Jerez Test: Schumacher now setting the pace

Mercedes GP started to concentrate on the performance of his W02 today… and it reflected in the lap times at midday.

Michael Schumacher topped the list with a fastest 1’20’’352, and 57 laps under his belt. He beat his former teammate Felipe Massa by a few hundredths of a second. Mark Webber was third fastest for reigning World Champions Red Bull.

It is still hard to draw any conclusions from these lap times though as everybody is running different fuel loads.

The morning session was interrupted twice. It was first stopped when Jaime Alguersuari went off track. It was stopped a second time when Vitaly Petrov also went off. The Russian was concentrating on set up work and tyres evaluation. He is due to complete a race simulation in the afternoon.

Meanwhile at Williams, Pastor Maldonado was finally able to get some more laps at the wheel of the FW33 – he had been hampered yesterday by problems with his adjustable rear wing.

The fastest lap times at 1pm: