Wednesday January 19th, 2000

Jaguar's Johnny Herbert was fastest overall today at Barcelona, where his team, along with Benetton and Williams, ran tests towards the 2000 season.

Herbert was over a second faster than Giancarlo Fisichella in second, who ran into hydraulics problems. Jackie Stewart attended the session and said at the end he was pleased with the progress the car is making.

Despite only getting the chance to drive six laps with Williams, Jenson Button ended the day third fastest overall. The young Englishman, who was celebrating his 20th birthday, could only manage a handful of laps before technical problems intervened - his car sprang an oil leak.

In the afternoon, Button handed over the car to Bruno Junqueira, who himself only got to complete a couple of laps. Both drivers will get another opportunity tomorrow, with Bruno running in the morning session and Jenson in the afternoon.

"Today has been a frustrating day for the two young drivers," said Williams' Senior Operations Engineer James Robinson. "It has not really been a good platform to get a stable baseline and be able to work with the car. We will try to engineer things this evening to change that around for tomorrow and give them more opportunity to show their potential."

Today's times:

Pos  Driver      Team               Time   
 1.  Herbert     Jaguar-Ford        1:22.79
 2.  Fisichella  Benetton-Playlife  1:23.96
 3.  Button      Williams-BMW       1:24.13
 4.  Junqueira   Williams-BMW       1:25.22
 5.  Wurz        Benetton-Playlife  1:27.17

The 1999 Barcelona lap record is 1:20.540 (R. Barrichello)