McLaren take over Barcelona 2002-06-27

McLaren took over the test session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today with a 1-2 on the time sheets. Kimi Raikkonen clocked the fastest, a 1:17.812 over 92 laps, ahead of tester Alex Wurx. Raikkonen worked on Michelin tyres and Wurz on chassis development.

Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia was third quickest but fellow Williams tester Marc Gene was down in eighth after suffering engine failure. Heinz-Harald Frentzen took over from Enrique Bernoldi for Arrows and was fourth while the Renault of Jenson Button was fifth. Button worked on Michelin tyres as well as engine developments and software modifications for possible use at the British Grand Prix next weekend.

Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth fastest for Jordan and concentrated on the ubiquitous tyre work along with mapping of the new Honda engine. Sauber's Felipe Massa set the seventh fastest time and covered more than a GP distance. In the closing minutes of the session he had a huge crash at the end of the straight due to brake failure. Luckily the young Brazilian was unharmed. Other Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld was testing at Viarano and worked on aerodynamics.

The focus of the day was on the debut of the revised Jaguar R3, driven by Eddie Irvine. Some were disappointed when Irvine took to the track for the morning part of the session with the older version but in the afternoon he did roll out the new one. It was a quiet day for Jaguar; the team explained that the aim of the day was to work on setting up the car and getting some mileage in for assessment.