Jerez Day 3: Raikkonen keeps Ferrari on top in morning

Ferrari still fastest but Mercedes is sandbagging

The morning session is complete as the F1 teams continue their preseason testing for the upcoming F1 season. After Sebastian Vettel led the first two days for Ferrari, his teammate Kimi Raikkonen picked up where he left off by leading the morning session of day #3.

McLaren's new Honda-powered car showed progress on Tuesday with Fernando Alonso completing 32 laps before an engine problem forced an early end to their penultimate day of testing at the Jerez circuit.

Before Tuesday, Alonso and British team mate Jenson Button had managed only six laps each in the MP4-30 turbo hybrid car on the opening two days of the first pre-season test in southern Spain.

"We've had a loss of cooling water pressure and have removed the power unit for inspection," the former champions said on their Twitter feed. "That's a long process, so it ends today's running.

"We can replace those components ahead of running tomorrow," they added, with the team missing the final three hours of Tuesday's session.

The number of laps completed in the morning did at least show, however, that the problems that sidelined Button on Monday had been addressed.

"We expected it to be difficult. I'm sure the next two days won't be plain-sailing either," Button, who will be at the wheel for the final day on Wednesday, had said on Monday evening.

"It's going to be tricky. It's a very complicated power unit, it's not as straightforward as the old V8 engines or the V10s. So it takes a little bit of time."

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