Jerez 3: Kimi top on return

Raikkonen was working through a tyre development programme for Michelin as he outpaced the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, despite a minor slide off the track during the morning.

Behind them, Webber found himself just a few hundredths of a second faster than Heidfeld, as the German driver used the opportunity of a dry track to show Williams exactly what he was capable of.

Speaking exclusively to autosport.com at the end of the day, Heidfeld declared himself overjoyed with the progress he had made - especially after he completed a mammoth 122 laps over the course of the day.

"It was good," he said. "I managed to do lots of laps. There was no problem with the car and physically I had no problems either. Of course I feel it in the neck, but it didn't cause any problems at all."

With Antonio Pizzonia due back in the cockpit on Friday, for a head-to-head shoot-out with Heidfeld in their fight for the second Williams seat, Webber has now finished his 2004 duties for Williams.

"It has been a very good three weeks getting accustomed to everything new - learning the car and learning the team," Webber told autosport.com. "It would have been much harder to have tried to do all that in the new year."

Ferrari continued its evaluation work for Bridgestone, with the Japanese company declaring itself satisfied with the progress it has made so far this week.

Technical manager Hisao Suganuma said: "We've looked at 10 constructions and 10 compounds and it has been a very good test. We tested so many new things and will now assess the data to decide which tyres we will bring for testing in January."

David Coulthard completed his first test with Red Bull Racing and has chosen to fly home on Thursday night rather than stay for another day of testing on Friday.

Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren), 1m16.677s, 97 laps
Jarno Trulli (Toyota), 1m16.838s, 69 laps
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota), 1m17.112s, 76 laps
Mark Webber (Williams), 1m17.521s, 68 laps
Nick Heidfeld (Williams), 1m17.570s, 122 laps
Franck Montagny (Renault), 1m17.728s, 141 laps
Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault), 1m17.850s, 18 laps
Alexander Wurz (McLaren), 1m17.89s, 75 laps
David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing), 1m18.009s, 51 laps
Jenson Button (BAR), 1m18.171s, 97 laps
Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 1m18.523s, 61 laps
Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing), 1m18.629s, 26 laps
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Red Bull Racing), 1m18.792s, 63 laps
Luca Badoer (Ferrari), 1m18.809s, 85 laps
Anthony Davidson (BAR), 1m18.901s, 42 laps
Enrique Bernoldi (BAR), 1m19.007s, 54 laps