Frenchman Jean Alesi set a lap record at the Circuit de Catalunya today as he topped the times in Formula One testing.
Alesi completed 95 laps in Prost's new Ferrari-powered AP04 as he took almost 0.6 seconds off Italian Jarno Trulli's best lap time set in December.
Alesi's fastest lap of one minute 18.973 seconds was almost a second quicker than nearest rival Giancarlo Fisichella, who ran 113 laps in last year's B200.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was third quickest in BMW-Williams' FW22 hybrid ahead of Benetton's Jenson Button, the man he replaced at the Grove-based team.
Dutchman Jos Verstappen was back behind the wheel of his Arrows after replacing Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi but the Bridgestone-shod driver could post only the fifth quickest time.
Ralf Schumacher completed 43 laps in BMW-Williams' new FW23 car but caused the session to be red flagged because of a mechanical failure which left him stranded on the track.
Jaguar's Luciano Burti and tester Tomas Scheckter were off the pace as they ended seventh and eighth respectively.
Reuters