De la Rossa shines in testing
Pedro de la Rosa set an unofficial lap record at Jerez today as pre-season testing gathered pace.
The Spaniard, driving a 2005 McLaren, clocked a best lap of one minute 15.509 seconds, leaving him 2.5secs clear of Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher.
Toyota’s Ricardo Zonta was third and fastest of the new cars on show, which all feature smaller 2.4-litre V8 engines.
Giancarlo Fisichella continued to put the 2006 Renault though its paces and the Italian was encouraged by its performance.
He was sixth fastest but admitted he has little idea of exactly how good the car is yet.
Fisichella said: “It was another encouraging day for me. We did not run much this morning, but it was much better this afternoon when we managed some long runs.
“The lap times look reasonable, but the important thing is that they are very consistent, because we haven’t touched the set-up at all yet.
“It is hard for me to compare with last year’s car at the moment, because I only drove the V8 power simulation for one day in wet conditions.
“So tomorrow, when I am in the old car, I can have a better idea of the step forward we have made. Overall, though, today confirmed my first impressions, that the potential is there with this car.”
Anthony Davidson was the top Briton on show, in ninth in his modified 2005 Honda while team-mate James Rossiter was 11th.
Gary Paffett, in his first test as an official McLaren test driver, was 13th in a 2005 McLaren while David Coulthard continued to struggle with teething troubles on the new Red Bull and languished in 16th.
