Winter testing under way 2002-11-26

With the six week testing ban over, all the teams bar Jordan and Arrows were back on the track today at either Barcelona or Valencia. Jordan will not test the EJ13 until January and there has been no recent news on what Arrows is up to.

Nine drivers from five teams were working at Valencia where Juan Pablo Montoya topped the times for Williams with a 1:13.346 over 52 laps. The Colombian was just over two seconds faster than the second placed McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen. McLaren test driver Alex Wurz was also on duty, setting the fourth quickest time.

The sole Sauber of Nick Heidfeld was third fastest, the young German running gear box tests for the new C22 to be unveiled in February. Jarno Trulli was fifth for Renault followed by two more Williams': the team was evaluating Italian Giorgio Pantano, who was a couple of seconds faster than regular test driver Marc Gene.

Two new faces were on track for Minardi, Frenchman Franck Montagny and Russian Sergey Zlobin, the pair rounding off the Valencia times. Montagny was getting a try-out as his reward for winning the 2001 Nissan championship while Zlobin will continue tomorrow, evaluating parts for the 2003 Minardi.

Of the six drivers from four teams at Barcelona, Ferrari's Luca Badoer set the fastest time. The test driver worked on tyre development and clocked a 1:18.889 over 83 laps.

Jaguar new boys Antonio Pizzonia and Mark Webber were both present but had mixed results. Pizzonia, wearing the Head and Neck Support (HANS) device, got his testing off to a good start, second fastest and less than a second behind Badoer. Webber was plagued by technical problems and he didn't manage to set a timed lap.

Also on their first official testing session for a new team were the Toyota duo of Olivier Panis and Christiano da Matta. Third and fifth quickest respectively, the pair spent the time getting familiar with a new car and a new team. BAR's Anthony Davidson split the two Toyota's, working on electronics and setting the fourth fastest time.