Jerez Testing – Day 4: Alonso Ends the Day on Top

After two days dominated by the 2011 Mercedes MGP-W02, the last day saw another driver climb to the top of the timesheets. Fernando Alonso set the fastest time today in Jerez at the wheel of the F2012 for the end of these first winter tests. The Spanish driver clocked a 1:18.877 to finish the day in the lead.

Behind the double world champion Spaniard, there is a Frenchman. Jean-Eric Vergne managed to bring the Toro Rosso up to the second place on the time sheet for this final day of testing. With 80 laps completed, he narrowly edges out another double world champion, Sebastian Vettel driving his Red Bull.

Next follow Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean – who was unable to do better than yesterday probably due to different tests, Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hülkenberg, Bruno Senna, and Jarno Trulli, who finishes in last position for his debut with the CT01.

Several drivers encountered some issues with their single-seaters, notably Alonso who faced a hydraulic problem. The same problem occurred for Kobayashi and his Sauber C31, while the Red Bull RB8 was affected by electrical issues, even though this did not overly disrupt Sebastian Vettel’s testing.

Bruno Senna also experienced some issues with the FW34, but it didn’t prevent him from being the most diligent on the track. The Brazilian driver completed 125 laps – notably including long stints of 25 and 37 laps.

For his debut with the Caterham CT01, Jarno Trulli also accumulated kilometres to get used to his new car. He covered 117 laps with a best time of 1:22.198, more than three seconds behind Alonso.

The first winter tests are therefore over, after these four days of testing, and it is difficult to have an accurate picture of the performances of the different single-seaters – especially since some teams, like Mercedes, have not run with their 2012 car.

The surprise of these four days is probably the Lotus E20, which has demonstrated an interesting potential against the Ferrari F2012, the Red Bull RB8, and the McLaren MP4-27. It will need to be confirmed during the next test session which will take place in Barcelona from February 21 to 24.

Jerez Tests – Day 4: