Jerez Day 4: Hamilton sets the fastest time of the week

Lewis Hamilton finished the second week of testing on top as the McLaren driver set the fastest lap of the four-day test session at the Jerez circuit in Spain. He did this during the last 10 minutes of the session. The former world champion set a time of 1:19.583, putting him half a second ahead of Adrian Sutil in the Force India. The German once again conducted promising tests with the new VJM03.

Sutil also set his best lap in the last hour. The teams were eager to run as much as possible on dry conditions and primarily with a large amount of fuel. Although the day started on a wet track, it dried out around lunchtime, and the teams were able to begin working on longer runs. Felipe Massa with Ferrari will be the first to commit to this path.

Rubens Barrichello, whose main mission was to search for performance on the Williams FW32, recorded the third-best time of the day on his fourth lap of an 11-lap stint, 0.7 seconds behind Hamilton. Previously, the team spent three days focusing on the Cosworth engine. The Brazilian completed a total of 90 laps.

Robert Kubica is fourth with his Renault, followed by Michael Schumacher in fifth place driving his Mercedes, completing 83 laps. The German caused a red flag in the middle of the afternoon when he deliberately went on track with an empty tank shortly after setting his best time of the day.

The former team of Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari, with Felipe Massa on Saturday, covered more than two Grand Prix distances. With a red flag in the afternoon when he stopped on the track, again with a zero fuel level, Massa finished the day in seventh place overall behind Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. The German lost track time due to an unspecified technical problem.

Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber reached its dry mileage target with over 100 laps. At the same time, it was a good day for Virgin Racing as Brazilian Lucas di Grassi completed 63 laps and set a best time 3.3 seconds behind the leader. He set his time late in the afternoon after a quiet morning. He also completed longer stints in a car that had only completed 24 laps in the first three days at Jerez.

The next tests will start on Wednesday, February 17th, on the same circuit in the great southern Spain.

Result Private Testing Jerez – Day 4 – Saturday, February 13, 2010: