Fernando Alonso puts Ferrari on top at Jerez in fourth morning of F1 testing

Ferrari has struggled to get on top of the F2012 thus far in testing, with technical director Pat Fry admitting on Thursday he was 'not happy with where we are'.

And while Alonso's run to the top of the timesheets could therefore be more the product of a low-fuel run than a genuine breakthrough, it nevertheless represents a modicum of progress for his Italian team - particularly as it was just four tenths slower than the overall best seen at Jerez.

As Ferrari prospered, Red Bull was conspicuous in its absence as Sebastian Vettel managed just two laps on the final morning at Jerez.

The reigning champion, third fastest yesterday, encountered an electrical problem early on and has thus far been able to return to the track after two installation laps at the start of the day.

Sister team Toro Rosso suffered no such issues, and ended the morning second fastest at the hands of Jean-Eric Vergne, seven tenths down on Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton was less than five hundredths down the road in the McLaren MP4-27, his 1m19.630s slightly slower than the best he managed yesterday.

Romain Grosjean kept up Lotus's strong start to the year by finishing fourth fastest, with Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber claiming fifth.

Nico Hulkenberg finally got his hands on Force India's 2012 car - Jules Bianchi's crash on Thursday deprived him of a planned afternoon run - and managed 45 laps, setting the sixth fastest time.

Seventh went to Bruno Senna, who completed an impressive 97 laps in the Williams. He got down to within 1.255s of Alonso, but then caused the second red flag of the day as he stopped out on circuit at the exit of the Senna chicane.

Jarno Trulli, the day's other newcomer over at Caterham, finished with a 1m22.214s after 53 laps. Vettel has thus far been unable to set a time.

Morning times:

Pos  Driver         Team            Time                Laps
 1.  Alonso         Ferrari         1m18.877s           22
 2.  Vergne         Toro Rosso      1m19.597s  +0.720   41
 3.  Hamilton       McLaren         1m19.640s  +0.763   36
 4.  Grosjean       Lotus           1m19.729s  +0.852   24
 5.  Kobayashi      Sauber          1m19.834s  +0.957   39
 6.  Hulkenberg     Force India     1m19.977s  +1.100   45
 7.  Senna          Williams        1m20.132s  +1.255   97
 8.  Trulli         Caterham        1m22.214s  +3.337   53