McLaren's decision to give Mika Hakkinen time back behind the wheel of a
Formula One car meant some of the attention on
Lewis Hamilton was deflected elsewhere, and the young Briton responded by posting the fourth quickest time of the day – his lap of 1min 17.076secs also being his quickest of the week as he continued his education at the wheel of an
F1 car and the team acclimatised to the new
Bridgestone tyres.
"This week has been my first test as an official Team McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver and I have enjoyed every moment of it,” the 21-year-old said. “With the announcement being made last week it has meant that I have been able to come here and really get to grips with driving the Formula One car and building a relationship with the team in preparation for the 2007 season. It is early days still but this week has been really positive, I have done 920km in the car and the work we have done with the Bridgestone Potenza tyres has been really encouraging. I had to spend a little time in the garage on Wednesday whilst team made some changes to the set up, but that is often the case when testing and I need to get used to it."
Hakkinen meanwhile posted the 18th quickest time on his first run in a Formula One car since the 2001 season finale [full details to follow in separate story].
Sandwiched between Hamilton and Gene in fifth place,
Rubens Barrichello completed his third day of running for
Honda as the Brazilian continued with a programme focused mainly on Bridgestone tyre work. For the third day of the test, Barrichello also worked through a suspension programme and declared himself happy with his weeks work.
