Jerez Day 3: Alguersuari and Toro Rosso impress in the rain

Jaime Alguersuari did better than his teammate Sebastien Buemi at Toro Rosso by setting the fastest time on the third day of testing in Jerez, where rain once again caused disruptions. The 19-year-old driver recorded the fastest lap of the session in 1:19.919 during the first hour of running when the track was still dry. As conditions worsened in the afternoon, most teams ended the day early.

Pedro de la Rosa finished second with Sauber, 0.817 seconds behind Alguersuari. He caused an early red flag by stopping on the track but had been driving strongly before the rain fell. Adrian Sutil was back in an F1 cockpit with the new Force India VJM03 for the first time since the Silverstone shakedown. The German completed 48 laps in the car and in the rain, mostly focusing on making small adjustments and modifying minor setups.

The team lost half of its afternoon after Sutil stopped due to an electrical problem.

Felipe Massa also made his big return to the cockpit of the Ferrari F10 for the first time since the second day in Valencia. He set a time only two-tenths slower than Alonso’s yesterday. The Brazilian had only a brief window to set a time on the dry surface but completed only 72 laps with a few stints in the afternoon.

The responsibilities of the Red Bull driver were held by Sebastian Vettel today for 59 laps completed. He finished fifth for the day and after spending a large part of the afternoon in the garage, he went back out for a series of stints.

Vitaly Petrov was behind the wheel of Renault’s R30 for a second day. He succeeded Robert Kubica. The Russian spent a significant part of his day completing solo laps. Weather conditions penalized him in the afternoon.

Williams caused a red flag for the second consecutive day with Rubens Barrichello getting caught out by the slippery track conditions. The Brazilian’s car didn’t suffer too much damage. He completed a large number of very long runs for a daily total of 120 laps.

One of the slowest drivers of the day is Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1:23.985 recorded during the first hour. This suggests that the British driver had a heavy fuel load.

Finally, the former Renault test driver, Lucas Di Grassi, finished the day at the bottom of the timesheets. He didn’t hit the track until the last two hours of tests. Virgin Racing had to ensure they had a reliable front wing before leaving the pits.

The Jerez tests end tomorrow, with Michael Schumacher back on track for Mercedes and Robert Kubica for Renault. The eight other teams plan to deploy the same drivers as today.

Results Private Testing Jerez – Day 3 – Friday, February 12, 2009: