Fernando Alonso led the way in his first outing for Ferrari on day three of this year’s first Formula One test in Valencia.
More than 30,000 fans turned up today to watch their local hero Alonso and he didn't disappoint in, quickly getting up to speed following his close season team switch.
See the pics from day three in ValenciaReport and pics from day oneReport and pics from day two
Alonso was fastest for almost all of the day, edging Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher.
More worrying for Alonso's rivals was not the time he did, but the fact it came so early into a long stint - as he completed eight further laps following that effort.
McLaren's defending world champion Jenson Button was almost a second and a half off the pace, although differing fuel levels may explain at least some of the gap.
Unofficial times from day three:
1 Alonso (Ferrari) 1m11.470s2 de la Rosa (Sauber) +0.6243 Schumacher (Mercedes) +0.9684 Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) +1.1065 Button (McLaren) +1.4816 Petrov (Renault) +1.6277 Hulkenberg (Williams) +2.199
Mercedes W01 F1 car revealedRenault F1 shows new coloursSauber's sponsorless F1 carToro Rosso F1 car unveiledMcLaren launches new F1 carFerrari launches 2010 F1 car
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Re: Alonso sets pace in Valencia
Although early testing times are notoriously easy to manipulate depending on fuel and tyres, the fact that the rankings across all 3 days was pretty consistent is interesting.
Pleased to see that Sauber maintained their Day 1 performance, pleased to see Schumacher notably faster than Rosberg (just because it will annoy the knockers), pleased to see Massa having no problems at all and covering a lot of laps. And not surprised to see that the McHamilton looked fast when Lewis was driving it and slow when the No.2 No.1 driver was on board.
Concerned for Williams and Renault though. At no point have they looked quick, even if they are officially not looking for fast times.
Re: Alonso sets pace in Valencia
Ferrari fastest on all three days,bmw sauber 2nd quickest all three days,and schumi 3rd on two of the days......round 1 of testing to ferrari me thinks,cant wait for round two of testing at jerez on the 10th of feb.like many cant wait for the season to start ,my loyaltys are mixed would like to see jenson & lewis to do really well for blighty,schumi because i think he is the best racer of the modern era,massa cause he is lucky to be alive and deserves to do well,alonso cause i love ferraris and so it goes on.....roll on the 14th march 2010,let the race begin!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: Alonso sets pace in Valencia
After his 1m11.470 lap he completed a further 8 laps, so hardly a low fuel run.