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21-Feb: On the second day of testing at Valencia, David Coulthard set the fastest time of the day moving closer to the lap record set by Kimi Raikkonen last week. Alexander Wurz was second fastest while Juan Pablo Montoya was third and almost 1.5 seconds off the pace.
Only McLaren and Williams were present today with Alexander Wurz covering the most number of laps with 111 followed by Mark Gene with 94 and both David Coulthard and Juan Pablo Montoya completing 77 laps.
Testing continues tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Valencia

At Silverstone, Arrows, Jordan and McLaren tested their cars on the National circuit. Both Arrows drivers were present conducting a final test on the new Arrows, Takuma Sato tested electronics in the old Jordan while Kimi Raikkonen shookdown the new McLaren's heading to Melbourne. Although times are not comparable to the times set on the F1 circuit, Enrique Bernoldi set the fastest time of the day with a 42.459 under mainly wet conditions.

Click here for the test times from Silverstone

At Fiorano, Luca Badoer shook down the three Ferrari F2001 heading to Melbourne. He completed a total of 27 laps on both the long and short circuits as well as practicing pit stops and practice starts.

21-Feb: Renault Technical Director Mike Gascoyne expects his team to be competing with Sauber behind the top 3 teams from the start of the season. Speaking to Autosport Magazine he said "We were quicker than Sauber when they tested at Barcelona, so there is no reason why we cannot be right up there with them in qualifying. Our target is to finish in the points. I can see the situation that there will be the top three teams, then Sauber and ourselves, and then the rest."
At the Renault launch last month, the team declared that they would be disappointed if they don't finish in the top 4 this season.

After being released from his contract by Arrows, Jos Verstappen is looking into what options he has and while a regular drive at the moment doesn't seem to be possible, a few teams do not have official test drivers. It appears that Jos Verstappen is in advanced talks with the Sauber team for a test driver role. He went to the factory at Hinwil for a seat fitting and will be expected to test drive the Sauber car soon.

20-Feb: BAR concluded their test at Paul Ricard a day earlier than previously planned. Olivier Panis tested for the team on the first two days while Jacques Villeneuve took over on the final day. Both drivers concentrated on testing the final specification of the Honda engine as well as the latest aerodynamic package for the Australian Grand Prix. Olivier Panis completed a total of 114 laps over the 2 days setting a best time of 1:36.940. Jacques Villeneuve covered 69 laps on the last day with a best time of 1:37.080.
Comparisons cannot be made for these lap times as only one other team tested at the Paul Ricard track and that is Toyota, however they have not released any timing data during the pre-season testing.

20-Feb: Under mixed conditions, Arrows driver Heinz Harald Frentzen managed to set the fastest time of the day over a second faster than second place man Takuma Sato in the Jordan with Enrique Bernoldi in the second Arrows.
4 teams were present today and 6 drivers set lap times. Heinz Harald Frentzen also covered the most number of laps with 44 followed by his team-mate Enrique Bernoldi with 37. Both Renault drivers covered the least number of laps as they shookdown the cars for Melbourne.
Frentzen time was impressive compared to the rest of the field and Jaguar in particular given that they use the same engines, however Frentzen set his time at the right time on a dry track.
Renault and Jaguar have concluded their test here while Arrows and Jordan plan to stay for another day.

Click here for the test times from Silverstone

At Valencia, McLaren and Williams commenced their final pre-season test today. McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz set the fastest time of the day ahead of David Coulthard and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Only 2 teams were present and 4 drivers set lap times with Alexander Wurz completing the most number of laps with 67 followed by Marc Gene with 44. David Coulthard covered the least number of laps with 22.
Juan Pablo Montoya had a small off which reduced his running time.
Williams are planning for endurance runs tomorrow.
Testing continues tomorrow with Minardi expected to join the action.

