Sunday January 23rd, 2000

The Williams team ran its two candidates for the second seat of 2000 today at Barcelona, where - for the first time in a week - the two young drivers, Jenson Button and Bruno Junqueira, managed to put in a bunch of trouble-free laps.

Button ran 21 laps with a best time of 1:23.34 and Junqueira ran 26 laps with a best time of 1:23.50. Neither encountered any technical problems.

At the end of the session a spokesman for the team said they were pleased with both drivers. "They did a very good job. They kept the car on the road and the sessions were totally trouble-free. We are very pleased with the tests. It will be a very tough decision for the team to make."

Williams was expected to announce who will pair with Ralf Schumacher tomorrow, when they unveil the FW22 at Barcelona. However, it is currently unclear whether the team has enough data to decide which driver will win the seat. Earlier reports said the team is considering delaying the announcement until Button and Junqueira had enough testing to truly evaluate who is the better.

"We hope we will be able to clock enough miles to evaluate the drivers," a spokeswoman said yesterday. "But if we are not able to give the drivers enough of a chance to prove their capabilities then we might not make the announcement on Monday, but wait until after the four-day test next week."

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