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Jerez test: Day four - Lewis Hamilton heads the pack for the second time

Published by Christine

The last day of testing for 2006 found Lewis Hamilton at the top spot for the second time in his so-far short F1 career. Hamilton kept his eyes on the ball, despite most of the attention being on Alonso's McLaren debut. Whilst the majority of the defending champion's time was spent adjusting to the car, he still managed to fit in almost 100 laps and finish third fastest. I'm impressed.

Making a nice McLaren sandwich was Heikki Kovalainen in the Renault, but although fast, the Finn had major mechanical trouble and caused two red flags during the afternoon. Fisichella wasn't too far behind his team-mate in fifth fastest position, and the pair of them spent most of their time concentrating on the tyres.

The data we gathered will definitely help us for our work in 2006. I am now more comfortable with the new tyres. I am quite satisfied with our week.

- Giancarlo Fisichella

Marco Andretti, a participant of the Honda-powered Indy Car races, joined the team for the day, completing just over 60 laps throughout the day. His lap times weren't great, but they improved throughout the day, and Andretti gained a lot of F1 experience during the session.

I couldn't have had more fun today, it's a shame that it was only a day! It took me a little while to get used to the traction control and the brakes but once I got to grips with them, the times were more consistent.

- Marco Andretti

James Rossiter put in a better performance and brought the Honda to fourth fastest position.

In other testing news:

  • BMW had managed to finish their entire testing programme during the first two days on the track, so Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel spent this last day doing longer runs and corroborating the data they have amassed.
  • Super Aguri had a good end to their test with Takuma Sato finishing ahead of a Ferrari, a Honda and a Williams.
  • Speaking of WilliamsF1, Alexander Wurz was on the time sheets today, but did not have a productive day. He caused two red flags out on the track, just like Kovalainen.
  • Luca Badoer also had a bad day when he had an engine failure. Marc Gene then took over in the Ferrari and worked on reliability and component issues.

For all the times and statistics, go here.