Tuesday July 3rd, 2001

After two consecutive Grands Prix in Germany and France, the Formula One teams returned to testing duties on Tuesday in order to prepare the upcoming British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit.

Three teams - McLaren, Sauber and Jordan - were present at the Italian Monza track to begin a four-day programme which will end on Friday. German Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the fastest time on the first day, the Jordan driver lapping more then two seconds slower than Mika Hakkinen's time when the teams tested earlier in June.

Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was second quicker more than two tenths slower than Frentzen. The young German focused on aerodynamic evaluation, completing a 82 laps.

"I'm very happy that we were able to do so many laps to start this four days test session," said Heidfeld. "That really helps in this sort of intensive test work when it is important to establish a good datum for comparison. I had a really good day. I was quickest until ten minutes before the end of the day when suddenly the Jordan improved their time at the end of the session."

Alexander Wurz was third quickest for the McLaren team, the Austrian being the busiest man of the day completing 87 laps. Brazilian Ricardo Zonta was slowest for Jordan, the only team who run with two cars today.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team-Engine         Tyres  Time   
 1.  Frentzen      Jordan-Honda        (B)    1:24.672
 2.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Petronas     (B)    1:24.892
 3.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes    (B)    1:25.034
 4.  Zonta         Jordan-Honda        (B)    1:25.164

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 17:18:26 GMT