The Brawn GP squad continued their happy F1 infancy, as Jenson Button topped the timesheets on day three of the group test at the Circuit de Catalunya with a dominant lap. Elsewhere, McLaren's winter of toil continued.
The Brawn - Mercedes of Button finished the day over a second clear of the rest of the F1 field, setting a best time of 1:19.127. The time was easily the fastest time of the three days of testing at the circuit so far, and meant that the BGP001 continued to show unprecedented speed despite the rush to get the car ready.The quickest lap was set during a qualifying simulation, but the heavy fuel and race simulations run by the team suggest that there is underlying competitiveness in the rush job.
Button topped the test from Felipe Massa, who took over from Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari garage and continued their quick form, despite the Brazilian suffering a hydraulic problem in the afternoon run. Massa pipped Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber by a few hundredths of a second, as the Pole proved that the German team would also be competitive this year.
Next up were Timo Glock for Toyota and Fernando Alonso for Renault, while Sebastian Vettel took over in the Red Bull RB5 and finished the day in 6th place, albeit suffering a spin late on in the afternoon that curtailed his work.
Nico Rosberg was seventh for Williams, ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Force India and Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso, the Swiss driver getting his first proper run in the new car and completing 140 laps of the Barcelona track.
Bottom of the pile, once again, were McLaren. Lewis Hamilton took over from Heikki Kovalainen, but failed to improve the team's fortunes. The Brit ended the day some two and a half seconds off the pace of Button, despite completing 82 laps of the track.
Hamilton's woes increased when he had a small crash, damaging the front of the car after running off at turn two.
| Today's Times | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Car | Best Time | Laps |
| 1 | Jenson Button | Brawn - Mercedes | 1:19.127 | 124 |
| 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:20.168 | 109 |
| 3 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:20.217 | 109 |
| 4 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:20.410 | 99 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:20.683 | 107 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 1:21.165 | 102 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota | 1:21.324 | 89 |
| 8 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Mercedes | 1:21.545 | 97 |
| 9 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari | 1:21.569 | 140 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes | 1:21.657 | 82 |
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