For the fourth successive day, a McLaren driver has dominated testing at Jerez, with Kimi Raikkonen once again posting the fastest time of the day.
Conditions were once again ideal, though a little cooler, with temperatures reaching 15 degrees C.
Raikkonen was joined by Alexander Wurz as the Woking duo concentrated on tyre testing. Tomorrow (Saturday), Pedro de la Rosa in on duty, as the Spanish track is 'flooded' for two days of 'wet weather' testing.
Second quickest was Nick Heidfeld, who, despite reports elsewhere, is not involved in a shoot-out with Antonio Pizzonia. That said, his time of 1:16.786 was impressive. The German will continue tomorrow, as Pizzonia has to fly home to attend the birth of his first child.
In the morning, both Nick and Antonio focussed on set-up work. In the afternoon, Nick carried out some traction control tests, though a hydraulics problem meant he lost track-time. Antonio carried out a number of long (20 lap) runs, as he evaluated tyres for Michelin. The Brazilian completed 147 laps, more than any other driver.
Third and fourth quickest were Barrichello and Badoer, as the Italian team wrapped up its 2004 test programme. Both drivers worked on set- ups, while continuing with the development of Bridgestone tyres and new components for the 2005 season.
Although the Italian outfit has been running 2005-spec aerodynamics for much of the week, today it opted to revert to 2004 levels in order that it could make a comparison, hence the improved times.
Fifth quickest was Ralf Schumacher, who was joined by Ricardo Zonta. Between them, the German and the Brazilian completed 264 laps.
"We've enjoyed excellent weather this week," said the German, clearly delighted with the progress the team is making, "which has been very important because we struggled to achieve anything significant in the wet here last week.
"We've been working mainly on tyres and brakes and we've got through the plan without any problems," he added. "On the first two days we did some set-up work and long runs on tyre casings for next year. I had an engine problem on Wednesday, but it didn't really harm our programme because it was at the end of its life anyway. Apart from that it has been a trouble-free week. On the last two days we tested more tyre compounds for next year, doing some more long runs on Friday."
With David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi's duties at an end, Christian Klien was joined by Swiss youngster Neel Jani. The Austrian completed 100 laps, posting his best time at Jerez this year.
Franck Montagny and Giancarlo Fisichella were on duty for Renault, the Italian wrapping up his 2004 activities before heading off for the Christmas break.
Giancarlo conducted a chassis development programme during the morning, comparing the two available cars, before conducting endurance tyre testing. Montagny's work concentrated on ride and handling, for research and development purposes.
"Giancarlo concluded his week with a very productive day's work," said Christian Silk, "he made up some of the time we lost yesterday. Franck also did a solid job, and will continue working on wet tyres over the weekend. We have completed 2155km this week: it was a productive session that has produced some promising results."
Once again the BARs propped up the timesheets, Anthony Davidson's cause not helped by a massive engine failure. Takuma Sato drove the 'concept car', which has previously been driven by Jenson Button.
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