 Williams Duo Dominate Monza Test - Day Two Wednesday July 18th, 2001
Ralf Schumacher was faster than teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, the Colombian taking over from Williams' test driver Marc Gene. The German driver lapped nearly half a second quicker than Montoya before the track was hit by a heavy rain in the afternoon, making it impossible for the drivers to improve their times. Austrian Alexander Wurz was the only McLaren driver present today after Scot David Coulthard, who was scheduled to join the test, was forced to miss it due to the effects of food poisoning. Wurz completed 59 laps and was third quickest almost a whole second behind the BMW-powered FW23 of Schumacher. Jarno Trulli escaped what could have been a serious accident to finish the day in fourth place. The Jordan driver lost his car's rear wing at speed, fortunately avoiding contact with the walls. Jordan's test driver Ricardo Zonta continued working for the second consecutive day, but the Brazilian was unable to repeat his performance from yesterday, when the set the fastest time, and was only eighth. Trulli spent the morning working on chassis set-up and focused on aerodynamic development and brake cooling components testing in the afternoon, while Zonta tested aerodynamic parts in the morning and then continued work on the extensive brake test programme. Benetton was again working with their two racing drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button, the Italian finishing right in front of his teammmate. Technical director Mike Gascoyne was pleased with the team's work. "Our second day at Monza worked out to our satisfaction with Giancarlo completing 52 trouble free laps doing tyre evaluation work," said Gascoyne. "Jenson meanwhile finished today on 35 laps to complete the engine mileage available to him whilst working on suspension geometry and general set-up." Irishman Eddie Irvine was fifth quickest despite being able to complete only 13 laps as a consequence of a gearbox problem in his Jaguar R2. Teammate Pedro de la Rosa finished right behind Irvine in sixth place while Frenchman Olivier Panis was seventh for the BAR team, who were also testing at Valencia.
"I am here testing at Monza earlier than scheduled to continue with the original planned programme," said Barrichello at the end of the day. "Let's hope Michael is alright and that he has a good rest before Hockenheim, where we all hope to see him back on form." Malaysian driver Alex Yoong was again present with the Minardi team, as rumours increase about the Formula Nippon driver replacing Brazilian Tarso Marques, who was unable to qualify for the British Grand Prix last Saturday. "The plan for this test is to carry on where we left off in Mugello," explained Yoong. "I have never been to this circuit before, so I have just been acclimatising to it." Yoong completed a total of 46 laps and set the slowest time of the day. Fernando Alonso was also present at the track, the Spanish driver lapping less than a second quicker than Yoong. Alonso tested a revised chassis with a new gearbox and aerodynamic package. Today's times:
Published at 17:33:31 GMT
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The Williams team dominated the second day of testing at the Monza circuit in Italy, where eight of the eleven Formula One teams tested on Wednesday in preparation for the German Grand Prix at the fast Hockenheim track.
Rubens Barrichello replaced teammate Michael Schumacher today after the German was sent home to rest following his heavy crash on Tuesday. The Brazilian started his work for Ferrari late in the day and was only able to set the 11th quickest time.
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