Vettel tops the times at Jerez

The German Toro Rosso driver, again at the wheel of the Red Bull Racing car, set a best time of 1:18.001 on a day that was disrupted by rain around lunch time.

Vettel covered just 37 laps after the team were forced to carry out an unscheduled engine change.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was second quickest, the German having to alter his programme following the showers that hit the Spaniard track. Heidfeld was one of the busiest men on track, with 70 laps covered.

Lucas di Grassi was third quickest for Renault after 36 laps, the Brazilian continuing with an aero programme as well as evaluating various updates for the R28.

"It was quite cool today but the track conditions were good in the morning and there was definitely better grip than yesterday," said di Grassi.

"I'm also getting used to the car and the more laps I do, the more confident I feel. We didn't do any running in the wet, but we were able to test a few more parts this morning that the team will be taking to the race next week."

Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa took over from McLaren teammate Gary Paffett to continue with the British squad's preparations for the final four races of the season. De la Rosa finished fourth fastest, with Honda's Alex Wurz, the busiest man today, completing the top five.

The biggest news of the day, however, was the return of Takuma Sato, who drove a Formula One car for the first time since the demise of the Super Aguri team earlier this season.

Sato, seeking a seat for next year, was at the wheel of the Toro Rosso car, finishing as sixth fastest after 49 laps.

"At the start of the day we were collecting aero data. Then by the end of the morning we began timed runs, so I could really feel the car and I started to enjoy the laps," said Sato. "Unfortunately in the afternoon it started to rain so we had to stop, that was a great shame, as I was looking forward to proper running in the afternoon.

"Although I couldn't complete the day due to the weather conditions, I really enjoyed driving the STR3. I would like to say a big thank you to Red Bull and to the team for giving me this great opportunity."

Sato's compatriots Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima finished at the bottom of the times for Toyota and Williams respectively.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:18.001   37
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:18.167   70
 3.  di Grassi     Renault              (B)  1:18.999   36
 4.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:19.281   39
 5.  Wurz          Honda                (B)  1:19.499   79
 6.  Sato          Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:19.574   49
 7.  Kobayashi     Toyota               (B)  1:19.863   47
 8.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:21.892   60

All Timing Unofficial