Ferrari set new bechmark for test but Mercedes clear a century
Thursday 7 February 2013 19:26, UK
Felipe Massa took Ferrari's F138 to the top of the timesheet for the first time on Day Three of the Jerez test but potentially the most significant development of the day was Mercedes' return to reliability.
Fifth went to Jean-Eric Vergne at the end of his first day in the Toro Rosso STR8, despite at one point stopping at the end of the pitlane, with Force India tester James Rossiter recovering from an early tangle with one of his own mechanics in the pitlane to claim sixth on his morning in the VJM06. After opening the test with the fastest time on Day One, Jenson Button couldn't repeat the feat on his return to the cockpit of the MP4-28 and his best time on Thursday was actually three tenths slower than he managed two days before. However, McLaren were clearly working on other things and three long runs towards the end of the day brought what had been a meagre lap total up to a satisfactory 83, Button's final stint totalling 19 laps. On a week of debuts, Mexican youngster Esteban Gutierrez became the latest one-time GP2 to christen his F1 career - the new Sauber driver putting 110 more miles on the C32. Reliability problems weren't confined to the top teams, however, with both Caterham's Charles Pic and Force India's Paul di Resta - due to an exhaust failure that terminated his afternoon running - also losing valuable track time. Jerez Day Three Timesheet