McLaren fastest in test

MADRID: McLaren has thrown down the gauntlet to Williams for this year's World Championship by setting the fastest times in final preseason testing in Spain last week.

Mika Hakkinen's best time in his McLaren-Mercedes was almost two seconds faster than Williams driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen had managed the previous week.

Williams was not at the track at the same time as McLaren, though, preferring to test privately in France last week.

Meanwhile, four Formula One teams have already approached U.S. Indycar champion Alex Zanardi about driving in the 1999 Grand Prix season.

Zanardi contested 25 Grands Prix from 1991 to 1994 but really established himself as one of the fastest drivers in the world when he moved to the American series.