De la Rosa tops the times at Jerez

McLaren driver De la Rosa, whose best time of 1:19.267 after 70 laps was over half a second faster than Red Bull driver Mark Webber's, tested some new aerodynamic components which could be used in the final three races of the season.

Third quickest Luca Badoer was a second off de la Rosa's pace with the Ferrari, the Italian edging Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber. Heidfeld, taking over from yesterday's pace-setter Timo Glock, covered 106 laps.

Scuderia Toro Rosso were the only team with two drivers in action today, with Tonio Liuzzi doing the driving for most of the session. The Italian caused one of the three red flags of the day when he lost a rear wheel, although fortunately he did not crash.

Teammate Sebastian Vettel took to the track around 4:30pm and did not set a time after completing just one lap.

Jenson Button took over from teammate Rubens Barrichello, driving the revised RA107 car for the first time. The Briton completed 74 laps on his way to the sixth fastest time of the day.

Renault test driver Nelsinho Piquet was seventh quickest and also the busiest man on track with 111 laps completed. The Brazilian caused the other two red flags of the session when he went off track, first in the morning and later in the afternoon.

Ralf Schumacher tried out some new front and rear wing configurations with his Toyota, the German winding up eighth fastest ahead of Williams' Nico Rosberg, who only began working around midday.

The session took place until clear skies, with air temperatures of around 30 degrees.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:19.267   70
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:19.947  106
 3.  Badoer        Ferrari             (B)  1:20.249   69
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber          (B)  1:20.318  103
 5.  Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:20.624   47
 6.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:20.624   74
 7.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:20.804  111
 8.  R.Schumacher  Toyota              (B)  1:21.101   76
 9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:21.608   31
10.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  No time     1

All Timing Unofficial