Button tops the times at Jerez

Both Button and teammate Anthony Davidson joined the Jerez session today as the Honda team continued with their preparations ahead of the debut of their new car next week in Barcelona.

Both men drove hybrid cars fitted with V8 engines, with Davidson enjoying a very productive day with 133 laps covered.

Button completed nearly 100 laps, but the Briton stopped on track twice during the day.

Jarno Trulli split the Honda drivers with his Toyota, the Italian posting the second quickest time as he focused on suspension set-up and tyre testing at the wheel of the Japanese squad's TF106.

Trulli, who caused one of the six red flags today when he stopped on track in the afternoon, worked alongside teammate Ralf Schumacher, the German covering just 39 laps on his way to the seventh fastest time.

"We couldn't get through as much work as we would have liked today, but we still took a look at some different suspension settings," said Schumacher. "It is a pity that we could not put in more laps but at least the TF106 still feels good to drive and it is well balanced.

"We will now look forward to a successful day of running tomorrow to round off the week on a high note."

McLaren's test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett continued with a tyre development programme for Michelin, driving the interim MP4-20s fitted with restricted Mercedes V10 engines.

De la Rosa was fourth quickest ahead of Paffett, who was involved in an incident in the morning when he went off at the first corner. McLaren are leaving Jerez today to travel to Barcelona.

Williams were also in action at Jerez, working with both Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz, who joined the German. The Austrian was the quickest of the two despite stopping on track with an apparent mechanical problem early in the afternoon.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                Tyres  Time     Laps
 1.   Button        Honda                (M)  1:18.398   96
 2.   Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:18.657   43
 3.   Davidson      Honda                (M)  1:18.674  133
 4.   de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:19.235   99  *
 5.   Paffett       McLaren-Mercedes     (M)  1:19.300   90  *
 6.   Wurz          Williams-Cosworth    (B)  1:20.306   59
 7.   R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)  1:20.587   39
 8.   Rosberg       Williams-Cosworth    (B)  1:20.841   41

All Timing Unofficial