Jerez de la Frontera, 3rd March 2009

The third out of five test days at the Jerez circuit started without rain, but still with a wet track. The sky opened up and the sun came out. After around 90 minutes the session had been started the cars could be fitted with the tyres for a dry track.

Felipe Massa was back on the track after the compulsory stop yesterday and immediately started with long runs, first with the heavy wet tyres, then with the standard wet tyres and in the end with those for a dry track. The Brazilian driver had two minor difficulties today: in corner 1 he went off the track, when the tarmac was still extremely wet. Later on there was a problem with the electronics and the technicians had to work on the car for a quite a while. Once the problem had been resolved Felipe went back on the track and drove his laps without further interruptions, simulating a race with pit stops.

Just after 1pm an appreciated guest turned up at the box of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Michael Schumacher. The seven-time world champion is here to follow the Team's preparations for the upcoming championship and will stay in Jerez until tomorrow.

Today's partial classification, while around two hours are left until the chequered flag, is:
Alonso (Renault), 1.20.439 (96)
Massa (Ferrari), 1.20.674 (95)
Webber (Red Bull), 1.21.021 (62)
Kubica (BMW), 1.21.463 (65)
Glock (Toyota), 1.21.652 (94)
Rosberg (Williams), 1.21.701 (100)
Sutil (Force India), 1.21.881 (31)
Kovalainen (McLaren), 1.22.526 (59)