McLaren-Mercedes number two driver
Heikki Kovalainen topped the times on Friday as the four-day test at the
Jerez de la Frontera circuit in the extreme south of Spain drew to a close.
Kovalinen, who completed 83 laps in total, was quickest on a 1 minute 18.385 seconds, which was not only four tenths up on his closest rival, but it was also the best time of the week.
He spent the day continuing the evaluation of the aero development work begun by test driver Pedro de la Rosa on Thursday and the team reported that both its aero and set-up modifications proved 'extremely positive'.
Sebastien Bourdais was best of the rest for Toro Rosso and he did 78 laps in total, with conditions once again very hot and sticky. In the morning he ran with Spa-spec rear wings, as well as doing some general set-up work, while in the afternoon he switched to running with the 2009 slick
Bridgestone tyres.
"The day went quite well," reflected the Frenchman. "Running the '09 tyres was very interesting, even if a combination of a very abrasive track surface and a 50 degree track temperature, meant they did not last very long! We have also come up with some useful data for Hungary and to be honest that's the most important thing about this test, as 2009 is still a long way away."
Next up was
Red Bull's
David Coulthard and having announced he will retire at the end of this year, he focused exclusively on the forthcoming races, only running this year's tyres. The Scot did 59 laps and finished up just over a second off Kovalainen's pace-setting
McLaren.
Further down the order Romain Grosjean was only seven hundredths of a second slower than DC in his
Renault R28. He also just used the grooved tyres and continued with the suspension work the team had started earlier in the week, trying to improve the behaviour of the car in the high temperatures for the Hungarian GP.
