Webber fastest on final day at Barcelona
Mark Webber rounded off this weekend's Formula One test at Barcelona in Spain with the fastest time today, as his Red Bull Racing RB4 finally showed a glimpse of its potential
Having not been massively fast in the first two weeks of running, the introduction of a high engine cover fin on the RB4 this week appeared to deliver a step forward in pace.
Webber's best lap was just four hundredths of a second faster than McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, with Lewis Hamilton just a further three hundredths further back.
Robert Kubica once again confirmed that the balance issues that affected early running of the BMW Sauber F1.08 were now well behind the team, as he got within a few hundredths of the McLaren drivers ahead of him.
Fernando Alonso continued to work on improving the Renault R28 to set the fifth fastest time, while sixth fastest Nick Heidfeld brought out the only red flag of the day when he spun off at 10:05 am.
The competitiveness of the F1 field was proved with less that one second covering Webber down to 10th fastest Sebastian Vettel in the Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Falling outside that window was the new Honda Racing RA108, which has had a disappointing test. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button ended the test 11th and 13th on the timesheets, with Force India's Adrian Sutil in between them.
Williams missed the final day of the test after deciding to return to their factory to resolve the wing problems that marred the first two days of their test.
Weather too played a part in today's running, with rain coming down from 4:00 pm onward.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:22.385 65 2. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.422 67 3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:22.459 92 4. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.492 83 5. Alonso Renault (B) 1:22.509 63 6. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:22.874 79 7. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:22.887 80 8. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:23.889 81 9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:23.039 64 10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:23.232 74 11. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:23.795 84 12. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:23.800 86 13. Button Honda (B) 1:23.808 85
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