Kyalami Test - Day Two: 9 February.

Williams and British American Racing both enjoyed slightly more track time as their South African excursion moved into its second day yesterday.


The weather continued to be wetter than expected, however, and both teams had to be content with dodging the showers for much of the session. Neither suffered quite the loss of track time that they incurred on Tuesday, and were able to put in several faster laps towards the end of the session as the track finally began to dry.


Ralf Schumacher led the way for Williams-BMW with a best lap of 1min 28.892secs in the course of 64 tours, and enjoyed comparatively good reliability from a combination known to have suffered its share of troubles in recent weeks. The lap was still some way shy of the German's best effort from last year's pre-season test, but can be put down to the tricky conditions and a lack of rubber on the circuit.


"Today was the first time the weather has allowed us to do a proper test," Schumacher said, "and, so far, I am satisfied with the new car in wet conditions. At the end of the day, I completed 64 laps, which proves that the reliability of both car and engine has improved."


New team-mate Jenson Button did not enjoy quite such a successful time, and joined former world champion Jacques Villeneuve in the gravel before the day was out. The young Briton clocked a best time of 1min 37.047secs in 39 laps before his late excursion, and was unable to take full advantage of the drier condition at the end of the day.


"I had a very good learning curve today," Button smiled afterwards, "We didn't change a lot with the set-up, because my first target was to get experience with an F1 car. Now I want to get more experience - but in the dry!"


Villeneuve's off, by contrast, was in the morning and the Canadian was able to resume testing after the car was dusted down and had had minor repairs carried out. The BAR team leader went on to complete 57 laps in total, with a best of 1min 30.924 leaving him a shade over two seconds adrift of Schumacher. The Brackley team enjoyed better reliability than of late, however, and left the circuit pleased with the day's work. Villeneuve's team-mates Ricardo Zonta and Darren Manning did not run as there is only a single 002 chassis available.


With the weather now due to take a turn for the best, BAR has decided to add an extra day to its schedule, and will make a decision on whether to run on Friday - originally a rest day - based on the conditions that morning. Williams, too, is likely to consider extra time, but will only decide after the outcome of today [Thursday]'s and tomorrow's running.



Leading performances (9 February):


Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1min 28.892secs 64 laps

Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1min 30.924secs 57 laps

Jenson Button Williams-BMW 1min 37.047secs 39 laps