Testing at five different tracks

No less than five tracks were in use at the start of this week's testing schedule; Silverstone, Jerez, Barcelona, Monza and Mugello. Barcelona saw the most action of the day with five drivers on duty and a McLaren one-two-three on the time sheets. Race drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard were first and second respectively and test driver Alex Wurz set the third fastest time. Raikkonen's best was a 1:17.118.

Franck Montagny was behind the wheel for Renault and set the fourth time of the session. The Frenchman, who last drove the car at Magny-Cours in testing for the French GP, worked on a Michelin tyre programme and chassis parameters. Toyota's Cristiano da Matta rounded off the times, racking up 102 laps while concentrating on general set up for Indianapolis and Suzuka.

At Jerez, Michael Schumacher set a 1:19.265 for the best of the three drivers on track. The Ferrari driver worked on general set up and Bridgestone tyres. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was second fastest and his test day focused on mechanical components for next year's car, as well as aerodynamic development for the final two races of this season. Toyota test driver Ricardo Zonta completed the trio, working on set up and development work.

Ferrari also had test driver Felipe Massa testing at Monza. Driving an F2003-GA chassis, the Brazilian's programme centred on aerodynamics for Indianapolis and his best time was 1.22.993.

Williams had the Silverstone circuit to themselves and Juan Pablo Montoya got the better of Marc Gené with a 1:20.059. The pair concentrated on set up for Indianapolis and Suzuka. "We had a successful session today with Juan Pablo and Marc undertaking testing duties for us under glorious skies at Silverstone," said test team manager Tim Newton.

"Through the course of the day, we concentrated on testing brake and suspension components as well as performing some tyre testing work with Michelin. We managed to cover over 800 kilometres of running which has provided us with some invaluable information for the last two races of the year."

Minardi was the other team in action, running comparison tests between the current PS03 chassis and the 2002 Arrows A23, labeled PS04. The test took place at Mugello with drivers Jos Verstappen and Nicolas Kiesa switching between the cars for the day. There was very little difference between the cars but team boss Paul Stoddart believes the PS04 has 'substantial development potential'. Verstappen set the best time in the PS03, 1:25.4. In the PS04, the Dutchman was just two tenths slower.