Hamilton tops Jerez test combined times

McLaren sparked into life during the final day of the second preseason test at Jerez today, with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time overall after four days of running.

Hamilton took over on day three from his reigning World champion teammate Jenson Button and set a 1m19.583sec best to top the combined times by 0.336sec from Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari. The Spaniard's best time came on day three, backing up a strong showing from teammate Sebastien Buemi, whose 1m20.026sec best on day two was good enough for fourth overall.

This pair sandwiched Kamui Kobayashi, who continued Sauber's strong testing form by setting the third-fastest time on day two. Force India's Adrian Sutil and Williams driver Rubens Barrichello both set times good enough to round out the top six on the final day.

Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher set the eighth-fastest time of the test for Mercedes, just 0.005sec faster than Button's best, while Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg was fastest on the first day but slipped to 12th overall as conditions improved during the week.