Kovalainen fastest at Jerez

On a sunny day with temperatures of 31 degrees Celsius, Renault's Heikki Kovalainen was the quickest man with a time of 1:17.236.

Kovalainen, working mainly on tyre testing for Shanghai, was followed by Honda's Anthony Davidson and Jose Maria Lopez, who returned to F1 testing duties with the Renault team after the end of the GP2 championship.

Argentine Lopez caused the only red flag of the day when he stopped at the chicane very early in the morning.

Briton Davidson was the busiest man on track on a day where all the runners except Lopez completed over 100 laps of the Spanish circuit. The Honda driver and his teammate Rubens Barrichello were working with the Turkey spec engine used during the Italian Grand Prix.

The latest specification engine, used only by Davidson in Friday's practice in Monza, is expected to run tomorrow.

GP2 driver Michael Ammermuller made his Formula One debut with the Red Bull Racing team, working alongside Robert Doornbos, who will race in the final three races of the season replacing Christian Klien.

German Ammermuller had a promising start and, after covering 102 laps, finished less than a tenth of a second behind Doornbos.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Kovalainen    Renault              (M)  1:17.236  102
 2.  Davidson      Honda                (M)  1:17.500  125
 3.  Lopez         Renault              (M)  1:17.617   94
 4.  Barrichello   Honda                (M)  1:18.425  109
 5.  Doornbos      Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:19.527  113
 6.  Ammermuller   Red Bull-Ferrari     (M)  1:19.614  102

All Timing Unofficial