MP4/19 on the right track

McLaren took over at the top of the timesheets for the third day of testing at Spain’s Valencia circuit, the Scot beating the new track record that was set on Tuesday by BMW Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya. David’s best time of 1:10.018 was only a fraction faster than the Colombian’s best of 1:10.081, but it was enough to convince the McLaren squad that they are on the right track with their new MP4-19.

Jarno Trulli was second overall, but was almost four tenths of a second off Coulthard’s pace with Juan Pablo Montoya in third for Williams, six hundredths of a second slower than the Renault driver. Meanwhile jaguar’s Justin Wilson spent the day convincing the Milton Keynes based squad that he was the man for the job with a fourth placed finish close behind Montoya.

Ralf Schumacher was fifth followed by the team’s official test driver Marc Gene while Montagny, Wurz, Briscoe and Webber rounded out the rest of the field.

It should however be taken into account, that the MP4/19 is still the only car of the 2004 contenders that have hit the track, so any conclusions about McLaren being a championship contender are way too early. We can however not deny that the MP4/19 is doing a lot much better that the MP4/18 after 3 days.