Barcelona Test - Day One: 9 December.

As expected, David Coulthard again led the way in Formula One testing, this time completing the fastest lap of Barcelona's Circuit do Catalunya.


The Scot headed Jordan's rookie Jarno Trulli by almost 7/10ths of a second as six teams took the opportunity to run at the Spanish venue, with new McLaren team-mate Olivier Panis taking third spot in the continued absence of champion Mika Hakkinen.


Trulli maintained the impressive start to his Jordan career by slotting in between the two silver cars, just as he had in Jerez last week, and being one of only three drivers to break the 1min 23secs barrier during the opening day. Nick Heidfeld picked up where he had left off in southern Spain, by edging out new Prost team-mate Jean Alesi by 6/10ths, with Sauber's Pedro Diniz coming between the two French cars. Alesi was running Peugeot's latest A20 engine, and completed only 20 scheduled laps.


Diniz was a surprise runner at Barcelona, as Sauber had indicated that new signing Mika Salo would be conducting its first appearance in winter testing. The reason behind the Finn's absence remained a mystery throughout the day, although it is expected that he will turn out for the Swiss team at Jerez in a week's time.


Ralf Schumacher and Pedro de la Rosa brought up the rear for Williams and Arrows respectively, with the German still discovering the limits of the new BMW engine. de la Rosa, meanwhile, was another surprise runner, as Arrows had not planned to run outside of Britain until next year. Its appearance suggests, however, that Dutchman Jos Verstappen will also take part in the test at a later stage, having claimed to be running with an unnamed team in Spain this week.


One driver who was in action for Arrows, however, was Australian Mark Webber, who conducted a basic systems check for the Leafield outfit following its announcement that the Europen Formula Racing F3000 team was to become its official junior squad. Webber signed for European after a sterling test performance at Barcelona last week, and is expected to do more testing for Arrows as a result.


Another Spaniard, Marc Gene, ran for Minardi at the new Valencia circuit, becoming the first man to drive an F1 car there. The exercise was part testing and part PR, as Gene met with both circuit officials and the president of the Valencia community, Eduardo Zaplana. No official times were produced, and Gene will join general testing at Jerez next week.


Leading performances - Barcelona (9 December):


David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1min 22.09secs

Jarno Trulli Jordan-Mugen 1min 22.64secs

Olivier Panis McLaren-Mercedes 1min 22.96secs

Nick Heidfeld Prost-Peugeot 1min 23.00secs

Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1min 23.09secs

Jean Alesi Prost-Peugeot 1min 23.66secs

Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1min 24.40secs

Pedro de la Rosa Arrows-Arrows 1min 24.48secs

Mark Webber Arrows-Arrows 1min 27.96secs