Kubica tops the times at Jerez

The BMW Sauber driver edged out Lewis Hamilton, using the more usual grooved tyres, by less than two tenths of a second, as a whole host of drivers put some mileage on the experimental Bridgestone rubber.

Although Felipe Massa's third best time, just two thousandths of a second slower than Hamilton, was set on grooves, all the remaining top ten times were set with slicks.

Mark Webber was fourth fastest, ahead of Toyota's Timo Glock and McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa.

Michael Schumacher rejoined Ferrari and set the eighth best time on slick tyres, interestingly half a second down on teammate Massa.

Although Sebastian Vettel and Takuma Sato both brought out red flags during the day after making mistakes and running off the track, the man enduring the most drama was Ralf Schumacher.

The former Toyota driver was having his first outing with Force India and the day probably did not go how he intended.

He stopped on track in the morning with a mechanical problem at 10.12am, before crashing and just kissing the tyre wall at Turn 9 just before lunchtime. He then went off at Turn 9 later in the afternoon - ending the day bottom of the timesheets.

"It was a difficult day today as it was my first time with the team and I had to learn about how to work with the 2008 electronics," said Schumacher. "Unfortunately we had some problems with the car in the morning and then lots of red flags in the afternoon, but when we went for the long runs it was quite promising.

"When we had some new tyres on, unfortunately in the morning we didn't get it right, and the second was interrupted by a red flag. Although it was a difficult day, it was still good and I think we did get some good information."

The other red flag was caused by Kazuki Nakajima, who stopped on track spewing oil from the car - although it was not clear if this was from the engine or gearbox.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:19.157   87
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:19.331   64
 3.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:19.333   68
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:19.605   63
 5.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:19.687   40
 6.  de la Rosa    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:19.787   75
 7.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:19.834   90
 8.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              (B)  1:19.885   67
 9.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  1:19.905   89
10.  Heidfeld      BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:20.125   87
11.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:20.301   65
12.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:20.339   56
13.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:20.507   55
14.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:20.775   99
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:20.802   39
16.  Filippi       Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:20.915   83
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:21.055   62
18.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  1:21.093   79
19.  Liuzzi        Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.194   76
20.  R.Schumacher  Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:21.853   71

All Timing Unofficial