Barcelona Test - Day One: 6 October 1999.

David Coulthard topped the last major test before the Malaysian Grand Prix, but the day was more significant for the return of Pedro Diniz.


The Brazilian suffered an horrific accident at the European GP ten days ago and, although he emerged with only bruises, there was some doubt about his ability to return before next weekend's race. Diniz, however, showed that there were lasting effects from the accident, and completed 64 laps in the course of the day.


The Sauber driver wound up fourth overall, 9/10ths of a second behind pace-setter Coulthard, but comfortably in touch with the rest of the small field. Coulthard's McLaren proved to be 3/10ths quicker than Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan at the top of the timesheets, as both drivers worked on set-ups for next weekend's inaugural Malaysian event.


Johnny Herbert took third spot, almost a further 2/10ths down, but continued to emphasis the Stewart's latent potential following his victory at the Nurburgring last time out. Benetton pilots Alex Wurz and Laurent Redon were next up after Diniz, albeit separated by Alex Zanardi's lone Williams. Nick Heidfeld brought up the rear in his Prost, completing just 13 laps.



Leading performances (6 October):


David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1min 23.073secs 72 laps

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen 1min 23.361secs 71 laps

Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 1min 23.532secs 69 laps

Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1min 23.932secs 64 laps

Alex Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1min 24.345secs 58 laps

Alex Zanardi Williams-Supertec 1min 24.815secs 59 laps

Laurent Redon Benetton-Playlife 1min 24.860secs 3 laps

Nick Heidfeld Prost-Peugeot 1min 25.313secs 13 laps