The third-day at Jerez got underway this morning, with somewhat cooler conditions than the previous two days.
It was all change for the drivers line-up today, with
Fernando Alonso taking over from Kimi Raikkonen at
Ferrari, Ricciardo from Vettel at Red Bull, Hamilton from Rosberg at
Mercedes,
Felipe Massa from Bottas at
Williams, Hulkenberg from Perez at
Force India, Frijns from Ericsson at Caterham and Sutil from Gutierrez at
Sauber.
Kevin Magnussen was also scheduled to test for the whole day but thanks to
McLaren's lack of running on Tuesday, it was decided that Button would drive in the morning with Magnussen taking over in the afternoon.
Massa was first out onto the track, followed by Alonso and Frijns. The pace was steady for the first few hours, with
Jenson Button posting the fastest lap-time of the morning over a second clear of his fellow countryman
Lewis Hamilton.
The Red-flag came out a grand total of five times today, the first incident involving Fernando Alonso who stopped his Prancing Horse on the exit of Turn 10. The second involved new Red Bull recruit
Daniel Ricciardo, who only completed three laps before his RB10 started smoking, forcing the Australian to stop between Turn 7 & 8.
Hulkenberg also stopped his Force India VM07 at Turn 4 due to a fuel supply issue and rounding up the red flags was
Jean-Eric Vergne for Toro Rosso, who stopped twice; once at the end of the main straight, the other after he returned to the track at the pit-exit.
It was another good day for McLaren, with Magnussen making his debut in the MP4-29 and setting the overall fastest time. Likewise for Mercedes, with Hamilton completing 62 laps and gaining some valuable time in the W05.
Marussia's MR03 also made its debut today in the hands of
Max Chilton. Although no timed runs took place, some very important installation laps were completed for the squad which gathered data and an understanding of the cars' characteristics.
Tom Brooks
F1 Editor
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