By Phil Giles
February 21 2006

Wet weather has hampered the teams testing program in Barcelona today. Having said that, the team managed to post a superb 1.18.717 second lap, just one second behind the Mclaren of Kimi Raikonnen.

Tiago Monteiro managed to cover 59 laps in the M16-02 until rain stopped play in the mid afternoon. Working on race simulations, the team made good progress testing control systems and developing the cars reliability.

Tiago said: "We had some really promising runs with the car this morning, which was encouraging, as I believe we ended up just over one second behind the quickest time of the day."

"We were preparing to begin practicing race simulations in the afternoon but unfortunately, it started to rain heavily on the out lap and we held off for a while, but finally called it a day when the rain showed no sign of letting up." he continued.

"In the end, we did about 60 laps - which is very close to a race distance - without any problems. The car's reliability is excellent and our pace is improving, so I am very pleased with the day's performance. "

With times improving and showing complete promise, Tiago will continue to test tomorrow morning (22/02/06). Christijan takes the wheel in the afternoon and will remain in the driving seat for the final day of the test on Thursday.

Weather Conditions	Dry and Overcast until 14:30, followed by Heavy Rain
Driver	Tiago Monteiro
Chassis	M16-02
Fastest Lap	1'18.717
Number of Laps	59
Distance	273 km