Nasr goes fastest on third day at Jerez

F1 Test, Jerez, Circuit Permanente de Jerez

Day three of the Jerez pre-season test kicked off in damp conditions, following along perfectly on the shower and depressing weather of yesterday afternoon.

It didn't scare off any runners however as Nico Rosberg again proved very active in the morning. He immediately got on with the job and completed 10 laps on wet tyres in the first half hour. Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz had 5 while Felipe Nasr in the Sauber once again proved the rock solid C34 isn't scared of the morning either. He completed 9 laps in the first 30 minutes.

Perhaps the biggest positive of the morning are Fernando Alonso's outings, completing 4 laps with an audibly very different Honda engine. The team said electrical problems from yesterday have been resolved, and it appears now that the misfirings are a thing of the past. The single timed lap set by the Spaniard is 9 seconds off the pace of Rosberg, but nothing worry about and certainly a massive improvement to the 30 second deficit seen on day one and two.

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With the track still fairly damp, Felipe Nash became the first victim of the gravel trap, getting stuck in it after losing control of his Sauber. He came to a half before hitting the tyre barriers, so no major drama for the team. 10 minutes later, the red flag was retracted and testing could continue.

Lotus and Ferrari meanwhile were delayed in the morning by telemtry problems and only got to decent work by 11:30. Lotus was ready earlier on, but declared they preferred to wait until the track had dried up a bit more.

By noon, Fernando Alonso completed 32 laps, the best being 1:35.553. On his final lap however, the Spaniard reported a problem to his team which later found out there was a loss of water pressure on the engine. It triggered the team to dismantle the car and eventually call it a day, being unable to replace the faulty components in time for more running today.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly quiet with only Mercedes and Lotus somewhat present on track. It proved to be temporary however as in the final hour of today's running, 7 cars were simultaneously on track at various moments. None of the cars endured any further problems though, and none improved, leaving Felipe Nasr atop the timesheet.