Lewis Hamilton had the measure of Ferrari for a second successive day as he again set the fastest time in the final pre-season test at Barcelona.
With the curtain-raising grand prix in Australia now 19 days away, Hamilton and McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen were significantly quicker than world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
On a dry day, the 22-year-old was almost a second quicker than his best time of yesterday - posting a lap of one minute 21.234 seconds for the 4.655km Circuit de Catalunya.
Kovalainen was 0.2 seconds adrift, with Raikkonen almost 0.5 seconds off the pace - and while it is difficult to determine fuel loads in testing, there is no doubt Hamilton will be buoyed by the result.
Williams suggested they would again pushing old guard, as Nico Rosberg was fourth ahead of Felipe Massa quickly, resuming testing duties from Michael Schumacher in the other Ferrari.
The forces of India, Giancarlo Fisichella was seventh fastest, followed by Sebastian Vettel - who was now driving for Red Bull, rather than Toro Rosso.
David Coulthard was forced to withdraw with a neck injury suffered yesterday - and with Red Bull Racing operates two cars this week and Toro Rosso he Vettel included among kin groups.
A decision will be made tomorrow whether Coulthard will return or Red Bull will continue Vettel, who was 0.9 seconds faster than the Scot team-mate Mark Webber, who was 17th.
Jenson Button finally showed some improvement in his Honda, ninth overall - albeit 1.425secs behind Hamilton.
It was a grim day for Fernando Alonso, though.
He finished a lowly 13th - while team-mate Nelson Piquet was 18th of the 19 on track, with Toyota's Timo Glock bringing up the rear.
Coulthard will undergo treatment today in the hope he will be fit to take part in the final day's testing tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment