Estoril testing notes 96-02-18

Estoril Test Sunday Feb 18th, 1996 Morning Times 1. Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:22.24. 2. Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:23.12. 3. Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:23.12. 4. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.44. Afternoon Times 1. Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:23.97. 2. Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:24.50. 3. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.61. 4. Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Peugeot 1:25.25. 6. Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:25.49. Top times for week of Feb 14th to 18th 1. Rubens Barrichello Jordan Peugeot 1:21.47. 2. Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Peugeot 1:21.49. 3. Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:21.64. 4. Jean Alesi Benetton-Renault 1:21.74. 5. Gerhard Berger Benetton-Renault 1:22.64. 6. David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.79. 7. Martin Brundle Jordan-Peugeot 1:23.10. 8. Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:23.12. 9. Pedro Lamy Minardi-Ford 1:23.12 Jacques completed his first day of testing in the new Wil- liams-Renault FW18 on Sunday at Estoril. In dry conditions, he ran a total of 32 laps, but an oil leak onto the rear tires caused the car to spin and resulted in a small engine fire. David Coulthard's afternoon session was curtailed after his McLaren-Mercedes suffered an engine failure. During the week, the Jordan-Peugeot team concentrated on reliability with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Martin Brundle completing more than 2000 kilometres between them with no major problems. ``It's really going very well,'' Barrichello said. ``I think this is the longest test we've ever done and that's enabled us to build up a really good momentum. We got through a lot of work on the chassis and engine and I've done a couple of race distances too. We've made good progress. The car is very responsive to set up changes, each day we are learning new things and taking anoth- er step forward. Brundle was equally enthusiastic about the progress the team has made with the new car. ``We've had a fantastic few days,'' he said. ``I've complet- ed two full race distances with simulated warm-up and starts and done 270 laps in total with no major problems at all. ``My best time so far is a 1:23.10, but I've yet to run in qualifying trim. We were particularly pleased with the last race run as far as the lap times are concerned and there is still more to come from the car.'' Jordan-Peugeot will remain at Estoril until Friday, Feb 23rd. The cars will then have a final shakedown at Silverstone on

Feb 29th.

MC --- þ 1st 1.11 #8604 þ The reverse side also has a reverse side - Japanese proverb