MARCH 22, 2002

Ferrari finishes Barcelona test on top

FRIDAY marked the last day of testing before the Brazilian GP for many of the teams, and for the third day in a row Ferrari was on the top of the time sheets. Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher finished the day 1-2, the Brazilian concentrating on set-up work, and his German teammate completing a race distance, both with the new F2002. The team will announce Saturday which car, the F2002 or F2001, they will take to Sao Paolo next week.

Olivier Panis in the BAR-Honda was third behind the two Ferraris, and Alexander Wurz was three tenths off Panis' time in a McLaren MP4/16 chassis.

David Coulthard continued development of the, thus far, unreliable McLaren MP4/17, while Marc Gene completed nearly two race distances in a Williams FW23, while Ralf Schumacher worked in a FW24.

Renault was frustrated earlier in the week by a steering problem, but the team sorted it out for Friday, and Jenson Button was able to complete his program in the R202. Mike Gascoyne commented, "After a difficult start, we had a much more useful day's running. Although the track was quicker this morning, Jenson nevertheless gathered some useful data on chassis set-up."

Jaguar was in action with both the R2 and R3 again Friday. Pedro De la Rosa outpaced Eddie Irvine in the R3 by just four hundredths of a second, and the team decided to commit to the new car for the time being, rather than revert to the R2.

Anthony Davidson once again tested in place of the injured Jacques Villeneuve for BAR, but the ex-world champion is expected to be fine for the Brazilian GP next weekend.

Some of the Michelin teams will conduct wet tire testing on an artificially soaked track on Saturday, while the rest pack up for Brazil...

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