Jerez test - day three: 8 December.

Honda's Rubens Barrichello topped the times on day three at Jerez on Friday, as testing at the Spanish circuit drew to a close for the week.

Barrichello, who completed 65 laps in total, was less than a tenth up on his Honda team-mate, James Rossiter. Conditions were pretty awful at the track though, especially in the morning, when torrential rain dogged proceedings and limited what any of the teams could do. Although the weather improved as the day wore on, the times were still significantly slower than those set on Thursday and as a result, McLaren 'new boy', Lewis Hamilton ended the week having set the best time [a 1m 18.684s].

"The car has felt better and more balanced this week than in Barcelona," summed up Rubens. "We have repeated some of our work from last week, alongside some new evaluations, so we have a good conclusion for which direction to take the new car. I had a good two days this week, covering a lot of laps yesterday in particular and the car has been very reliable. As this is my last test of the year, I would like to thank the team for their hard work and the good times that we have had this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how we improve in 2007."

Hamilton did well on Friday, just like he did on day two and was third quickest overall, three tenths off Barrichello in his McLaren-Mercedes MP4-21. Pedro de la Rosa was again on track in the sister car, fifth on the timesheets, even though he was only two hundredths slower.

"Despite a mixed week, weather wise, the three day test in Jerez that concluded today was a positive session and we were able to complete the planned programme," summed up McLaren CEO, Martin Whitmarsh. "The main focus for the test team continued to be developing our understanding of the Bridgestone Potenza tyres. The wet weather conditions have also allowed us to run on wet weather tyres, which has proved useful in gaining valuable intelligence of this track condition.

"Alongside the main Bridgestone programme Lewis and Pedro have been working on individual programmes. Lewis's week has seen him focus on continued set-up evaluation and rear suspension. Pedro meanwhile has been spearheading the aerodynamic development programme, including work on the front and rear wing packages."

Ralf Schumacher was sandwiched between the two McLaren's for Toyota, the German managing 61 laps in total, as the Cologne-based squad continued to put the new Bridgestone rubber through its paces.

"This morning it was quite difficult to drive because of the rain - there were rivers running across the track and the car was aquaplaning," said Ralf. "It was not really possible to use dry tyres until later in the afternoon as the track was still drying and there were too many wet patches. It would have made it difficult to compare our results to the information we got earlier this week. The car balance was better today so I think we are making progress, but there is still a lack of grip at this track and with these tyres."

Further down the order, Renault's Heikki Kovalainen was sixth, making the most of the morning's wet weather to discover Bridgestone's new wet tyres. He collected useful data before continuing a programme of set-up validation, as the conditions dried out. He suffered a mechanical failure early in the afternoon, but still managed to complete his programme and notch up 70 laps.

"It was a difficult but interesting session this week, because we ran in every kind of conditions," reflected the Finn. "There was a lot of data collected and once we have analysed it, we will be able to make even more progress next week. We worked very hard, and we know where we are with the programme; I am feeling confident, and happy with what we have done this week."

Giancarlo Fisichella was just behind his team-mate, in seventh and the Italian was once again out to run the maximum number of miles possible, but today his goal was to put miles on the new 2007 gearbox for reliability reasons. This afternoon, once the track was completely dry, he was able to work on car set-up, a programme he completed without incident.

"I am pleased with how this first session went. It was important to do lots of laps in order to learn about our new Bridgestone tyres. I learned a lot, and I feel that I made some good progress this week in Jerez," said Fisi. "We will continue to improve next week, so I am feeling pretty optimistic."

Renault's chief test engineer, Christian Silk was also upbeat: "This was a good final day's running for us, which was unexpected given the conditions this morning. But we ended up making good progress, the new gearbox ran well, and we found some more interesting set-up ideas that we can investigate more fully next week in our final test before Christmas. We will be working hard until the end of the final day's running."

Of the rest BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was eighth, with Anthony Davidson and Timo Glock ninth and tenth, the latter having taken over from Robert Kubica in the second F1.06.

"The weather conditions today enabled the team to test all types of tyres. In the morning, both drivers used extreme weather tyres and made some system checks. They then switched to wet weather tyres, making comparisons between new and used ones, and with the track drying up they were finally able to use grooved tyres," read a statement from the Swiss-based squad. "While Nick worked on the set-up in the afternoon, Timo, who did only his second day of testing with the team, worked on a damper programme. Both drivers used the new gearbox. They had a trouble-free day and were able to complete more than 100 laps each. The team made significant progress and has learned a lot about the new tyres."

Davidson meanwhile was happy with his programme over the three-days, and in total he did over 250 laps, which amounted to over 1100 kilometres.

"This has been another positive week for the team," said the Brit. "Jerez is a circuit I know very well and so I was able to get of a better feel for the 2007 Bridgestone tyres this week than I did in Barcelona. We made improvements to the car all week and ended with a good balance at the end of day three so I am happy with our progress."