Click here for the test times from Valencia

At Imola, Ferrari concluded their 3 day test at the track with Rubens Barrichello testing the F2001 and Luca Badoer in the F2002. Rubens Barrichello completed a total of 70 laps with a best time of 1:23.593 ahead of Luca Badoer in the F2002 who set a best time of 1:24.533.
Barrichello concentrated on tyre development and set-up on the F2001 while Luca Badoer continued the development program for the F2002.
Badoer will shakedown the 3 F2001 cars that are heading to Melbourne tomorrow at Fiorano.

19-Feb: If the last session of pre-season testing is anything to go by, it appears that Renault will be challenging Sauber for 4th place this year leapfrogging the 2 Honda powered teams while Arrows will be embarrassingly quick for Jaguar.
On the second day of testing at Silverstone, Jarno Trulli in the Renault was once again fastest just a fraction ahead of Heinz Harald Frentzen in the Arrows with Giancarlo Fisichella 0.4 seconds behind.
5 teams were present with 9 drivers setting lap times. Takuma Sato covered the most number of laps with 74 followed by Giancarlo Fisichella with 52 and Jenson Button with 45.
Enrique Bernoldi in the Arrows covered the least number of laps with 7 yet he was still faster than Pedro de la Rosa in the Jaguar.
Both the Arrows cars suffered gearbox problems limiting their running time while Fisichella stopped on the track in the morning with a mechanical problem.
Jacques Villeneuve was practicing pit stops for BAR while their test driver Anthony Davidson came out on the track in the afternoon in the rain and hence his (very) slow lap time compared to the rest.
Testing continues tomorrow.

Click here for the test times from Silverstone

Michael Schumacher continued testing for Ferrari at the Imola track today. He continued working on set-up and tyres in the F2001 while Luca Badoer continued working on the development of the F2002. Michael Schumacher's best time today was a 1:23.459 which is only 0.4 seconds off the qualifying time set at the San Marino Grand Prix in 2001. Michael completed a total of 85 laps.
Luca Badoer completed 39 laps with a best time of 1:24.976.
Weather was partly cloudy with a damp track early in the morning then dry for the rest of the day.
Testing continues tomorrow with Rubens Barrichello and Luca Badoer.

19-Feb: "Are Ferrari in trouble ?" - Topic of the week - Have Your Say

18-Feb: The final rounds of testing before the Australian Grand Prix on the 3rd of March got underway today. At Imola, Michael Schumacher switching his efforts to the old Ferrari (F2001) set the fastest time of the day with a 1:30.097. Luca Badoer was also present testing the F2002 and setting a time of 1:31.411. Badoer covered 43 laps while Michael covered 26.
As the F1 teams don't usually test at Imola, it is hard to compare times. However at the San Marino Grand Prix in 2001, the fastest time on Friday practice was a 1:25.096 set by Michael Schumacher.
Rubens Barrichello did not test today and is not expected to test tomorrow either despite Ferrari earlier indicating that all three drivers will be available at the test. There was no official word from Ferrari regarding Barrichello's absence.

At Silverstone where several British based teams are conducting their final test, Jarno Trulli set the fastest time of the day ahead of Heinz Harald Frentzen and Giancarlo Fisichella. Jarno Trulli also completed the most number of laps with 64 followed by Heinz Harald Frentzen with 15 laps and Giancarlo Fisichella with 10. Takuma Sato only completed a single timed lap.
Jaguar are expected to join in tomorrow as well as the rest of the regular drivers for the other teams.
Weather conditions were dry but cold.

Click here for the test times from Silverstone

At Paul Ricard, BAR have started their final pre-season test. During the 4 days the team will be testing the final Melbourne specification package as well as the latest evolution of the new Honda engine. Olivier Panis covered a total of 54 laps on the first day with a best time of 1:40.200. Panis continues testing tomorrow while Jacques Villeneuve takes over on Wednesday.

At Mugello, Sauber concluded their final test of the season with the second blow in 2 days as Felipe Massa crashed heavily but was uninjured. Yesterday (the 17th) Nick Heidfeld crashed his new Sauber and had to end his test early.
Before the crash, Felipe Massa had covered 22 laps with a best time of 1:26.046.

Click here for the test times from Mugello