Alonso leads last session at Jerez

Feb 10, 2012 (F1plus Team). - Fernando Alonso set the best time today in the last day of testing at Jerez. The Spaniard, in his second day, worked very well in the morning session with Ferrari F2012, but he was only able to clocked 39 laps.

Alonso set the leading time of 1:18.877 during an encouraging morning, but was then relegated to the garage for much of the afternoon. He did rejoin late in the day for few laps, but the team felt it was an uncompleted run, which did not sit well after Pat Fry admitted –yesterday- the car is not where they would like it to be.

Alonso was not able to be better than seventh yesterday in his initial run with the F2012 (1:20.412) after giving a total of 67 laps. He had to wait 90 minutes so the team could fix an Hydraulics problem that cut short is testing day.

Meanwhile reigning world champion, Germany's Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), was virtually absent from the morning session, as only took two laps of the Jerez track and did no registered any time.

Vettel, who debuted yesterday and set the third fastest time of the day with the RB8 (1:19.297), today met with an electrical problem that prevented him from completing the work.

There were no major incidents, although the day was broken up by four red flags. The first came for a solitary minute in the morning, as marshals recovered debris from the track. Two of the stoppages during the day were for Bruno Senna’s Williams, one just after one o’clock and the next during the final hour as his car ground to a halt. At twenty to three, Kamui Kobayashi was ordered to park his Sauber as telemetry revealed a sudden drop in hydraulic pressure; as a leak developed under the car, an unwanted delay frustrated the team.

After the Spaniard, was the Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) made the fastest time, seven tenths down on Alonso.
Briton Lewis Hamilton was third in the morning session with the McLaren MP4-27, with a best lap of 1:19.630 after 36 laps of the track. The Frenchman Romain Grosjean (Lotus), as in the previous day, also ran fast and finished fourth, while Japan's Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), which returned to the track today after the two previous pilot the car for the team Mexican Sergio Perez, was fifth.

Also, Nico Hulkenberg was able to have run with Force India’s VJM-05 since he could not do so on Thursday afternoon, after Frenchman Jules Bianchi damaged the car during his morning session yesterday.

After Hulkenberg, who was sixth, the Brazilian Bruno Senna, who completed 97 laps, the most by far of the morning session on his Williams FW33. Italian Jarno Trulli, who made his debut with the team Caterham today, finished eighth and last place with a 1:22.214 after of 53 laps.

Here are the times: