton-Playlife   1:17.451  33
11.  Irvine        Jaguar-Cosworth     1:17.576  61
12.  Salo          Sauber-Petronas     1:17.647  43
13.  Herbert       Jaguar-Cosworth     1:17.769  67
14.  Button        Williams-BMW        1:17.778  71
15.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        1:17.974  29
16.  Heidfeld      Prost-Peugeot       1:18.505  51
17.  Lemarie       BAR-Honda           1:18.866  52
18.  de la Rosa    Arrows-Supertec     1:20.489   9