Barcelona day five testing report

The Circuit de Catalunya was shrouded in fog in the early morning but by 10am it had cleared and the drivers were allowed to take to the track.

Fernando Alonso made his first appearance today in the Renault 201, although he has tested with the team before at Estoril in October last year. The young Spaniard only put in 7 timed laps in the morning but had clocked up 33 by the end of the day, finishing seventh fastest.

Some drivers tested electronic systems and practiced starts in the morning, with varying degrees of success. Anthony Davidson in the BAR003, Giancarlo Fisichella in the EJ11 and Luca Badoer in the Ferrari F2001 all experienced a few problems but Fisichella topped the time sheets at lunchtime with a 1.20.216 ahead of Olivier Panis in the BAR004 and new Jordan team mate Takuma Sato.

The reported tensions between Jacques Villeneuve and BAR over the past couple of days were dismissed as nonsense. The Canadian left the circuit after a short test because he was already planning to go ski-ing this weekend and will re-join the team when they head to Valencia next week - where BAR hope to have two or maybe three new 004s for testing.

Of the five teams remaining at Barcelona today Jordan remained on top at the end of the afternoon session with Fisichella's fastest time of 1.18.522, ahead of Sato. The single Ferrari of Luca Badoer was 3rd, the two Renaults of Button in 4th and Alonso in 7th were split by the BARs of Panis and Davidson in 5th and 6th, while Toyota's Mika Salo once again remained at the bottom of the list.