Valencia day 3: Alonso sets the pace

Concentrating on tyre and electronics developments, Alonso outpaced Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello by 0.08s of a second, despite suffering from two brief spins.

Barrichello had problems of his own in the Ferrari, stopping his 2002-spec car on the main straight with a very sick sounding engine. However, he still completed 92 laps.

After breaking the lap record yesterday, Juan Pablo Montoya found himself at the bottom of the timesheets. He was not too concerned about this, as he completed a series of long runs on full fuel tanks, and didn't attempt to set a quick lap. "The car is okay, we still just have to learn a bit more," he said. "The handling is fine, and we're getting there."

Montoya's team-mate at Williams, Ralf Schumacher, set the third quickest time after spending a day conducting tyre testing. He also undertook some pit-stop practice with the race team.

Giancarlo Fisichella took over from new team-mate Ralph Firman at Jordan, and concentrated on basic car set-up, working particularly on weight distribution and suspension set-up. Jaguar and BAR joined the test, with drivers Mark Webber and Jenson Button in action for their respective teams.

Fernando Alonso Renault M 1m11.30s 35
Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 1m11.38s 92
Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 1m11.47s 44
Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford B 1m12.01s 53
Mark Webber Jaguar M 1m12.45s 35
Jenson Button BAR-Honda B 1m12.57s 58
Marc Gene Williams-BMW M 1m12.80s 60
Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 1m12.98s 94