Magny-Cours test - day one: 29 May.

Ralf Schumacher was fastest in the opening day of testing at Magny-Cours today. The German was some two-tenths quicker than the McLaren-Mercedes of Alexander Wurz.

Ralf set a time of 1m 15.108s and in doing so smashed the lap record. Third quickest following the team's first podium in Monte Carlo was Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar. The highest Ferrari was Rubens Barrichello in fourth while his teammate Michael Schumacher was down in ninth. The three times world champion only venturing out onto the track at the end of the day to complete seven installation laps.

Fifth was Eddie Irvine while in sixth and seventh were the Jordan-Honda's of Ricardo Zonta and Jarno Trulli. Jacques Villeneuve was eighth and Jenson Button rounded off the top 10. His Benetton-Renault one and a half seconds off the pace set by his former team.

That left BAR test driver Patrick LeMarie 11th, Luciano Burti 12th, and the Arrows-Asiatech's 13th and 14th - Enrique Bernoldi ahead of teammate Jos Verstappen. Testing continues tomorrow.

Leading times: Magny-Cours - day one:

1. Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1m 15.108s 56 laps
2. Alexander Wurz McLaren-Mercedes 1m 15.366s 89 laps
3. Pedro de La Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1m 15.441s 77 laps
4. Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1m 15.448s 78 laps
5. Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1m 15.585s 42 laps
6. Ricardo Zonta Jordan-Honda 1m 16.388s 54 laps
7. Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 1m 16.520s 75 laps
8. Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1m 16.567s 44 laps
9. Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1m 16.681 7 laps
10. Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 1m 16.880s 25 laps
11. Patrick LeMarie BAR-Honda 1m 16.891s 56 laps
12. Luciano Burti Prost-Acer 1m 16.995s 43 laps
13. Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 1m 17.010s 52 laps
14. Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 1m 17.217s 45 laps

Track conditions / weather: Dry, sunny and hot.