Alonso Goes Fastest On Day Three

Fernando Alonso set the quickest lap at the Monza test again, beating Felipe Massa by over a second who ended his running in fourth, behind Robert Kubica’s BMW and David Coulthard’s Red Bull. Rain fell all morning and limited the teams to only a few laps, but conditions improved after the lunch break and most drivers were then able to put in some decent lap times.

Aside from a surprise lap from Coulthard, Vitantonio Liuzzi also looked strong going fifth fastest by the end of the day and only 0.35s shy of Kubica’s time. Jenson Button took over the Honda reigns from Rossiter and Barrichello for the third day and posted the sixth fastest lap while Nico Rosberg finished up just 0.07s down on the Briton in seventh.

Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher underlined the erratic pace of their Renault’s and Toyota’s respectively, only managing to finish eighth and ninth, Ralf a full second down on Fisichella. Sakon Yamamoto ran the new B-Spec Spyker after it finally passed the FIA safety test, and the Japanese driver finished in tenth, although Anthony Davidson was undoubtedly only last because of the limited running he did.

The test has been extended to a fourth day (today) and all but Renault are expected to take part. More news to follow later this evening.

Formula One, F1, Fernando Alonso, McLaren