Hamilton tops Jerez test timings

McLaren sparked into life during the final day of the second pre-season test at Jerez, with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time overall after four days of running.

Hamilton took over on day three from his reigning world champion team-mate Jenson Button and set a 1m19.583s best to top the combined times by 0.336s from Torro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari. The Spaniard's best time came on day three, backing up a strong showing from team-mate Sebastien Buemi, whose 1m20.026s best on day two was good enough for fourth overall.

This pair sandwiched Kamui Kobayashi, who continued Sauber's strong testing form by setting the third fastest time on day two. Force India's Adrian Sutil and Williams driver Rubens Barrichello both set times good enough to round out the top six on the final day.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher set the eighth fastest time of the test for Mercedes, just 0.005s faster than Button's best, while Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg was fastest on the first day but slipped to 12th overall as conditions improved during the week.