FERRARI: NEW CAR FOR JANUARY 29 - (1st-170 points)

Ferrari has confirmed that its new F1 challenger for the 2001 season will be unveiled at Fiorano on 29 January. Its type designation will not be announced until then and the car will start its shake-down on the spot that day. Further tests are on schedule at Mugello and Barcelona. Prior to that, Luca Badoer will carry out tyre testing in an F2000 for three days from January 15 at Jerez and the team will then move to Barcelona from 22 January where Michael Schumacher will test for at least two days. Ferrari's aim is to win the Championship again, but Jean Todt acknowledged at his recent press conference that McLaren remains the main threat and that he expects other teams to get close. The team line-up is virtually unchanged, but one of Schumacher's race engineers, Czapski, has gone to Benetton and been replaced by the Englishman Chris Dyer. For his part, Schumacher has confirmed that he feels in great shape after starting his training earlier than last season.

McLAREN: SECOND 'K-CAR' ALMOST READY- (2nd-152 points)

The McLaren-Mercedes squad is still working hard to complete its secondMP4/15-K development car so that both Mika Hakkinen and test driver Alexander Wurz have one each when the Woking-based team's 2001 test programme starts at Valencia next Monday. David Coulthard will be picking up the test programme at Barcelona the following week after which the team will alternate its programme with combinations of two of the three drivers testing through to the start of the new season. The first McLaren MP4/16 is not expected to test until early next month, and although there is no official word on the subject, may well make its debut at the Valencia test from 6-8 February.

WILLIAMS: THREE CARS AT JEREZ - (3rd-36 points)

Ralf Schumacher, Juan Montoya and Marc Gene were all on duty for the three-day BMW Williams test which ran from Monday-Wednesday this week at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain. From the outset, Schumacher and Montoya concentrated on aerodynamic development and Michelin tyre testing with 2000-spec FW22s while Gene did engine development work in the development chassis. In sunny and dry conditions on Monday, Schumacher posted fastest time on 1m 23.630s, 0.3sec quicker than Montoya but Gene only managed 1m25.156s due to engine problems. On Tuesday weather conditions were overcast in the morning with rain following in the afternoon. Schumacher trimmed his best time to 1m23.159s with Gene managing 1m 24.294s and Montoya 1m 24.894s. Wednesday's testing was conducted in overcast and intermittent rain with Montoya getting down to 1m 24.732s, having swapped with Gene to use the new-engined development car, finishing the day 0.2sec away from Giancarlo Fisichella's pace-setting Benetton. Ralf Schumacher did an endurance run on a particular type of tyre, getting down to 1m 24.786swhile Gene had a taste of tyre testing and other systems work in the FW22for a best of 1m 26.062s. Commented Tim Newton, the WilliamsF1 test team manager; "It was wet this morning and the circuit didn't really dry out properly except towards the end of the day. Only then could we finally use dry tyres. The past three days at Jerez has generated over 2480km. In addition, we have also successfully undertaken some system development work and now head back to Grove to assess and analyse the data before our next test at Valencia (15-17 January)."

BENETTON: BUTTON TRIES B200B FOR FIRST TIME - (4th-20 points)

The Benetton Renault Sport team carried out its first test of the New Year at Jerez this week where Giancarlo Fisichella proved that he had recovered from a pre-Christmas knee operation and Jenson Button arrived direct from Lanzarote where he had been completing a five-day pre-season training programme together with test driver Mark Webber. On Monday Fisichella ran one of last year's B200s fitted with the 2001 aerodynamic package, concentrating his work on electronic systems and general set-up work. He managed a 1m 23.92s best while Button had his first run in the B200B, fitted with the new 111-degree Renault V10 engine, managing a total of 36 laps including a 16 lap non-stop run. His best time was 1m 25.79s. On Tuesday Fisichella tested alone and managed a 1m 24.07s in the mixed wet/dry conditions, Button having to sit out the day while the team waited for a new 2001 spec engine to arrive from Renault Sport's technical headquarters. Unfortunately Button only managed another three laps on Wednesday before another mechanical problem sidelined the B200B. Meanwhile, Fisichella continued with his electronic testing in the B200 and also carried out several practice starts. In the afternoon the track dried out, so the team was able to test a couple of Michelin dry weather compounds before an engine failure halted further progress. Prior to that he set the best time of the day on 1m 24.58s. Benetton also confirmed that former Jordan chief designer Mark Smith will join them on 1 May, 2001.

BAR: NEW CAR FIRST TO RUN - (5th-20 points)

Olivier Panis drove the BAR-Honda 03 on its first shakedown run at Silverstone on Wednesday, achieving the distinction of becoming the first of the 2001 F1 challengers to run - shortly before Luciano Burti rolled out onto the circuit with the brand new Jaguar R2. "The engine is very strong and we had no problems," said Panis who set a 1m 28.3s fastest time of the day. The team is not scheduled to unveil their official new livery until 26 January in Barcelona, but the new car proved reliable at Silverstone where it completed 37 laps on the first day. BAR has also confirmed that Darren Manning will continue as its official test driver alongside French development driver Patrick Lemarie. Britain's Anthony Davidson and Japan's Takuma Sato have also been recruited to join in the team's long-term driver development plan.

JORDAN: NEW CAR ON COURSE - (6th-17 points)

The first Jordan-Honda EJ11 is on course for completion this weekend and will be launched at Silverstone next Tuesday prior to an intensive shakedown at the British Grand Prix venue from 17-19 January. Commenting on the departure of chief designer Mark Smith, Jordan commercial director Ian Phillips said; "He has done a good job for us over the ten years since we started in F1, but now decided that he wanted a change of scene. He will be a loss, obviously, but we will be promoting from within the company to appoint his successor."

ARROWS: VERSTAPPEN AT SILVERSTONE - (7th-7 points)

Jos Verstappen recommenced the Arrows team's test programme at Silverstone on Wednesday, running the AMT-engined A21 test car in a shakedown prior to next week's serious test at Valencia. The prototype was running several new hydraulic components eventually destined for the A22 and no representative times were recorded in the damp and bitterly cold conditions. The team stopped running early, having gained the information it had set out to acquire.

SAUBER: NEW C20 AT FIORANO- (8th - 6 points)

Just one day behind its original schedule, the new Sauber-Petronas C20 did its first laps at Ferrari's Fiorano test track on Thursday. Nick Heidfeld completed 45 laps in the morning without any problems in partly damp conditions, switching just before lunch from rain to dry tyres. He later completed another 19 laps before handing over the car to Kimi Raikkonen to do just a few precautionary laps. Heidfeld was pretty happy. "It's almost running too well," said Peter Sauber. The C20 is equipped with last year's Ferrari V10 engine and a seven-speed gearbox with an aluminium casing. "The priority of the development was to optimise the weight and meet the demands of the new aerodynamic rules," added Sauber. The previous day Raikkonen had done 92 laps in the old C19. The team's test programme has changed slightly; the team will now bring one C20 to Jerez on 15-16 January for Heidfeld and then Raikkonen takes over the following day. The team will have two cars at Barcelona the following week.

JAGUAR: R2 HAS SILVERSTONE DEBUT - (9th - 4 points)

The new Jaguar R2 was officially unveiled at Jaguar Cars' technical centre at Whitley, Coventry, on Tuesday prior to Luciano Burti giving it a preliminary shake-down at Silverstone the following day during which he covered about a dozen laps, but not setting any representative times. Team leader Eddie Irvine completed 26 laps in the Jaguar R1B test car - incorporating the new Cosworth CR3 engine and 2001 rear end on the back of an R1 chassis - during which he managed a 1m 29.3s best. Jaguar is confident that it will have three completed R2s in time for the Australian Grand Prix, plus a spare monocoque to hand, while a fifth chassis for the test team will be available soon afterwards. The team will start serious testing with the R2 and R1B from next Monday at Valencia.

MINARDI: PRESSING AHEAD - (10th - 0 points)

Giancarlo Minardi said he was unable to disclose any new developments, but confirmed that his team is still working.

PROST: NEW DRIVER SIGNED- (11th - 0 points)

Prost has signed by Gaston Mazzacane to drive alongside Jean Alesi and the Argentine driver was at the team's Guyancourt base this week to sit in his new car. He was happy to meet several familiar faces from the Minardi team for which he drove last year. The new car is scheduled to be shaken down next week at Magny-Cours behind closed doors.

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