Jerez Testing – Day 3: Rosberg Leads, Grosjean Struggles

The days go by and look alike since, for the second consecutive day, it is a Mercedes W02 that sets the fastest time with Nico Rosberg at the wheel this time. It was around 12:48 PM that the German driver set the best time of the day and the tests so far with 1:17.613. He completed 118 laps.

On the other hand, it is Romain Grosjean who marks the best performance of a 2012 car as he completed a lap in 1:18.419 at the wheel of the Lotus E20 shortly before noon. The Franco-Swiss driver was congratulated by his team on Twitter, among other platforms. He finished the day with 117 laps on the counter and, notably, out of fuel, causing the last red flag of the day at 4:50 PM.

In third place on the timing sheet is a double World Champion, Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull driver finished the session 1.6 seconds behind Rosberg, but more notably eight-tenths behind Grosjean and completed 96 laps of the Spanish circuit. It was a fairly calm day for the German, who was far from taking all the risks.

Lewis Hamilton finishes fourth, marking the best performance for a McLaren in these tests, with a time of 1:19.464. He ends up less than two-tenths behind Vettel after completing 80 laps. He is followed, three-tenths behind, by Jean-Eric Vergne: the Frenchman, just like Romain Grosjean, was driving the STR7 for the first time and recorded a time that puts him just behind his teammate’s from yesterday, by two-tenths.

Next comes Sergio Pérez, who led for a long time this morning in very cool conditions. The Mexican, who suffered a gearbox problem in the middle of the afternoon, ended up 2.1 seconds behind Rosberg and just a whisker behind Vergne after 48 laps. Fernando Alonso is in seventh place, having faced a hydraulic problem that prevented him from taking the track for two hours late in the morning. He is therefore 2.7 seconds behind Rosberg but still managed to complete 67 laps.

In eighth position, Bruno Senna wins the attendance trophy as he covered 125 laps today, with the best at 1:21.293, 3.6 seconds behind Rosberg and 2.8 behind Grosjean, giving him the opportunity to discover the new Williams. The last driver to record a timed lap: Giedo Van der Garde, Caterham’s third driver, who finishes 5.7 seconds behind the leader with 74 laps in the bag. The Dutch driver caused the second red flag of the day after running off the track, slightly damaging his CT01. He returned to the track an hour later and completed his day normally.

The first red flag on Thursday was caused by Jules Bianchi: the Frenchman, who was once again entrusted with the Force India WJM05 in the morning, was likely a victim of the slightly too cold conditions for the medium tires and hit a tire wall on just his third lap. The car, although not severely damaged, could not return to the track afterward, as the team lacked the parts to complete the repairs and allow Nico Hülkenberg to gather data.

Jerez Testing – Day 3: