Thursday October 7th, 1999

As expected, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa was reinstated to the 2000 season calendar, after the Belgian Government decided to exempt the Formula One race from the state's ban on Tobacco advertising in sporting events.

Johnny Herbert (Stewart-Ford) topped the time sheets on the second day of the Barcelona testing. Herbert, who covered 96 laps, recorded a quickest lap time of 1:22.175, with Mika Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes) second on 1:22.564 and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen third with 1:22.830.

"I'm really pleased with the way things went today," Herbert later said. "In fact, the car has felt very good over the last two days. We've found some speed through suspension geometry changes we have made. We have improved the traction and cornering of the car significantly. Other set-up changes have also improved the car. We should be in good shape for Malaysia after tomorrow's final day of testing."

Barcelona test times, Thursday:

Pos  Driver      Team                Time      Laps
 1.  Herbert     Stewart-Ford        1:22.175   96 
 2.  Hakkinen    McLaren-Mercedes    1:22.564   56 
 3.  Frentzen    Jordan Mugen-Honda  1:22.830   69 
 4.  Coulthard   McLaren-Mercedes    1:22.858   72 
 5.  Zanardi     Williams-Supertec   1:23.878   73 
 6.  Diniz       Sauber-Petrona      1:23.744   75 
 7.  Wurz        Benetton-Playlife   1:24.629   64 
 8.  Fisichella  Benetton-Playlife   1:24.715   63 
 9.  Heidfeld    Prost-Peugeot       1:25.347   49 
10.  Lemarie     BAR-Supertec        1:27.785   50 

In the mean time, Ferrari had a busy day of testing at the Fiorano circuit. This morning at 09:30, Eddie Irvine kicked off the day by shaking down three cars to be sent to the Malaysian Grand Prix (chassis nos. 194, 195 and 196). He did a total of 16 laps with a best time of 1:01.833. At the end of the morning, he did a few runs to check and adjust settings on the test car (chassis 193) totalling ten laps.

At the beginning of the afternoon, Michael Schumacher drove the same car, carrying out tyre test over a distance of 58 laps. The German driver concluded his work at 18:30. At Fiorano tomorrow, the tyre testing will continue.