Atlas F1 News Service

Coulthard Quickest at Barcelona - Day One

Tuesday June 25th, 2002

Coulthard Quickest at Barcelona - Day OneMcLaren's David Coulthard set the pace on the first day of testing at the Barcelona circuit, where six Formula One teams kicked off their preparation work for the British Grand Prix next week.

On a day with temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius, the Scot driver, at the wheel of the Michelin-shod MP4-17, lead a closely matched field, with all eight drivers being covered by only one second.

Coulthard, however, was nearly half a second quicker than Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, whose Williams team worked with two cars, the second driven by Spaniard Marc Gene.

"We've concentrated on set-up work to try to solve the problems we experienced at the Nurburgring and we are finding positive solutions," said Gene, who was sixth quickest, at the end of the day. "This track and the weather also help us evaluate the tyres."

McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz was fourth fastest, behind German Nick Heidfeld in the only Sauber present today at Barcelona.

"It has been a very constructive day for us," said Heidfeld. "We completed considerably more than a Grand Prix distance in total. I am pleased with what we were able to accomplish. I am now leaving for Vairano and for the next two days I will be completing some straightline aerodynamic validation with the rest of the test team."

Briton Jenson Button was fifth fastest, as the Renault team concentrated on basic set-up work for the circuit and systems development.

"A typical first day's testing which allowed us to commence our four-day programme this week at Barcelona," commented Renault's technical director Mike Gascoyne.

Jordan's Takuma Sato and Enrique Bernoldi with the Arrows finished at the bottom of the timesheets.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.  Coulthard     McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:19.494  59
 2.  Pizzonia      Williams-BMW        (M)    1:20.008 104
 3.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas     (B)    1:20.129  86
 4.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes    (M)    1:20.170  73
 5.  Button        Renault             (M)    1:20.257  44
 6.  Gene          Williams-BMW        (M)    1:20.277  79
 7.  Sato          Jordan-Honda        (B)    1:20.458  95
 8.  Bernoldi      Arrows-Cosworth     (B)    1:20.495  34

All Timing Unofficial

  • Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information

    Published at 17:15:57 GMT



    Latest Headlines:
    <<  Previous  |  Jun News  |  News Index |  Next  >>
    *(03-16-2005): Badoer Continues Testing at Fiorano
    *(03-16-2005): Fisichella Aims to Win Again in Malaysia
    *(03-16-2005): Davidson Lined Up for Villeneuve's Drive
    *(03-16-2005): Preview: Raikkonen Aims to Stop Renault
    *(03-16-2005): Malaysia Preview Quotes: Jordan


    © 1995-2005 Kaizar.Com, Inc. Copyright & Terms
  •  

      < Previous | Next >


      Jun 2002 Index

      Current News Index


      Email to Friend

      Newsroom:

       2004 at a Glance
       2004 Standings
       2005 Calendar
       2005 Line-Up
       Drivers Bio
       Teams Info
       Testing Center



      General:

       Homepage
       Magazine
       News Service
       Grapevine
       Photo Gallery
       My Atlas
       Bulletin Board
       Chat Service
       Shop @ Atlas
       Search & Archive
       FORIX
       Help