Barcelona 3: McLaren go top

Spaniard de la Rosa, the only McLaren driver on track today after Juan Pablo Montoya completed his programme yesterday, managed a best lap of 1m14.542s, slightly slower than the best time of the week, set by Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella yesterday. De la Rosa admitted that his quickest time was set on a light fuel load, but sources at Catalunya reported that the McLaren was just as fast while doing 20 lap runs.

Fisichella and his Renault team continued to shine at the Spanish circuit, posting the second quickest time in the Michelin-shod R25 machine. Renault, who were originally scheduled to complete the test today, have decided to extend their programme and will also be in action tomorrow. Fernando Alonso was sixth quickest, losing the final hour of testing to an engine glitch.

Ferrari raised its game today, using what should have been its fastest Bridgestone tyre compound and carrying out more low fuel runs. Sources at the track reported that the team was certainly not holding back, and - encouragingly for the opposition - Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher were third and fourth fastest behind McLaren and Renault. Schumacher stopped with a hydraulic problem in the morning, but only after completing a simulated race distance, and also suffered an engine failure at the end of the day.

The Red Bull team continued with their intensive testing programme and had their three drivers at work at the wheel of the RB1. Austrian Christian Klien was the quickest of the Red Bull trio, outpacing both David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi. Both of the younger duo stopped with mechanical problems during the day - Klien's engine failure being the first suffered by the team all winter. Coulthard had a trouble-free session conducting aerodynamic testing.

Williams driver Nick Heidfeld was joined by Brazilian tester Antonio Pizzonia as both resumed the team's testing programme, focusing mainly on tyre work with the BMW-powered FW27. Heidfeld was the fastest of the two after 78 laps, while Pizzonia went off the track in the afternoon.

Ralf Schumacher drove the only Toyota in action, the German in the revised TF105 for the first time after teammate Jarno Trulli put the machine through its paces earlier this week. He was delayed by a brake problem in the morning but was reported to be quietly content with the new car.

The Jordan team were slowest once more at Barcelona, with Indian Narain Karthikeyan again lapping quicker than Portuguese teammate Tiago Monteiro. Both drivers brought out red flags by spinning off the road during the day.

The test ends tomorrow.

Pedro de la Rosa (McLaren), 1m14.542s, 112 laps
Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), 1m14.608s, 121 laps
Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 1m14.641s, 111 laps
Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 1m14.920s, 78 laps
Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing), 1m14.982s, 46 laps
Fernando Alonso (Renault), 1m15.021, 104 laps
David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing), 1m15.094, 76 laps
Nick Heidfeld (Williams), 1m15.578, 78 laps
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull Racing), 1m15.656, 82 laps
Antonio Pizzonia (Williams), 1m15.794, 99 laps
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota), 1m16.281, 82 laps
Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan), 1m17.589, 74 laps
Tiago Monteiro (Jordan), 1m18.372s, 43 laps