Barcelona Day 3 – Button Ahead, McLaren Unleashes

Jenson Button was able to test more functions today on the new Mercedes-powered BGP001. The Briton took the place of his teammate Rubens Barrichello to achieve the best time in this third practice session of the week in Spain. He completed 130 laps, with the best time on the 93rd lap at 1:19.127.

Testing is one thing, and racing is another, but based on the times recorded at Jerez last week and those at the Circuit de Catalunya this week, Formula 1 could be in for a real shake-up this season as the Australian Grand Prix approaches.

Button breaks all records today as his time is better than Kimi Räikkönen’s achieved yesterday with a 1:20.314. His fuel level must have been particularly low.

Ross Brawn and his team have pointed out throughout the off-season that if there was a buyer, the RA109, and therefore today’s BGP001, would have something special. Without knowing the fuel loads but looking at this week’s performances, the car could prove to be just as good as the other cars in the race.

With Michael Schumacher once again in the pits to witness the progress of the Ferrari team on their F60, Massa continued the testing program of Kimi Räikkönen. The Brazilian is second ahead of Robert Kubica, who made his appearance today in the cockpit of the F1.09.

Note that Massa’s program was interrupted during the afternoon when a hydraulic problem left him stranded on the track.

Timo Glock with Toyota remains competitive with the fourth fastest time. Fernando Alonso finishes his second day of testing for Renault with the fifth fastest time. Flavio Briatore is reportedly not satisfied with the aerodynamics of the rear wing, especially concerning the diffuser.

Sebastian Vettel took over from Mark Webber and posted the sixth fastest time with his RB5 ahead of Nico Rosberg, who is also back in testing with the Williams team.

Giancarlo Fisichella is eighth at the wheel of the new Force India while Sebastien Buemi had his first real day with the STR4. He is ninth among the ten participating drivers.

While Ron Dennis insisted that there were no major issues with the McLaren-Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was at the back of the pack for much of the day before going off track, damaging the MP4/24 on both ends. The red flag was deployed for 90 minutes. The Briton is 2.5 seconds behind the leader.

Join us tomorrow for the final day of testing for the week.

Result of Private Testing Spain – Barcelona – Wednesday, March 11, 2009: