Valencia record falls to Schumacher, Montoya

THE Valencia circuit’s lap record was obliterated more than once yesterday, with, first, Michael Schumacher and then Juan Pablo Montoya topping the leaderboard. Times far below the 70-second mark showed testing has gone onto a new level of seriousness.

Schumacher broke the record just before lunch, whilst Montoya came back with his response shortly after the break. Schumacher's lap came in the middle of a series of several-lap runs that typified his day's tyre work. However Montoya's lap was a true one-off ‘flyer' in the new FW26. The Colombian was trying Michelin compounds and clearly found one that he liked. Ralf Schumacher was third.