Raikkonen on Top at Jerez

On a warm and sunny track Raikkonen was surprisingly quick on his Barcelona tyre compounds, which usually do not work as effectively in Jerez as they do at the northern Spanish circuit.

The Finn was also working on the set-up of the car in respect to the team's new engine, with the aim of ensuring reliability. Whether this aim was achieved is uncertain, as Raikkonen pulled into the pits at 1.30 in the afternoon and played no further part in the session.

Red Bull were working on the set-up of their car, but their programme hit a bump when Vitantonio Liuzzi had a big accident at 2.30 between turns five and six, with the car swapping ends and hitting the wall hard. The left rear wheel was split in two in the impact, with the suspension also destroyed.

Liuzzi admitted that the accident was his fault, having lost control on the approach to the corner. Luckily he was uninjured in the accident, and he noted that the car will be fixed in time for the Red Bull pair to work on their tyres tomorrow.

"I spun and hit a guardrail, and there was nothing wrong with the car," he said. "I lost it."

Franck Montagny was also working on the Barcelona specification tyres, with both Renault drivers doing long runs to concentrate on reliability of the new engine, which was given a brief race debut in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella at Imola.

Toyota's Olivier Panis spent the day working on damper and shock absorber settings; the Toyota has traditionally struggled mechanically in Imola, and last weekend's race was no exception, so his programme was to sort out some problems in this area ahead of Barcelona.

Teammate Jarno Trulli concentrated on his car set-up in the morning before moving on to a tyre programme in the afternoon - but he stopped on track at 3.15 when his fuel pressure dropped, calling an early close to proceedings for the Italian.

Teammate Ralf Schumacher will take over his testing responsibilities tomorrow, while Alex Wurz will step into the McLaren for Raikkonen, as planned.

Pos  Driver         Team-Engine         Tyres  Time     Laps
  1.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:16.923   53
  2.  Trulli        Toyota               (M)  1:17.502   73
  3.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:17.514  140
  4.  Alonso        Renault              (M)  1:17.740  117
  5.  Montagny      Renault              (M)  1:17.824  128
  6.  Panis         Toyota               (M)  1:18.568   51
  7.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth    (M)  1:19.891   41
  8.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth    (M)  1:20.116   46

All Timing Unofficial