Schumacher stays on top in Barcelona

Schumacher's best time of 1:21.486 put him nearly four tenths of a second ahead of McLaren's test driver Pedro de la Rosa, second fastest today.

Schumacher was joined at Ferrari by Brazilian Felipe Massa, who took over from test driver Luca Badoer. Massa finished as fourth quickest, nearly six tenths behind Schumacher.

The German driver focused again on working with the electronics for the 2008 season, testing without driving aids.

The Ferraris were split by Renault's Heikki Kovalainen, while Briton Gary Paffett completed the top five with the second McLaren.

Williams drivers Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima continued making progress for the British squad, with Rosberg posting the sixth fastest time of the day, three places ahead of his Japanese teammate.

David Coulthard was seventh fastest for the Red Bull Racing team after a more productive day than yesterday. The Scot worked alongside Karun Chandhok, who had a positive day and finished as 11th quickest as he worked on the 2008 electrical systems.

Jarno Trulli and Franck Montagny were again the men in charge of testing duties for the Toyota team. The Italian evaluated new parts for 2008 while the Frenchman continued work won the standard ECU to be used next season.

They caused a red flag each when they spun on track, with Montagny causing damage to the rear of his car after hitting the wall at turn 13.

"Today was a smooth day for me," said Trulli. "Again I enjoyed myself driving without traction control. I must say we had a very positive and productive day.

"We were testing several things which made our car quicker. I lost part of the morning because I went off into the gravel but apart from that we got the best out of our day. We have had some good and clear indications for next year regarding car development so I am very happy."

Jenson Button was joined by Italian Luca Filippi, who made his debut in a Formula One car as part of Honda's young driver programme. The GP2 racer, who will be replaced tomorrow by Mike Conway, finished as 16th quickest.

The Force India squad had three drivers on track, with Adrian Sutil being partnered by Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien, as the team evaluate drivers for the 2008 season.

Austrian Klien drove in the morning and was the fastest of the three cars, while Liuzzi took to the track in the afternoon and finished at the bottom of the times.

Today's times:

Pos  Driver         Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher   Ferrari              (B)   1:21.486   90
 2.  de la Rosa     McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:21.857   60
 3.  Kovalainen     Renault              (B)   1:21.894   65
 4.  Massa          Ferrari              (B)   1:22.044   56
 5.  Paffett        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:22.293   57
 6.  Rosberg        Williams-Toyota      (B)   1:22.333   64
 7.  Coulthard      Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:22.555   74
 8.  Heidfeld       BMW-Sauber           (B)   1:22.946  102
 9.  Nakajima       Williams-Toyota      (B)   1:23.031   77
10.  Vettel         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:23.187   74
11.  Chandhok       Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:23.255   57
12.  Button         Honda                (B)   1:23.358   79
13.  Trulli         Toyota               (B)   1:23.465   54
14.  Kubica         BMW-Sauber           (B)   1:23.488   37
15.  Davidson       Super Aguri-Honda    (B)   1:23.547   80
16.  Filippi        Honda                (B)   1:23.596   74
17.  Bourdais       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:23.753   72
18.  Montagny       Toyota               (B)   1:23.977   45
19.  Klien          Force India-Ferrari  (B)   1:24.446   56
20.  Sutil          Force India-Ferrari  (B)   1:24.537  105
21.  Liuzzi         Force India-Ferrari  (B)   1:24.555   55

All Timing Unofficial