Alonso Fastest with R24 at Barcelona - Day Three

Spanish Fernando Alonso posted the fastest time of the third day of this week's testing at the Barcelona circuit in Spain.

But the day, however, was marked by the heavy accident suffered by Felipe Massa.

The Sauber team were forced to cancel today's programme following Massa's heavy accident very early in the morning. The Brazilian lost control of his car at the fastest part of the circuit due to a suspension failure and crashed heavily against the tyre barriers.

Massa spent the afternoon in hospital for some checks but he is expected to be released later on the day. Today was the final day of Sauber's three-day programme at Barcelona. On Friday, test driver Neel Jani will be doing straight-line testing at the Vairano circuit.

Massa could only complete four laps to finish at the bottom of the times, more than three seconds off the pace set by Alonso in the new Renault R24. The Spaniard was, however, almost a second slower than the track record, set yesterday by BAR's Takuma Sato.

German Ralf Schumacher was second fastest in the first of the three Williams on track today. Schumacher finished ahead of Spaniard Marc Gene and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya as the British squad continued putting miles on their new BMW-powered FW26.

Briton Jenson Button again showed good pace with the new BAR 006, posting the third quickest time of the session. His teammate Sato was unable to repeat yesterday's feat and finished down in 10th position with the hybrid 005 chassis.

World Champions Ferrari had two drivers on track today, with Italian tester Luca Badoer joining Brazilian Rubens Barrichello. Both men worked with the F2003-GA.

Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta continued with the development work of the new Toyota TF104, the Frenchman outpacing the Brazilian, who finished sandwiched between McLaren drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa, who today were joined by Scot David Coulthard.

All three McLaren drivers were at the wheel of the MP4-19, finishing near the bottom of the times.

Testing continues tomorrow.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:14.665 104 2. R.Schumacher Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.679 51 3. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:14.699 114 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.997 64 5. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:15.058 84 6. Montagny Renault (M) 1:15.288 81 7. Panis Toyota (M) 1:15.444 81 8. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:15.590 41 9. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:15.646 75 10. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:15.724 64 11. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.083 91 12. da Matta Toyota (M) 1:16.110 86 13. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.440 39 14. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:16.573 39 15. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:17.777 4 All Timing Unofficial

Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information