Alonso tops Saturday morning of test

The Ferrari driver set a best time of 1m40.529s, just over three tenths off the time posted by team-mate Felipe Massa during yesterday's running.

It is the first time Alonso has sampled the new-for-2011 Pirelli rubber, and he ended the morning 0.296s faster than world champion Sebastian Vettel.

The Red Bull driver completed 28 laps this morning, and caused a brief red flag when he suffered a second tyre failure. This followed a similar failure yesterday that Pirelli confirmed was caused by the tyre being cut.

Williams driver Rubens Barrichello was third fastest ahead of Force India's Paul di Resta.

The Scot also briefly caused a red flag when he stopped shortly before midday. This was a precaution caused by a sensor reporting that temperatures had got too high, forcing a shutdown to avoid a repeat of yesterday's problem when the exhaust was damaged. However, di Resta soon returned to the track with the team suspecting that the warning was caused by a faulty sensor.

Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi was sixth fastest. He will hand over to new team-mate Sergio Perez for this afternoon's running, with the team opting not to use ex-Pirelli test driver Nick Heidfeld because of the need to maximise the track time available to its race drivers.

Michael Schumacher, whose 2010 season was blighted by what the team described as a "weak" front tyre that did not suit his style, also had his first taste of Pirellis. He completed 30 laps, although the front-end problem is unlikely to be solved until the 2011 Mercedes hits the track for pre-season testing in February.

Renault's Robert Kubica completed 47 laps and was eighth fastest. The team is likely to complete a large number of laps this afternoon because its running was restricted yesterday by a mechanical problem.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and Lotus driver Jarno Trulli also had their first taste of the Pirelli tyres, while Virgin and HRT continued to run Timo Glock and Pastor Maldonado.

Pos Driver                 Team            Time      Laps
 1. Fernando Alonso        Ferrari         1m40.529s   47
 2. Sebastian Vettel       Red Bull        1m40.825s   28
 3. Rubens Barrichello     Williams        1m41.294s   52
 4. Paul di Resta          Force India     1m41.869s   35
 5. Oliver Turvey          McLaren         1m42.046s   29
 6. Kamui Kobayashi        Sauber          1m42.110s   43
 7. Michael Schumacher     Mercedes        1m42.161s   30
 8. Robert Kubica          Renault         1m42.178s   47
 9. Sebastien Buemi        Toro Rosso      1m42.399s   46
10. Jarno Trulli           Lotus           1m44.839s   44
11. Timo Glock             Virgin          1m45.405s   37
12. Pastor Maldonado       Hispania        1m45.516s   27