Massa fastest as testing resumes

This year's final week of testing got under way at Jerez de la Frontera on December 13th with six drivers from four teams at the Spanish track. Ferrari's Felipe Massa, using the restricted V10 engine, headed the time sheet with a best of 1:19.074. The Brazilian worked on tyres and racked up 92 laps, and will continue on Wednesday.

Test driver Ricardo Zonta was second fastest for Toyota, running the V8 engine, a second off Massa. The Cologne squad also had Frenchman Franck Perera, a member of its young driver programme, in sixth. He had one or two off-track excursions and was just under a second and a half down on Zonta.

McLaren fielded Gary Paffett and tester Pedro de la Rosa, third and fourth quickest respectively. After a cold start, which saw the pair remain in the garage until mid-morning, both worked on development of the V8 Mercedes engine and tyre evaluation. Juan Pablo Montoya is due to join de la Rosa tomorrow.

After Jacques Villeneuve got his first taste of the V8 last week, teammate Nick Heidfeld was back behind the wheel for BMW Sauber and was fifth overall. His programme was also V8 engine development and tyre testing and he will continue tomorrow, when cooling system checks are scheduled to be added to the work.