Button Leads Final Day at Barcelona - Day Three

New Benetton star Jenson Button set the fastest time on the final of the three days of testing at the Barcelona circuit, in a session highlighted by the number of new faces present at the track.

The young Brit topped the time sheets for the first time since he joined Benetton, but his performance was overshadowed by that of 19-year old Spaniard Fernando Alonso who, in his second outing with the team, ended the session less than three tenths behind Button, who completed the planned tyre and brake testing programme.

Alonso, testing with Benetton in order to cover the required distance to get the Formula One superlicence, finished in front of Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene and Jaguar's Luciano Burti, who was joined by German Formula Three star Andrea Lotterer.

Jean Alesi was sixth quickest in the Prost, while Giancarlo Fisichella, in his last test before taking a break to recover from his knee operation next week, was only eighth after running on a high fuel load all day.

Just like Lotterer, Spaniard Oriol Servia made his Formula One debut at Barcelona with the Prost team, though his time was almost two seconds slower than the Prost of Alesi.

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher, who was fastest on Wednesday, was forced to miss today's testing because of a flu.

The Barcelona circuit will host a three-day testing session again starting next Monday.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time 1. Button Benetton-Renault (M) 1:21.20 2. Alonso Benetton Renault (M) 1:21.48 3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.01 4. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:22.31 5. Burti Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.83 6. Alesi Prost-Peugeot (M) 1:22.84 7. Lotterer Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.26 8. Fisichella Benetton-Renault (M) 1:23.71 9. Servia Prost-Peugeot (M) 1:24.67 All Timing Unofficial