Rubens Barrichello set the fastest lap of the four-day test at Jerez, recording a time of 1:19.832 in his Williams on the last of a series of eight-lap runs on Sunday morning.
Kamui Kobayashi, who caused one of three red-flag stoppages in the morning when he dumped his Sauber in the gravel, was second on the timesheets although his was a one-off among a raft of solid but otherwise unspectacular stints.
Fernando Alonso, again with sizeable home support despite the less than pleasant weather, was third fastest, like the other two on a morning run before switching to heavy-fuel sessions in the afternoon. ESPN F1
Just behind him was Sebastien Buemi in the Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso, the Swiss driver concentrating on aero evaluations and general set-up of the new STR6.
“I had my first taste of super soft and intermediate rain tyres just at the end, which is better than nothing, as I don’t suppose we are likely to get much rain between now and the first race,” explained Buemi. “Therefore, I am satisfied with the past two days, even if we know there is a long way to go in terms of developing the car. Reliability improved throughout the test and since Valencia, so we must continue working in this direction while also beginning to think more about performance.”
Heikki Kovalainen again found some strong pace from the new Lotus T128, despite a number of disruptions to the team’s programme. The Finn ended the day sixth in the times.
“Today was affected by a few issues on the car and the obvious change in the weather but the team has worked extremely hard over the whole test to give both Jarno (Trulli) and Heikki a chance to show what the car can do and our thanks go to them and everyone back in the factory for working so hard,” said sporting director Dieter Gass. “Even with these problems the car does look quick and we have a very good platform to work on in Barcelona and at the final test in Bahrain.” Formula 1
Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus a chance to climb the final standings, finally finising sixth ahead of Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Jerome d’Ambrosio and Paul di Resta.
The day saw five red flags in total. The first coming from d’Ambrosio in the morning followed by Nico Rosberg at turn seven when his Mercedes encountered a mechanical issue. Koabayashi, Barrichello and Di Resta were the causes of the others.
Day four wraps-up the Jerez test with the teams moving to Barcelona on Friday 18th February. F1 Times
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