Alonso tops Silverstone test times

Testing commenced at Britain's Silverstone circuit on September 13th and Fernando Alonso was the quickest of the nine drivers on track. The Renault pilot clocked 1:17.104, just five hundredths up on McLaren test driver Alex Wurz in second. Renault also had tester Heikki Kovalainen on duty, fourth fastest, and McLaren second test driver Pedro de la Rosa rounded off the times in ninth.

Toyota tester Ricardo Zonta was third on the time sheet and the Cologne-based squad also had Olivier Panis at work, using the V8 engine, eighth overall. Tonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien were on track for Red Bull, who just confirmed today that Klien will stay in the race seat for the rest of the season. Liuzzi was the faster of the two in fifth and Klien one behind in sixth.

Usually a BAR test driver, Anthony Davidson was behind the wheel of a Jordan and was seventh quickest on his try out for the team. Meanwhile, Ferrari was at work in Spain with tester Marc Gené on duty at Jerez de la Frontera. He completed a total of 80 laps and clocked a best time of 1:18.975. He will continue to work at Jerez tomorrow.

BAR ran three drivers at Barcelona, tester Enrique Bernoldi being the quicker of the trio with a best time of 1:16.780. Young driver programme pilots Adam Carroll and James Rossiter were second and third quickest respectively. Bernoldi worked on an aero and suspension programme while the youngsters focused on suspension and tyres.