Monza test - day two: 3 September.

McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard set the pace for second successive day today [Wednesday], at the Monza circuit in Italy.

DC completed 50 laps in total, his quickest a 1 minute 21.533 seconds - around half a second up on his best time from yesterday. Kimi Raikkonen was next up, in the sister McLaren, the Finn around two tenths slower. Both drivers spent the day working in preparation for the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen meanwhile was a surprise third fastest for Sauber, the German mainly concentrating on testing new aerodynamic parts.

McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard set the pace for second successive day today [Wednesday], at the Monza circuit in Italy.

DC completed 50 laps in total, his quickest a 1 minute 21.533 seconds - around half a second up on his best time from yesterday. Kimi Raikkonen was next up, in the sister McLaren, the Finn around two tenths slower. Both drivers spent the day working in preparation for the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen meanwhile was a surprise third fastest for Sauber, the German mainly concentrating on testing new aerodynamic parts.

Michael Schumacher came in fourth for Ferrari, while his team-mates Luca Badoer and Rubens Barrichello were fifth and eighth. Like yesterday, three F2003-GA's were in action, and the day's technical programme again involved a continuation of the tyre testing, aerodynamic and set-up work.

Michael's chief championship rival, Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth, the Colombian around two hundredths slower. Montoya's Williams-BMW was the only FW25 on track for most of the day, following Ralf Schumacher's heavy crash at the Lesmo corner yesterday afternoon. Although Marc Gene was brought in to replace the German, he completed only 4 laps, as the team spent most of the day preparing a new chassis.

"We mainly ran this afternoon, and not this morning, because we were waiting for some parts and the other test car to arrive to replace the chassis that we damaged yesterday," said Sam Michael, chief operations engineer at WilliamsF1. "In the afternoon, we did some aero testing, set up work and tyre testing on Juan Pablo's car. We managed to do an installation lap before the end of the session with Marc's car, so we will be ready to run that tomorrow."

Of the rest, Jacques Villeneuve was the highest placed out of the 'non-big three teams', the Canadian seventh fastest, while Renault's Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button rounded off the top ten, in ninth and tenth respectively.

Twenty-two drivers were in action in total, and for once every team, with Minardi, Jordan, and Renault joining the test today.

Testing concludes tomorrow [Thursday].

Leading times (3 September) - Monza:

1. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1m 21.533s 50 laps M
2. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes 1m 21.750s 79 laps M
3. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1m 22.125s 79 laps B
4. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1m 22.148s 60 laps B
5. Luca Badoer Ferrari 1m 22.164s 65 laps B
6. Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1m 22.177s 31 laps M
7. Jacques Villlenuve BAR-Honda 1m 22.184s 136 laps B
8. Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1m 22.238s 34 laps B
9. Jarno Trulli Renault 1m 22.413s 84 laps M
10. Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1m 22.497s 79 laps B
11. Fernando Alonso Renault 1m 22.633s 70 laps M
12. Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1m 22.810s 50 laps M
13. Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1m 22.828s 51 laps B
14. Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1m 22.914s 61 laps M
15. Justin Wilson Jaguar-Cosworth 1m 22.937s 50 laps M
16. Olivier Panis Toyota 1m 22.954s 61 laps M
17. Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1m 23.110s 77 laps M
18. Zsolt Baumgartner Jordan-Ford 1m 24.122s 73 laps B
19. Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1m 24.641s 57 laps B
20. Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1m 24.723s 21 laps B
21. Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1m 25.237s 34 laps B
22. Marc Gene Williams-BMW 1m 25.493s 4 laps M

M - denotes Michelin tyres
B - denotes Bridgestone tyres

Weather / track conditions: Light rain in the morning, then sunny.

Comparative lap times:

Italian GP 2002:

Pole position Juan Montoya Williams-BMW FW24 1m 20.264s
Fastest lap Rubens Barrichello Ferrari F2002 1m 23.657s

Read More

Subscribe to our F1 Newsletter

Get the latest F1 news, exclusives, interviews and promotions from the paddock direct to your inbox