Valencia Day 3: Alonso debuts with Ferrari

The final day of testing saw three World Champions on the track, current titleholder Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher and local favourite Fernando Alonso.

Alonso scorched the Valencia track with the fastest time © AP Images

Fernando Alonso bettered Massa's pacesetter time with a best of 1:11.470. The Scuderia set the benchmark pace on all the three days of testing. The two-time world champion conjured multiple laps in the 1 minute 11 second bracket. There was only one other time that fitted in that frame; Massa’s fastest lap on Tuesday.

Sauber fielded Pedro de la Rosa for the day replacing Kamui Kobayashi from yesterday. The 38 year old set the pace early in the session when he shaved a couple of tenths from Kobayashi’s best time from yesterday. However, shortly after he had a minor clash with Nico Hülkenberg on the track prompting the third red flag in as many days. The Sauber set the second fastest time of the day yet again.

Michael Schumacher was back in the seat with Mercedes, replacing Nico Rosberg from yesterday, setting the third fastest time. There was no late effort towards the end of the session as the Kerpen born was first to call it a day as his Mercedes suffered a hydraulic leak. Ross Brawn was quoted that the team are a bit off the pace.

At Toro Rosso, Jaime Alguersuari, who was participating in his first Formula One test session, went faster than the fastest time set by his teammate Sebastian Buemi yesterday. He was placed fourth in the charts. At one point in the session, the three leading drivers in the session were Spaniards.

Jenson Button tested the McLaren for the first time as an official driver, a car that Lewis Hamilton assisted in its development. The 2009 world champion had previously done some testing with the Woking-based team back in 1999. Button set the fifth fastest time in his McLaren.

Debutants Vitaly Petrov clocked the fifth fastest time in his Renault whereas Hülkenberg was a little more than two-tenths away from the Ferrari’s time. The Williams driver clocked the slowest of the lot.

The Valencia official spectator figures were 36,400 fans today. A total of 59,100 attended over the three days paying anything from 5 to 25 Euros for the entry. The day’s figures were more than the attendance during the 2009 Turkish GP. Ferrari reported that there was a 4km traffic jam of fans getting into the circuit to see Fernando Alonso. He did not disappoint.

Firm conclusions could not be drawn from the sessions at Valencia but the Ferrari and the Sauber clearly presented a strong pace.

The next test session will be held at Jerez on February 10.

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