Rubens tops Jerez testing

Rubens Barrichello

Rubens Barrichello gave Williams a lift to the top of the timesheets in testing at Jerez on Thursday, as wet chilly weather continued to hinder the preparation for the start of the 2010 season.

The rain started early, and though there were dry spells, the surface never completely dried.

Barrichello set his best time approaching mid-date, when the conditions were driest, and his time stood as the track got wetter and slower through the rest of the day.

Renault's Vitaly Petrov hit the sweet spot too, to post the second quickest time, ahead of hot-shoe Sebastian Vettel, who did manage to complete a workhorse run of 70 laps for Team Red Bull.

Nico Rosberg was fourth quick for Mercedes GP, followed by Felipe Massa rounding up the top five in the Ferrari.

In contrast to the prior day, which saw Timo Glock complete just 10 laps due to a hydraulic gremlin, the Virgin team completed 72 on their way to the eighth on the board.

Glock's session, however, was highlighted by a couple of impressive off-track excursions that brought out red flags.

The Lotus team, who enjoyed a very promising day on its T127's maiden run yesterday, was not so lucky today when Heikki Kovalainen took over from third driver Fairuz Fauzy.

The Finn lost control of his car and impacted the barrier, damaging the front wing. With Lotus not having a spare part on track, the team was forced to miss the remaining part of the session, having completed just 30 laps.

Kovalainen admitted afterwards that he had simply made a mistake and was sorry for the valuable time lost.

Results