Test in Barcelona: best time by Perez on the third day

Sergio Perez surprisingly achieved the best time with Sauber on the third day of testing in Barcelona. There is no doubt that the Mexican's time of 1.21.761 was achieved with an empty tank run but the Sauber's pace was still excellent.

A longer run was later interrupted by a KERS problem and Perez then caused a red flag when he stalled at the exit of the pitlane.

Felipe Massa is second with Ferrari, 331 thousandths behind Perez. The Brazilian also set his best single lap time, just minutes after Perez's best time, so Sauber can be more than happy with his performance. Once again Ferrari covered a large number of km with Massa completing 127 laps.

Red Bull was only third today with Mark Webber who lapped in 1.22.466 in a run with a not very low tank. The Australian remained on track for another four laps in a challenge between Ferrari and Red Bull on short runs that almost resembled the battle for a pole position.

Rubens Barrichello caused two red flags but the Williams driver managed to complete 105 laps and set the fourth fastest lap time.

Mercedes also set their best time in a short run. The team worked mainly with a lot of petrol to have a reference on the reliability of the new exhausts. But Michael Schumacher set the fifth fastest time with 1.22.892.

Lotus split the program between Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli. The Italian completed six laps before suffering a gearbox problem which required the transmission to be replaced. A water leak then prevented him from lapping but Kovalainen was able to complete 39 laps, setting the seventh fastest time.

Problems also in Renault with a KERS failure for Vitaly Petrov while Nick Heidfeld lapped in the afternoon setting the sixth fastest time.

Force India and Toro Rosso focused on long runs.

Barcelona F1 Test Photos

Barcelona F1 Test Times – third day

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.761s 95 2. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m22.092s + 0.331s 132 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m22.466s + 0.705s 97 4. Rubens Barrichello Williams- Cosworth 1m22.637s + 0.876s 105 5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m22.892s + 1.131s 89 6. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m23.541s + 1.780s 32 7. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m23.990s + 2.229s 40 8. Vita ly Petrov Renault 1m24.233s + 2.472s 24 9. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m24.334s + 2.573s 108 10. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m24.779s + 3.018s 107 11. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m27.336s + 5.575s 96 12. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m34.485s + 12.724s 6