McLaren’s Jenson Button rounded off the second bout of Jerez winter testing with a timesheet-topping performance in his MP4-25 in the face of subdued performances from his major rivals.
Mark Webber took advantage of a long-overdue day of dry running to match Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s feat of topping the timesheets on the third day of the second session of pre-season testing at Jerez.
The rain in Spain once again fell mainly on the complaining F1 teams as the second day of the second pre-season Jerez test went the way of all the rest.
World championship contenders Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa were fastest as pre-season testing resumed at Jerez, while Michael Schumacher completed the most laps of anyone down in sixth place on the time sheets.
Lewis Hamilton put in the fastest time of any set during the four days of testing at Jerez as all the teams seized on a dry afternoon to make their drivers work for their salaries.
Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari turned an already strong showing by Toro Rosso at Jerez into a timesheet-topping performance today, narrowly besting his team-mate Sebastien Buemi who had scored second place on both the previous days.
It’s not been quite as dramatic as Jenson Button’s and Rubens Barrichello’s 2009 ascendancy with Brawn GP – but the subtle strength of Sauber and of its two race-deprived drivers could turn out to be the story of the 2010 tests.
Nico Rosberg shone for Mercedes GP on track at Jerez today after rain blighted the first day of resumed F1 testing for many of the teams.
Prospective GP2 driver Oliver Turvey will be cashing in his BRDC Young Driver prize of a test with McLaren at Jerez.
At least four up-and-coming British drivers will be in action at the three-day GP2 main test in Jerez next weekend, where most of the series’ teams will evaluate possible recruits for the winter GP2 Asia series and next year’s main championship.