McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen blitzed the lap record at Valencia during F1 testing on Thursday by beating the previous best time, set by team-mate David Coulthard last year, by more than half a second.
McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen blitzed the lap record at Valencia during F1 testing on Thursday by beating the previous best time, set by team-mate David Coulthard last year, by more than half a second.
With the first Grand Prix of the year – at Melbourne on March 3 – now merely a month and a half away, the young Finn has shown that he will not allow Coulthard to dictate matters at McLaren in 2002.
Raikkonen spent much of the day conducting tyre evaluation work for Michelin on low fuel levels and finished 0,7s ahead of the Bridgestone-shod Jordan-Honda of Giancarlo Fisichella.
“I’m very pleased,” said Raikkonen. “I’ve done so much running and I’m really tired, but in a very good way. Not physically, but mentally. I was so happy that I had no technical problems. I’m really looking forward to the new car.”
Fisichella continued his low fuel runs and development work on tyres and software, while team mate Takuma Sato, who was fourth, concentrated on developing the brakes on his EJ11.
Ralf Schumacher returned to the cockpit for the Williams team and was fastest of the three drivers present in fourth place. However, Schumacher, Juan-Pablo Montoya (sixth) and test driver Marc Gene (seventh) all experienced problems and stopped out on the track at various times during the day.
BAR also ran three cars, with Olivier Panis leading the way in fifth while team-mate Jacques Villeneuve finished eighth after shaking down the second version of the all-new BAR004.
Both BAR drivers concentrated their efforts on chassis set-up work while also putting more mileage on the new Honda engine. Valencia offers the team a different set-up to Barcelona, so its many low-speed corners gave the drivers and the engineers the opportunity to dial the car in for this type of circuit.
“We had a good first day, and I managed to put in a lot of laps – 81 in total. We made our first race distance in Barcelona and the car seems to be going well here in Valencia also,” Panis said. “We hope to improve the balance a little more tomorrow, and we’re obviously waiting for some new parts prior to Melbourne, but I have a good feeling about the car mechanically and I’m really positive, just the same as in Barcelona.”
“The car felt good in the morning, and I was getting to grips with it quite well,” said Villeneuve. “This afternoon we had a minor problem and we lost some time, but right now it’s just a case of seeing how the car reacts – and it seems to be reacting quite well. Mechanically, the car works much better than last year.
“It reacts to changes, so that’s good, and it feels good to drive. We just need to wait until we get the Melbourne aerodynamic package to see how fast we’re really going to go,” he said.
BAR test driver Anthony Davidson finished tenth in a 2001-spec car, with the Toyota of Mika Salo just ahead in ninth.
“After a slow start to the day we got some good running in the afternoon,” Salo told F1-live.com on Thursday. “We are definitely heading in the right direction and we made some improvements, for example, in our launch and traction control.”
Mark Webber had his first run with Minardi. The Australian remains one of the strongest contenders for the second seat with the Anglo-Italian team in 2002, and finished more than two and a half seconds ahead of former DTM and Formula 3000 driver Christijan Albers in the second PS01B.
Valencia test, day three times (unofficial)
Pos Driver Chassis-engine Tyres Time Laps
1 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes M 1m12,914s 94 laps
2 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Honda B 1m13,954s 106 laps
3 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m14,320s 60 laps
4 Takuma Sato Jordan-Honda B 1m14,871s 104 laps
5 Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 1m14,871s 81 laps
6 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m14,819 22 laps
7 Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m14,819 64 laps
8 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 1m14,871s 50 laps
9 Mika Salo Toyota M 1m15,324s 40 laps
10 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda B 1m14,871s 60 laps
11 Mark Webber Minardi-European M 1m17,824s 48 laps
12 Christijan Albers Minardi-European M 1m18,076s 32 laps
M – Michelin
B – Bridgestone