 Panis Goes Fastest at Silverstone - Day Two Wednesday June 13th, 2001 A massive nineteen drivers were present on Wednesday for the second consecutive day of testing at the Silverstone circuit, where ten of the eleven Formula One teams will work until Thursday in order to prepare the upcoming European Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix in July. Frenchman Olivier Panis was fastest today, lapping more than three tenths of a second quicker than the best time from yesterday, set by Italian driver Jarno Trulli with the Jordan. Panis, who didn't test on Tuesday, completed 68 laps at the wheel of the BAR-Honda to edge Mika Hakkinen, who also joined the testing session today. The McLaren driver, who finally returned to the podium this season at last Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, was less than two tenths slower than Panis, being the busiest driver today with a total of 76 laps completed. Rubens Barrichello and teammate Michael Schumacher took over from Ferrari's test driver Luca Badoer, continuing with the set-up work for the Italian team. Barrichello was third quickest while championship leader Schumacher was fifth. Both drivers worked also on tyre evaluation. The Ferraris sandwiched Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, fourth quickest for the Williams team, who were present with their two racing drivers today after Spaniard Marc Gene worked alone on Tuesday. Canadian Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher returned to work after his second win of the season, the German posting the seventh fastest time of the session behind Trulli in the Jordan.
German Andre Lotterer also resumed his work for the Jaguar team, the F3 star enduring a promising day after outpacing Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who finished right behind the youngster. Lotterer concentrated on the development of suspension parts for the R2, while de la Rosa worked on the set-up for the British Grand Prix. Finn Kimi Raikkonen replaced teammate Nick Heidfeld today at the Sauber team, after the German was forced to pull out yesterday feeling unwell following his accident at the Canadian Grand Prix. "As usual I'm really happy to be back in the cockpit," admitted Raikkonen. "And it is good to be running on a circuit that is also very familiar to me. We had a good day, and tried a lot of things, and I was pleased with the way that the C20 performed." Raikkonen ended in front of the second BAR, who today was driven by Takuma Sato, leader of the British Formula Three Championship. Australian Mark Webber and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella worked for the Benetton team, the test driver being more than 2.5 seconds quicker than Fisichella, who finished the day five seconds off the pace as he continued with the Renault-owned team's dismal season. Fisichella could only complete 17 laps after he was hit by mechanical problems during the morning. Veteran Johnny Herbert was replaced today by both Arrows drivers Jos Verstappen and Enrique Bernoldi, the Brazilian edging his Dutch teammate by only one thousand of a second. The two Prosts of Luciano Burti and Jean Alesi were next on the timesheets, as the French team continued the development of the Ferrari-powered AP04. Testing at Silverstone will conclude on Thursday. Today's times:
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Young Briton Darren Turner continued working for the McLaren team, the DTM driver setting a respectable eighth quickest time one second behind Hakkinen. Turner is expected to continue testing while the team's official test driver Alexander Wurz recovers from food poisoning. |
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