Wednesday December 20th, 2000

Jenson Button set the fastest time on the third day of testing at the Estoril circuit in Portugal, where conditions finally improved enough to allow the Michelin users to continue their programme.

On a damp track, the young Benetton driver was almost nearly half a second faster than the Jaguar of Eddie Irvine, who was able to complete the wet tyres testing programme.

Irvine's teammate Luciano Burti was third quickest in front of Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene, who drove the FW22B chassis with a new engine fitted.

Benetton's test driver Mark Webber, who had an engine failure during the final minutes of the session, set the slowest time of the day.

Testing at Estoril will continue on Thursday.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time   
 1.  Button        Benetton-Renault     (M)   1:21.54
 2.  Irvine        Jaguar               (M)   1:21.95
 3.  Burti         Jaguar               (M)   1:22.04
 4.  Montoya       Williams-BMW         (M)   1:22.18
 5.  Gene          Williams-BMW         (M)   1:23.03
 6.  Webber        Benetton-Renault     (M)   1:23.59

All Timing Unofficial