Buemi leads first day of Jerez test

With teams running different programmes and car specifications in preparation for the 2009 season, little could be read into the relevant times of the cars, but Buemi's effort compared to Bourdais will have provided a further boost in his hopes of landing a contract for 2009.

The test got underway properly quite late thanks to early fog and damp track conditions, and meaningful running was curtailed by showers from 3pm.

McLaren test driver Gary Paffett kicked off the team's preparations with the third quickest time as he focused on KERS development. The Briton ended up just three hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Pedro de la Rosa, who concentrated on set-up evaluation.

Kimi Raikkonen returned to the cockpit for the first time since his demonstration run at the World Finals at Mugello last month to set the fifth quickest time. He worked on set-up and long distance evaluation of the Ferrari engine.

Sixth fastest Nick Heidfeld focused on set-up work with the suspension, as well as aerodynamic development progress for BMW Sauber - and was happy that mechanical changes made since the last test at Barcelona had improved the handling.

"It looks like we are moving in the right direction," said Heidfeld.

Behind Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet, Christian Klien only managed to complete 15 laps after being forced to stop early because of a precautionary engine change. He had been tasked with work on BMW's KERS system.

Pos Driver               Team                    Time      Laps
1.  Sebastien Buemi      Scuderia Toro Rosso     1:18.742    91
2.  Sebastien Bourdais   Scuderia Toro Rosso     1:19.288    77
3.  Gary Paffett         McLaren Mercedes        1:20.134    26
4.  Pedro de la Rosa     McLaren Mercedes        1:20.164    21
5.  Kimi Raikkonen       Ferrari                 1:20.261    48
6.  Nick Heidfeld        BMW Sauber              1:20.678    49
7.  Kazuki Nakajima      Williams                1:21.338    57
8.  Nelson Piquet        Renault                 1:21.547   124
9.  Christian Klien      BMW Sauber              1:22.098    15