SEPTEMBER 1, 2004

Testing Ban Ends

After the month long testing ban in August today kicked off the first day of a three day test at the Monza circuit. All ten teams were at the track working hard on their setup for the upcoming Italian Grand Prix on September 12.

Michael Schumacher is hot off clinching his 7th World Championship with his second place finish in Belgium. He claimed the fastest lap time of the day at 1min 20.187 secs followed by teammate Rubens Barrichello at 1min 20.240s. Both Ferrari's were nearly a second ahead of the third place driver, Anthony Davidson, test driver of BAR who clocked in at 1m 21.049s.

Takuma Sato was fourth quickest followed by Juan Pablo Montoya who was fifth for Williams. Fernando Alonso managed to stay competitive with the sixth fastest lap time of the day despite electrical problems that he and team mate Jarno Trulli experienced earlier in the day.

"In spite of several small niggles during running this morning, we completed a successful first day of running at Monza." Said Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer for Renault. "Both drivers quickly settled back in to running the car in its low-downforce configuration, and the Monza-specific aero package performed as expected. The engine reliability was encouraging, and we have made good progress with the tyre programme, giving us a solid base for continuing our work tomorrow."

Christian Klien who just scored in his first points in F1 at Spa was seventh quickest. David Coulthard, Antonio Pizzonia, and Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella held the respective eighth, ninth, and tenth quickest times for the day.

Testing will continue with all teams on the circuit tomorrow in Monza.