Barcelona test - day four: 3 May.

[davewilson]

 Britain's David Coulthard set the pace for Red Bull Racing at the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday as the extended pre-Spanish Grand Prix test drew to a close.

DC completed 59 laps in total in the Renault-powered RB3, his best a 1 minute 21.066 seconds, two tenths up on Pedro de la Rosa, who was 'best of the rest' for McLaren-Mercedes. Coulthard's time incidentally was the best of the week, a tenth up on Kimi Raikkonen's quickest effort, which was set on day one [a 1m 21.195s]. Furthermore while it was thought he set it while running with low fuel, the fact Mark Webber was also second quickest on Tuesday and Wednesday, suggests that the Milton Keynes-based operation have made good progress.

“A productive four days prior to the start of the European season,” commented Red Bull Racing chief test engineer, Ian Morgan. “It's always good to produce quick lap times and to be fastest, but let's wait and see how the situation evolves when we come back here for the race in two weekends' time.”
de la Rosa finished up second for McLaren, having taken over from Fernando Alonso, who ran on days two and three. Pedro did 58 laps, one less than DC, while completing the teams' on-track development programme. Like most runners he opted to stay in the garage for a bit around mid-day, after a rain storm, but he resumed running later on after conditions had improved.

Further-down the order, Felipe Massa was third, the Brazilian unable to keep the Scuderia at the top of the times for the fourth day in succession. He was not able to complete much dry running, after a technical problem delayed him this morning. However, Felipe still did 30 laps in the dry, before opting for just 8 tours in the wet in the afternoon while focusing on the balance with the F2007 in the changing conditions.