Jerez – Day 4 – Kovalainen on top, Bourdais 2nd

Heikki Kovalainen topped the timesheets on the fourth and final day of private testing in Jerez, Spain. The Finnish driver, who tested a new front on his McLaren, leads the Red Bull teams: Bourdais is second in the Toro Rosso, ahead of Coulthard in the Red Bull Racing.

McLaren tested an all-new nose on its MP4/23. The Woking team thus incorporates for the first time the mini side wings located at the front end. They have also revised the design of their front wing, which features mini Dumbo ears seen on the Honda or BMW vehicles. This new device does not seem to have convinced McLaren, which has not planned to use it in Hungary next week.

Sébastien Bourdais in the Toro Rosso STR03 is gradually finding his footing and finishes in second place, three-tenths behind the Finn. They are the only drivers to have broken the 1’18” barrier today; however, the Frenchman was using slick tires.

David Coulthard also delivered a good performance with the third-fastest time. He tested new elements on the rear of his car. He is ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Renault R28 and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.

The Italian team unveiled yesterday for the first time the fashionable engine cover and was actually testing this shark fin today. Compared to its predecessors, it is mainly elongated at the top of the fin.

Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams is 6th ahead of Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber. The Bavarian team did not shine during their tests; the KERS issue having disrupted the pre-test program defined.

Eighth with Sutil, Force India finally seems able to catch up with the other teams. The VMJ01-b is ahead of Button’s Honda. The Englishman continued his tests calmly with the shark fin mounted since Tuesday on the RA108.

Kamui Kobayashi brings up the rear. The Toyota test driver completed 90 laps during the day. He also caused two red flags, one for a driving error very early this morning, the other for a technical issue at the very end of the session.

Another red flag was triggered by Nakajima during an off-track excursion at turn number 6 shortly before noon.

Results Private Testing Jerez – Day 4: