Jerez, Day 3: Rosberg fastest in third morning

Day 3 of winter testing in Jerez was the coldest start to the day so far for the teams – the morning started at 0 degrees centigrade, rising to just 9 degrees centigrade just around midday. This opened the door for teams to try out different car setups in the cooler weather, also allowing further analysis of how the 2012 Pirelli compounds would react in cooler temperatures.

Day 3 also marked a number of driver changes amongst the teams as the first winter test session of the year passed the halfway mark. Only 10 teams would be participating in today’s session, with HRT F1 team returning to the factory to complete their 2012 challenger. This will also be the last time we see Mercedes AMG F1 Team in Jerez, as the team looked to put their 2011 W02 through its final runs.

With several driver changes amongst the 10 remaining teams, the running order once again was shaken up compared to Day 2 as once again, teams looked to focus on longer runs for aerodynamic analysis and car setup purposes.

After a late morning stint in the car, Nico Rosberg pushed the 2011 W02 Mercedes F1 car to the limits for its last day of running, achieving P1 by 13:00 CET with a flying lap best of 1:17.613, adding a further 60 laps to the car’s engine mileage.

Romain Grosjean, who held the P1 slot for much of the morning session, also had an impressive start in the E20, finishing the morning in second place, but like Mark Webber yesterday, the first and fastest car of the 2012 challengers.

Lewis Hamilton, who has taken over for the remainder of Jerez testing from team-mate Jenson Button, managed a steady third place in the running’s, achieving 38 laps over the course of the morning. McLaren are using this session specifically to test reliability, aerodynamics, and heavy fuel loads.

Jean-Eric Vergne, rookie driver and team-mate to Daniel Ricciardo, has taken over the reins of the STR7 at Toro Rosso. Putting the car in fourth position, the team had an uneventful morning, focusing on general data collection.

Sergio Perez put a further 31 laps on his Sauber C31 this morning, and after managing a sturdy run, Sauber F1 team announced they would take a somewhat early lunch break after a successful morning.

Double World Champion Sebastian Vettel was back in F1 today, taking over in the new Red Bull Racing RB8 from Mark Webber. However, an uncomftable feeling with the car meant he would only run for 28 laps in the morning, going no faster than P7 by the end of the morning.

The other two-time World Champion in a car today, Fernando Alonso, had a tough morning in the new Ferrari F2012 – a hydraulics problem kept the car in the garage for almost two hours this morning, limiting Alonso’s runs to just 20 odd laps, and P7 on the time sheets. Ferrari will be looking to make up for a lot of lost time in this afternoons session.

Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, was another driver taking his first F1 drive of the year - pushing the Williams F1 FW34 who were also focusing on long runs and general data collection. However, Senna could only finish the morning P8 of the 9 runners.

Rookie and third driver Van der Garde for Caterham F1 was racing in place of Kovalainen today, and put a god 40 laps in before the end of the morning session. Focusing on getting used to the car, plus KERS and DRS tests, Van der Garde rounded off the time sheet in bottom place.

Jules Bianchi was the only person to have an eventful morning. In his second session in the Sahara Force India VJM05, a costly mistake meant he ended up in the tyre wall out on track early in the session. Although personally unhurt, this brought an abrupt end to his test run, and red flag on track for removal of the car which took up approximately 20 minutes of the morning session before the track was reopened. The car was nowhere near ready for Nico Hulkenberg at the end of the morning session.

All times from the morning session can be seen below.

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