Jerez test - day two: 7 December.

McLaren-Mercedes 'new boy', Lewis Hamilton made his mark in more ways than one on day two of testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain on Thursday and despite an off near the end, he topped the times.

Hamilton, who completed 78 laps in total, was a clear second up on Giancarlo Fisichella, who was 'best of the rest' for Renault. Hamilton's best lap was a 1 minute 18.684 seconds, the quickest of the week so far.

It wasn't all good though and the GP2 graduate had an off track excursion 90 minutes prior to the end of the day and damaged his car. Lewis though, who spent day two working on mechanical set-ups and tyre / wheel combinations over both short and long runs, will rejoin the fold on Friday, as his mechanics have managed to repair the car.

Pedro de la Rosa was on track in the sister car, the Spaniard had no problems as such, but was considerably slower - his best a 1m 20.141s, which left him eighth on the leader-board. Pedro was concentrating on set-up work and tyre evaluations, while also focusing on aerodynamic development.

Fisichella meanwhile was initially doing brake development, before beginning tyre work once conditions had improved. His objective was once more to do as many miles as possible, in order to collect the maximum amount of data. In total he did 63 laps.

"I had a better second day and I am beginning to find my feet with these new [Bridgestone] tyres," said the Italian. "I am feeling more confident with the car, and I made good progress with the car in spite of some delay this morning owing to poor track conditions. The tyres are harder than what we have been used to, which means the grip is not so good. But I was expecting that, so it is not a surprise, and things are going well during this first session back in the car."

Heikki Kovalainen also worked on the evaluation of the Japanese tyres, in addition to doing a set-up programme. He did 78 laps, and ended the day tenth overall in the other Renault, six tenths or so slower.

"We had another very busy day, and we tried to complete a large part of our programme today as we have seen some rain forecast for tomorrow," explained Renault's chief test engineer, Christian Silk. "We collected some interesting data today, and the team once again worked very hard."

Further down the time-sheets, Rubens Barrichello was third for Honda, less than a tenth off Fisichella. The Brazilian did 111 laps in total, while Nico Rosberg came in fourth in the Toyota-powered Williams, fractionally up on Ralf Schumacher.

"Nico continued today with set-up changes and brake balance adjustments, making further improvements on what we discovered yesterday," noted Williams test team manager, Mike Condliffe. "We then tested some aero parts before completing a race distance, complete with pitstops, in the afternoon."

Schumacher resumed where he left off in Barcelona last week, putting the 2007 Bridgestone tyres through their paces and helping the team find the optimum set-up with the Toyota TF106B.

"Today was all right even though the conditions were not great on the track," he reflected. "I found the new tyres more difficult here than at Barcelona last week - there was very low grip everywhere. We went through a few set-up options and changed a few things. Now we have to figure out the best set-up for these tyres. But I was able to set competitive lap times all day so that is always pleasing."

Next up was Wednesday pace setter, Felipe Massa. The Brazilian could only post the sixth best time for Ferrari and had to make do with a low 1m 20.046s lap. Massa was continuing the technical programme initiated yesterday, comprising engine endurance testing, experimentation with new components and working on finding the best set-up on the 248 F1. Luca Badoer was also working in the same areas for the Scuderia, although he ended the day six places lower down the order, in twelfth.

Kimi Raikkonen was at the circuit visiting his new team - he is unable to drive for Ferrari until January though, as he is still contracted to McLaren. A similar situation is preventing Fernando Alonso from driving, as he is still officially a Renault driver until January 1 2007.

Honda's Christian Klien and Nick Heidfeld were the only other two runners to break into the top ten, the latter concentrating on set-up changes, including new dampers, and their interaction with the new Bridgestone tyres. Robert Kubica, who turned 22 today, was just outside the top ten in the sister BMW Sauber F1.06B. He continued testing the new gearbox and completed a huge set-up programme whilst also carrying out mechanical system checks which were on today's to do list. Both drivers had a trouble-free day.

"Tomorrow is the third and final day of the Jerez test," added a statement from the Swiss-based sqaud. "While Nick will continue to drive, Timo Glock takes over from Robert. Both Nick and Timo will have the new gearbox fitted in their cars. For Timo it is the second test day with the BMW Sauber F1 Team. The 24-year-old German gave his debut at the wheel of an F1.06 at last week's Barcelona test and already joined the team today in the garage. The weather forecast for Friday is still not promising and the team have prepared a rain programme for tomorrow."

Of the other drivers on track, those supported by Red Bull were at the tail end of the times, like they were in Barcelona - Mark Webber 13th, while David Coulthard was 16th in the sister RB2. Scott Speed split the two RBR 'A' team members, in the Toro Rosso car, while Anthony Davidson was 14th.

Davidson was able to complete a total of 112 laps, the highest number of the day - one more than his former Honda team-mate, Barrichello, who was second with 111. Ant executed the team's planned testing programme by evaluating a number of suspension changes whilst continuing to gather valuable information on the 2007 Bridgestone tyres.

The only other runner on track was Kamui Kobayashi, a member of the Toyota Young Driver Programme. Kobayashi worked hard for the team on just his second day of testing in an F1 car, having made his debut last week. The 20-year-old continued to gain confidence in the car and improved his lap times as the day wore on.

"I am quite pleased with my performance today. It was only my second day of testing so I am still learning about a Formula 1 car. There were one or two breaks in the day when the team was working on the car and that was quite difficult for me as I would prefer to be out on the track. However, I did quite a bit of running and I am happy that I got faster and faster during the afternoon, and I set a pretty good lap at the end of the day," he noted.

"Today we did a lot of set-up work with Ralf in order to continue to get a clear understanding of the 2007 tyre generation from Bridgestone. We learnt quite a few things with the changes that we made so we are happy with that. Komui, like Kohei Hirate yesterday, did a day of solid running, without mistakes, on his second day in the car and had a run with quick and consistent lap times at the end of the day. Unfortunately both drivers' days were interrupted at times with some reliability issues which we will have to continue working on," summed up Toyota chief race and test engineer, Dieter Gass.

Testing now concludes on Friday, before resuming again at Jerez next week, on December 12.

Leading times (December 7) - Jerez:

1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes1min 18.684secs 78 laps
2. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault-Renault1min 19.685secs 63 laps
3. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda 1min 19.784secs 111 laps
4. Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota1min 19.962secs 105 laps
5. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota 1min 20.024secs 70 laps
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 20.046secs 60 laps
7. Christian Klien Honda-Honda 1min 20.055secs 99 laps
8. Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes1min 20.141secs 64 laps
9. Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber1min 20.167secs 97 laps
10. Heikki Kovalainen Renault-Renault1min 20.204secs 78 laps
11. Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber1min 20.461secs 88 laps
12. Luca Badoer Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 20.556secs 107 laps
13. Mark Webber Red Bull-Ferrari 1min 20.596secs 89 laps
14. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda1min 20.701secs 112 laps
15. Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 21.134secs 59 laps
16. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari1min 21.276secs 78 laps
17. Kamui Kobayashi Toyota-Toyota1min 21.292secs 53 laps

Weather/Track conditions: Sunny in the morning, overcast in the afternoon.

All times unofficial - courtesy of the official Circuito de Jerez website