Tuesday August 21st, 2001

German Ralf Schumacher was fastest on the first day of testing at the Barcelona circuit in Spain, where Williams and Benetton are to carry out a four-day session in preparation for the upcoming Belgian and Italian Grands Prix.

Having finished in fourth position at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, Schumacher successfully completed systems and tyre testing for the Grove-based team today, running 71 laps around the Catalan track. The German driver was over 1.5 seconds quicker than the nearest rival Jenson Button at the wheel of the first of the Benettons.

The Briton finished the day ahead of the team's test driver Australian Mark Webber, who completed 47 laps - nine more than Button - but who was more than three seconds off the pace.

The Williams team also worked at the Danielson circuit with Petrobras F3000 Junior Team driver Ricardo Sperafico carrying out straight-line testing. The weather was hot and dry and the team reported no problems with all the scheduled tasks being carried out.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time   
 1.  R.Schumacher  Williams-BMW        (M)    1:20.113
 2.  Button        Benetton-Renault    (M)    1:21.729
 3.  Webber        Benetton-Renault    (M)    1:23.399

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 17:53:19 GMT