The drivers, in particular Ralf who had to contend with a weekend of rain in Brazil, would have to deal with cold, windy and overcast conditions. This track is new to the team having not used it for quite some time so some time was spent finding a setup for the circuit.

Despite the less than ideal conditions Ralf would complete eighty one laps of the circuit, with a best lap time of 1m:08.454s which placed him second behind Toyota's Ricardo Zonta. For Marc he would also work the FW25. Marc would complete fifty three laps with a best time of 1m09.209s, third fastest. Neither driver had any problems and the test will continue until Friday.

WilliamsF1 Test Team Manager Tim Newton commented on the days testing by saying: “The drivers were getting used to the Ricard circuit having not driven here before. The weather was dry, overcast but cool all day - top temp ambient 10 degrees, track 22 degrees. We were running two cars and two drivers. Chassis FW25-01 was piloted by Mark Gené and FW25-05 was driven by Ralf. We focused on set-up for the forthcoming European season“.

Testing continues tomorrow, when the McLaren and BAR teams are scheduled to join.

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps

1. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:08.277 108
2. R. Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:08.454 81
3. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:09.209 53
4. Panis Toyota (M) 1:09.355 49