Rosberg and Mercedes end day on top
Nico Rosberg ensured Mercedes ended day three of pre-season testing at Jerez on top, while Romain Grosjean's Lotus was the fastest of the 2012-spec cars.
Times fell little in the afternoon of day three, which was as notable for driver changes as it was for on-track action - Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso among those getting their first taste of their new machines.
Grosjean too made his first appearance in the Lotus E20, but needed little time for adjustment as he got down to a 1m18.419s - the fastest time from a 2012 car thus far in testing before the midway stage.
That left him a healthy 0.8s clear of his 2012 competition, which was headed by Vettel in the RB8 and Hamilton in the MP4-27.
The Briton had the advantage over Vettel as the unofficial lunch break loomed, but the German found time in what was generally a slower afternoon to jump back in front, ending the day 0.167s ahead of Hamilton.
They were all left trailing by Rosberg however, with the German comfortably fastest on what was Mercedes's final day of testing at Jerez and the final day for their 2011 car, with this year's challenger set to be introduced at the next test in Barcelona.
Jean-Eric Vergne ended the day fifth fastest for Toro Rosso, just 36 thousandths ahead of Sergio Perez, whose day was interrupted by an oil transmission issue. The Mexican's fastest time was set on medium compounds and in the cold conditions of the early morning.
Those conditions caught out Jules Bianchi, who assumed driving duties in the morning for Force India.
The Frenchman lost the rear end and skipped across the gravel at Sito Pons, bringing out the first of the day's three red flags the second coming after Giedo van Der Garde beached his car in the gravel and the third just before the chequered flag as Grosjean stopped out on circuit.
Force India was unable to repair the damage, with Nico Hulkenberg therefore unable to take over in the afternoon. He will hope to get his first taste of the car tomorrow as the team scrambles to get parts out from the UK.
A throng of Spanish fans did not have too much to cheer as home favourite Fernando Alonso could only finish seventh, the Spaniard completing 67 laps in another low-key day for Ferrari.
Bruno Senna in contrast completed 125 laps the most of any driver for Williams, ending the day in eighth.
Van der Garde, who was able to rejoin once his car had been recovered, was ninth, with Bianchi unable to register a time in 10th.
Comment 5 - 24 of 24
hahayourwifeboobooleftyou no wonder you bust a gut with your jd rib.
felipe... alonso is a @#$% idiot, you are faster than him lol
god, i just hope next year will be more exciting than last year, i'm so @#$% suck of seeing vettel win from pole position, its time for a change... I also hope ferrari stop bullying massa and actually try to support him rather than cherish their "golden boy alonso".
Quite recently someone asked wizzo's missus if she was spit or swallow. She surprised no one, especially her squaddiy friends, when she said no I gargle.
Wizzo refuses to accept it still kisses the slag goodnight, although he says that her squaddy friends say she is a swallower. But he still kisses her. err yuk wizzo
so the new cars (2012) are slower than the old ones (2011)? great! F1 will soon become carting!
Using last seasons car that belongs in a museum now!!don't the NEW one need sorting???????
Testing, juuuust testing. I don't think we'll have any real idea until the 17th March. Hmm, something fishy going on with these likes and dislikes a bit further down the page.
Look at my (trevs) thumbs up, he is very feminine you know, well at times, he has always played with his thumbs since he was a young lad.
Why do they even keep times on last years cars? The new cars have a multitude of problems while 2011 cars have a year of set ups and multiple revisions apples and oranges compared to 12 packages.
I find it hard to believe teams are still trialling last years car, as this years specs are very differant to last years. Plus in these trials and tests only the team knows how hard they are pushing or how much they have left in reserve. Not to mention the possible tyre variations each one is using when they are out on track. Of course anyone on soft tyres is going to hopefully get better times than someone on medium's or hard tyres. But if say Vettel was running medium's and the Lotus or McLaren was running softs, it makes the picture very differant than just a equal footing as the article might have you believe.
If Magnus does come out of retirement and win the WDC, poor old Otto is going to look like just so much sauerkraut !
Oh Williams a Vooboo you are a bit restless tonite the JD ribs are not agreeing with you.
This Lotus is looking very quick. Reminds me of the pre season testing when Brawn GP went so well and look what happened there.
Empire, what you are leaving out of your summation is the fact that the drivers on the first two days took the car straight out the box, they were ironing out niggles and sorting problems. It also is irrelevent as far as they are driving against different drivers and carrying out different testing strategies.
Almost nothing can be read from the testing times or places
And like I said earlier this week. When the Fast 3 comes pics would be different. Button had 2 days but was out of the top 7 if i can recall. Webber had also troubles toping the times. But Vettel and Hamilton did directly what their respective teammates could not achieve. Either the finetuned the car or they are just that bit faster than their respective teammates.
no harm intended for any driver
The level of information you get in these end of day reports is pointless. We all know its testing, but we need to see not only the times but also what compound of tyre they are running, because they have (i think) mediums and softs available. So if lets say RBR set their time on meds and Lotus on softs, that changes the picture dramatically. Or was their times set on a short run to test pace, or part of a longer run that was pushing the tyres to the limits???
Just a bit more info would go a long long way. Yes its only testing, but come on, all of this info is available on the live testing sites, if you have the time to sit there all day lol.
despite times are not so important i start being afraid that red bull will be so far ahead
C'mon Ferrari I hope u guys r just testing & that it's not full pace
It's strange.....Lotus either has a very very quick car or they are looking for new sponsors........
Why are Yahoo posting that Rosberg is the fastest when he's not in a car that's legal? The big news has been about Lotus and Grosjean as he's the legitimate fastest guy out there. The other news should be Ferrari's lack of pace, and the battle between RB and McLaren. Still feel RB have the edge as their times are faster over the full day.
That said, wouldn't it be nice to see Lotus or another "minnow" beat the big 3?
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