Vettel sets the test pace

Patterns are beginning to form as pre-season testing enters its third week with 11 teams now in action at Jerez. While conditions were far from ideal in what was the eighth day of testing, the 4.428km circuit dried sufficiently to allow the front-runners to get close to the best dry times recorded last week.

Sebastian Vettel made best of the driest conditions to move to the top of the timesheets in his Red Bull Renault. Under the watchful eye of Dietrich Mateschitz, the German racer completed 99 laps with a best time of 1:22.593, four-tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren.

Hamilton left his best laps to right at the end of the session, vaulting from fourth fastest and 1.7 seconds off the ultimate pace to second fastest, just four-tenths shy of Vettel.

Felipe Massa was testing the second Maranello-built F10 chassis today and despite a mechanical problem in the morning, was quick throughout the day in the varying conditions. The Brazilian focused on tyre evaluation runs as well as general setup of the new challenger, ending the day third fastest.

Sebastien Buemi continued to show well with Toro Rosso, an impressive feat given that the Italian-based team are no longer relying on the design talent of Red Bull Technologies. The Swiss driver was fourth best, a tenth shy of Massa and a fraction ahead of Pedro de la Rosa in the Sauber.

Michael Schumacher was sixth after putting in 111 laps, ahead of Adrian Sutil who took over the VJM03 late in the session from test and reserve driver Paul di Resta. New Renault recruit Vitaly Petrov was ninth ahead of Rubens Barrichello, who was halted twice by mechanical problems. The Brazilian veteran still managed a solid 109 laps over the day.

Lotus made its test debut today with test driver Fairuz Fauzy behind the wheel. Despite a power steering problem, the Malaysian-backed team was able to complete a solid 76 laps. While the team freely admit that they need to find additional downforce in order to challenge the establishment, it was still an encouraging start to their pre-season programme.

Over at Virgin, the new team’s struggle continued with Timo Glock only able to complete ten timed laps for due to hydraulic problems with the Cosworth-powered VR-01 and was slowest of all.

The team’s reaction from the test is available by clicking here. Testing resumes on Thursday with the weather forecast not looking favourable.