"Anthony has completed a comprehensive chassis programme this week and a total of 252 laps, in what at times have been difficult weather conditions," added Super Aguri's head of R&D, Gerry Hughes. "The week's test programme has been structured wholly around learning more about the 2007 Bridgestone Potenza tyres and the experience gained will be put to good effect when Takuma Sato joins the SAF1 team in Jerez next week for his first F1 test since the Brazilian Grand Prix in October."

Kamui Kobayashi came in eleventh just outside the top ten. He showed no fear of the wet conditions and was one of the first drivers to go out for an installation lap early on.

"My two days here went quite well. I had to find a suitable driving style for Formula 1 and I tried out different set-ups until I found one I liked. I also had experience of new tyres which I enjoyed and I think it went well. Considering this was my first time at Jerez and only my second test with Toyota, I think I did a good job. But of course I can still improve and I need more experience with the car," he noted.

"During my two days here the Toyota team has been fantastic. It is different to anything else I have experience because everyone in the team is a professional, from the mechanics to the engineers. It was very easy to work with them and they have helped me learn about Formula 1. In particular I have learnt about the importance of communication when testing and also physically I know more about what being a Formula 1 driver requires. Also a Formula 1 car is very different from the cars I have driven previously and I have had to get used to traction control and some very specialised parts. I found that a bit tricky on my first test but I have improved this week and all the experience I have gained should really help me in my career."

Mark Webber led the way for Red Bull Racing, twelfth overall, with David Coulthard 14th, four tenths slower. Both drivers were focusing on tyre work.

"Yet again, the main item on our test agenda was evaluating the Bridgestone Potenza tyres," explained RBR chief test engineer, Ian Morgan. "We were provided with a different, one-step softer tyre than the one we tried in Barcelona, but in addition, rain on Wednesday and again today, meant we were also able to try the standard and extreme wet weather tyres. We can be happy with the work we did, as both cars ran trouble free and we completed our programmes."

Ferrari's Felipe Massa was sandwiched between the two Red Bull Racing cars' - the Brazilian did just 46 laps - his best a 1m 21.143s. Luca Badoer also only managed 40-odd laps in the second 248 F1, both drivers once again focusing on engine endurance testing, the experimentation with new components and working on finding the best set-up with the 248 F1.

Scuderia Toro Rossi's Scott Speed and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima rounded out the top 17. Speed spent the day, like the Red Bull 'A' team drivers, trying to get to grips with the Bridgestone tyres.

"In the dry, we were running a tyre that is one step softer than the one we tried in Barcelona last week and it behaved quite differently, which made for an interesting test," summed up STR chief engineer Laurent Mekies. "Because of the weather, we effectively tried three types of tyre. Both Tonio [Liuzzi] and Scott did a good job and apart from the tyre work, Tonio did some brake material testing, while Scott worked on mechanical set-up. We are back here in Jerez next week, which means we will have the luxury of verifying the data we have acquired this time."

Nakajima brought up the rear, his first proper day in an F1 car and due to the difficult conditions he did just 16 laps: "Although he has already briefly driven the car in Fuji, today was effectively Kazuki's first day testing a Formula One car," explained Williams test team manager, Mike Condliffe. "There was very heavy rain in the morning and the track was very slow to dry, so we were forced to wait for more favourable conditions before starting our programme. When he did get out on track, Kazuki spent the day familiarising himself with the car and making adjustments between runs to suit his driving style. He made good progress and his lap times improved throughout the session."

Testing now resumes again at Jerez next week, on Tuesday December 12.

Leading times (December 8) - Jerez:

1. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda 1min 20.008secs 65 laps
2. James Rossiter Honda-Honda 1min 20.171secs 108 laps
3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes1min 20.325secs 79 laps
4. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota 1min 20.339secs 61 laps
5. Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes1min 20.342secs 84 laps
6. Heikki Kovalainen Renault-Renault1min 20.372secs 70 laps
7. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault-Renault1min 20.390secs 89 laps
8. Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber1min 20.436secs 110 laps
9. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda1min 20.542secs 87 laps
10. Timo Glock BMW-Sauber1min 20.785secs 105 laps
11. Kamui Kobayashi Toyota-Toyota1min 20.978secs 70 laps
12. Mark Webber Red Bull-Ferrari 1min 20.985secs 79 laps
13. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 21.143secs 46 laps
14. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari1min 21.325secs 63 laps
15. Luca Badoer Ferrari-Ferrari 1min 21.327secs 43 laps
16. Scott SpeedToro Rosso-Cosworth1min 21.327secs 51 laps
17. Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota1min 23.600secs 16 laps

Weather/Track conditions: Torrential rain in the morning clearing to a sunny afternoon.

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