Alonso and Ferrari on top in Valencia

The third and final day of testing came to a close this afternoon in Valencia with Ferrari firmly on top of the timesheets once again. Fernando Alonso took over the running of the new F10 from Felipe Massa today and was immediately on the pace. The afternoon session saw the double world champion improve his own best time, stopping the clocks in 1:11.470s in front of an estimated 36,000 fans.

It is hard to read too much into the testing times - and this year more so - with the greater variations in fuel load available now that the cars carry much bigger tanks. However, it has been a most encouraging start to the pre-season programme for Ferrari with the team fastest on each of the three days of running at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

"From a technical point of view the day went very well, confirming what could be seen before," the team stated. "Fernando drove 75 laps, the fastest in a time of 1.11.470s, the fastest time in this session. The Spanish driver’s first impressions were positive, although it is still too early to draw any conclusions regarding its competitiveness on an absolute level."

Pedro de la Rosa lost some valuable track time due to a minor skirmish with Nico Hulkenberg in the morning, but the new Sauber Ferrari driver continued the team’s impressive early form with the second fastest time, six-tenths off Alonso’s best.

Michael Schumacher has his first full day of official testing since announcing that he would return to the sport with Mercedes. The seven-time champion, apparently suffering no problems with his neck, completed 82 laps and set the third fastest time, one second off the ultimate pace.

The team admit there has been a few handling problems with the MGP W01 this week in Spain, but are confident that some tweaks back at the Brackley base will resolve the issue ahead of the next major test. Schumacher’s day was curtailed slightly prematurely however due to a hydraulic leak.

Jaime Alguersuari was fourth fastest in the new Toro Rosso Ferrari, his first day behind the wheel of the STR5. “The basis is quite similar to last year’s car and I think we can have a good year, partly down to the fact that I am better prepared,” he said. “But let’s wait and see as it is far too soon to say.”

Jenson Button picked up the pace in the afternoon in what was his first run in the new MP4-25 challenger. The defending champion clocked a best lap of 1:12.951s around the 4.005km circuit, roughly seven-tenths off team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s best Tuesday time.

New Renault signing Vitaly Petrov was fifth fastest in the distinctive new R30, just over two seconds off Alonso’s pace while Nico Hulkenberg brought up the rear of the timesheets in the Cosworth-powered Williams under the watchful eye of his father.

Testing continued next Wednesday at Jerez while pictures of today’s Valencia running can be seen by clicking here.