Paffett kicks off final test of 2005

The Briton, who is vying to land a full-time testing role at the team after capturing the DTM crown this year, was one of a few drivers to venture out into the chilly Spanish morning that greeted the teams when the pitlane opened.

But it all went wrong when he spun on cold tyres - although luckily he did not hit anything and the only damage was to his pride.

Paffett is testing alongside Pedro de la Rosa at McLaren, with both drivers running V8 Mercedes-Benz engines.

Felipe Massa is testing alone for Ferrari, running an air-restricted V10 for the first time.

The team are being put under pressure from rival outfits to produce some comparison data on V8 engines against V10s in a bid to help the FIA achieve complete equivalency between the power-units next year.

Midland helped with that work last week although it is not clear whether Ferrari are conducting the V10 work for their own background information or to help the FIA.

Toyota are running with Franck Perera and Ricardo Zonta in their V8-powered TF106s, while Nick Heidfeld is continuing work for on BMW's V8 engine in the BMW-Sauber.