Barcelona test - day three: 5 February.

Ferrari led the way again today [Wednesday], at the Catalunya Circuit, near Barcelona and Michael Schumacher was fastest, the German improving upon his best time set yesterday by around four tenths of a second.

The Ferrari #1 notched up 105 laps, while his team-mate, Rubens Barrichello completed 54 and was around three tenths slower on a 1m 15.408s.

Robert Wilkins_1

05 Feb 2003

The Ferrari #1 notched up 105 laps, while his team-mate, Rubens Barrichello completed 54 and was around three tenths slower on a 1m 15.408s.

Both Ferrari drivers spent the day continuing with the development of Bridgestone tyres as well as working on electronics.

Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen was third, and he was also tyre testing for Bridgestone, completing a mammoth 111 laps, the most of any one driver at the track.

Frentzen, who was also conducting some aerodynamic work, commented: "I'm pleased with what we did today. It was a good test. We learned a lot more about the aerodynamic set-up and worked with Bridgestone to provide the data on which it will base its choice of tyre for Melbourne. I'm encouraged that we have now added speed to the C22's inherent reliability."

Fourth in the new BMW WilliamsF1 was Juan Pablo Montoya, his team-mate, Marc Gene was sixth, around sixth tenths slower, while sandwiched between the two Grove drivers in fifth, was the Toyota of Olivier Panis.

The Frenchman, who completed 61 laps, noted: "We had a good end to an encouraging week here in Barcelona today. I am very happy with what I have personally achieved over two days. We almost completed our tyre programme, which has been very important. We had a mechanical problem at the end of the session today, which meant we had to stop earlier than scheduled, but the consistency and balance of the TF103 have been very good this week."

Seventh and eighth were the two McLaren's, David Coulthard around half a second up on Kimi Raikkonen. The Woking based team only started testing at Barcelona today, however they will continue tomorrow and Friday, when they have the track entirely to themselves for an exclusive session.

Ninth, and the only other runner at the track - after BAR and Renault concluded running yesterday - was Mark Webber. The Jaguar driver completed only 27 laps in the new R4, and posted a best time that was nearly three and a half seconds off the pace - a 1m 18.667s.

Leading times (5 February) - Barcelona:

1. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1m 15.103s 105 laps B
2. Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1m 15.408s 54 laps B
3. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas# 1m 16.336s 111 laps B
4. Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW# 1m 16.630s 71 laps M
5. Olivier Panis Toyota# 1m 16.945s 61 laps M
6. Marc Gene Williams-BMW# 1m 17.234s 74 laps M
7. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1m 17.293s 30 laps M
8. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes 1m 17.985s 40 laps M
9. Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth# 1m 18.667s 27 laps M