BAR Silverstone three-day test notes

Positive three-day test at Silverstone.

Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda completed a three-day, three-car test at Silverstone today in preparation for next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. Jacques Villeneuve, Olivier Panis and Anthony Davidson worked their way through a comprehensive programme of engine, gearbox, brake, tyre and general set-up work.

Anthony took to the track on Tuesday and Wednesday with Jacques and Olivier joining the programme for Wednesday and Thursday. On day 1, Anthony spent the morning session setting up the car before moving on to some gearbox exploration work in conjunction with an engine development programme. At the end of the day he conducted a brake evaluation and completed a total of 47 laps on the first day of running. He posted a best time of 1:23.950 compared with Jenson Button's 1.22.931.

On Wednesday, Jacques and Olivier picked up the reigns of the engine and tyre programmes and put in 35 and 52 laps respectively. Jacques' morning session was cut short by a gearbox related problem but this was resolved in time for the afternoon when he was able to complete a Bridgestone tyre test. Anthony spent the day in the 2001 BAR003 and clocked up 45 laps accumulating some valuable chassis data. Olivier Panis posted the fastest time of the B.A.R drivers with a 1:23.204 compared with Button's 1:21.922.

The programme was much the same for Jacques and Olivier today but a sudden downpour gave them the opportunity to conduct some wet running. Jacques completed 52 laps and Olivier 48, achieving best lap times of 1.22.972 and 1.22.380 respectively. Ralf Schumacher posted the fastest time of the day with a 1.22.152 but Olivier was reasonably pleased to end the day 3rd.

At the end of today's running, Olivier Panis commented: "We've worked our way through a number of items in order to give us the best possible chance for the Spanish Grand Prix. We continue to see step-by-step improvements and I hope we can see the benefit of those in the next race."

Jacques Villeneuve commented: "We've done a lot of work to prepare for the next race and Barcelona is a track we know well through testing, but it won' t be easy for us to repeat our Imola performance."

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