WILLIAMS driver Jenson Button, from Bicester, will have one more test run at Silverstone this week before the real thing kicks off in Australia in under two week's time.

The 20-year-old's preparations for the Aussie race were thrown into disarray when he sustained a back injury last week, while training in the gym.

But a spokesman for BMW, who supply the engines to the Didcot-based Williams, said the there was a '100 per cent chance' that the 20-year-old would make his debut on the grid at Albert Park on March 12.

Meanwhile, Williams bounced back from early problems to gain decent mileage and put in reasonable lap times at the final day of testing at Jerez on Friday.

Ralf Schumacher completed 60 laps in the FW22 with a best time of 1:23.48.

A new engine was fitted to the German's car on Thursday after the previous unit expired, prompting the team to ship it back to BMW motorsport in Munich for thorough checks. "Things like that happen at this stage of the season," said BMW head of development, Dr. Werner Laurenz.

Williams test driver Bruno Junqueira also had a productive day, completing 75 laps. He set a best time of 1:24.43 - good enough for 10th fastest overall.

Meanwhile Jaguar set the pace at the Spanish circuit.

Eddie Irvine topped the timesheets with 1:23.21, completing 49 laps in the R1, but later played down the progress made.

"The car was okay on the long run, but we only tried the hard tyres," he said.

Benetton continued their good form with Giancarlo Fisichella third quickest.

Story date: Tuesday 29 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.