Jerez 7: Gene tops in FW24

Heavy fog delayed running in the morning, with the track still damp in places when it finally opened at 11am. Because of this, it was impossible to artificially dampen the track to a consistent standard for the Michelin wet test, and so the four drivers present were allowed to conduct some open running.

Gene set his fastest time in relatively dry conditions during this part of the session, explaining why his time was almost six seconds faster than team-mate Ralf Schumacher, driving the new FW26.

Explaining why Gene was running in the FW24, Williams chief operations engineer Sam Michael told autosport.com: "We had some engine and parts left, so we wanted to use it for the wet test."

Gene found the difference between the 2002 and 2003 cars all too obvious. "The FW24 was just so slow," he told autosport.com. "Obviously, the car has less downforce, but I felt the difference in the engine most of all. There's been an amazing improvement in two years."

During the actual wet tyre test, in which the team's ran a number of Michaelin compounds. Gene set a best time of 1m29.085s. "There were some good things and some not so good things," he said.

Jenson Button set the third fastest time for BAR, but was insistent that mileage was more important than lap times.

"We did lots of testing today," Button told autosport.com. "It was very interesting, and some of the tyres we tested were very good. All we need at the moment is mileage. It was a shame we couldn't run in the morning because what we need is to put some distance on the engine and gearbox. But it was an interesting test, and we've got lots of data to work with."

Toyota tester Ryan Briscoe was the slowest of the four drivers present at the test, but said: "It was interesting. I'm just glad to have done all three days of testing."

Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m20.984s 75*
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m26.978s 61**
Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 1m27.419s 76
Ryan Briscoe Toyota M 1m28.168s 92

* 2002 car. Time set during morning session before wet running started.
** 2004 car