Webber topped the charts but Raikkonen was fastest among the drivers on grooved rubber. (LAT Photo)
For the third straight day, Red Bull cars topped the charts in Formula 1’s testing sessions at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain – this time with Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, following two consecutive days of Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel leading the timesheets.
Like Vettel on Tuesday and Wednesday, Webber’s quickest run of 1:19.176 was obtained on 2009-spec slick tires. Also on slicks, Renault’s Nelson Piquet was second, some 0.2sec behind the Australian.
"We've had a pretty good two days here," Webber said. "The car ran pretty reliably and we've clocked some good mileage. Today we were mostly getting ready for Budapest, as well as looking at developments for a little later in the season.
"Yesterday we were focusing more on '09, and it was quite a challenging day. Today was better in terms of what we learned, mechanically and aerodynamically."
On grooved tires, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third, while Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi, on slicks, posted the fourth-best time while testing the squad’s new seamless-shift gearbox. McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa completed the top-five as the silver team evaluated “horn” nose wings for the first time.
Today also marked the return to action of Toyota’s Timo Glock after his heavy German GP crash. Testing continues tomorrow.
Jerez F1 testing times – Thursday:
1) Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1:19.176, 85 laps
2) Nelson Piquet, Renault, 1:19.334, 95
3) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:19.434, 84
4) Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Ferrari, 1:19.544, 86
5) Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:19.850, 39
6) Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 1:20.029, 77
7) Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota, 1:20.097, 88
8) Timo Glock, Toyota, 1:20.421, 78
9) Rubens Barrichello, Honda, 1:20.614, 68
10) Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:20.896, 97
