Sebastian Vettel set the pace at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in the extreme south of Spain on Tuesday where drivers’ and teams’ had to cope with track temperature exceeding the 50 degrees Celsius mark.
Vettel, who set the fastest time of the day in the morning when it was cooler - a 1 minute 19.844 seconds - completed 94 laps in total, getting through his entire programme without any technical glitches.
Gary Paffett was ‘best of the rest’ meanwhile for McLaren-Mercedes, the Englishman coming in around two-three tenths slower on a 1m 20.179s. He did 80 tours and fine-tuned a wide number of aero components, as well as looking at different suspension set-ups.
Luca Badoer was third and the Scuderia will be keen to try and make some significant progress this week ahead of the Hungarian GP, after less than sparkly runs in Britain and Germany.
Ferrari tested tires and introduced aerodynamic modifications with an eye toward 2009 development, though the latter addition is expected to come into play at the end of this year.
Team principal Stefano Domenicali had called these three test days “fundamental” after a disappointing German GP.
“This morning it was important to go deeply into some technical elements to understand what happened last Sunday in Hockenheim,” said test driver Badoer, who will be replaced by Kimi Raikkonen on Wednesday. “We picked up a lot of data, and that will continue over the next few days when we also test some solutions for the forthcoming races.”
BMW Sauber test driver Christian Klien had driven three laps around the circuit and was stopped in pit lane waiting to be wheeled back into the garage when the accident occurred.
The team said Klien would continue testing on Wednesday, though in the team’s 2008 car.
Nico Hulkenberg and his Red Bull opposite number Sebastien Buemi both lapping in the 1:20.9 range.
Jarno Trulli was the only other regular race driver in action, with Alex Wurz in the Honda and Christian Klien in the BMW Sauber in eighth and ninth places respectively.
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