Brawn GP proved its stunning Barcelona pace was no fluke by comfortably topping the times again as the final pre-season test got underway at Jerez.
While six teams completed their track preparations for the new season at the Circuit de Catalunya earlier this week, McLaren, Renault, Williams and Brawn have headed south for one final test before the Australian Grand Prix.
And following on from its remarkable performance with its new BGP 001 car at Barcelona, where it headed the timesheet by over 0.8s on the final two days, Brawn GP was at it again on Sunday as Rubens Barrichello led the way by over half a second.
“We had a good day of testing today completing over a hundred laps of the Jerez circuit,” said Barrichello, who completed a programme of set-up and tyre work.
“It is hotter in Jerez than it was in Barcelona last week and therefore more representative of the temperatures that we can expect for the first few races, so it is good preparation for myself and the car.
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“The car ran very well once again and we are increasing our understanding of its characteristics every day.”
Alonso’s day got off to a bad start, with a trip through the gravel early on causing damage to his R29. The team got him back out in the afternoon, but the Spaniard managed just 40 laps in total.
“Unfortunately I made a mistake this morning which was a shame as we lost a lot of track time, but sometimes this happens in testing when you are looking for the limits of the car,” said Alonso.
“This afternoon the team put the car together as soon as possible and we tried to complete our main priorities for the day, which was testing some new parts on the car. In the end we managed to do it and we were pleased with the results, although we certainly would have liked more laps.”
World champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, who has struggled during pre-season testing, was originally scheduled to hit the track on Sunday but the British team decided to work on the car instead.
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McLaren decided it will run from Monday to Thursday instead of joining the other teams from Sunday to Wednesday.
The testing at the circuit wraps up on Thursday. It will be the final pre-season testing at Jerez before the 2009 season starts with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 29.
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