The Rain in Spain...

Second test of the year in Jerez? Check. Three new cars to join the party? Check. Plenty of Spanish sun to give us an indication of who's quick? Hmmm, maybe tomorrow...

For the record, it was Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes who set the day's fastest time but he was one of the few drivers to set a competitive time before the rain came after 45mins.

Thereafter, the view was mixed. Some teams (Williams in particular) decided to use the rain to evaluate their set up for wet conditions - doing many long stints to evaluate how the tyres would cope in a race situation. They were quick in this set-up too. Renault went the other way; not wanting to waste time evaluating their car in conditions that make the times irrespective. Maybe the team didn't want (rookie) Petrov to be making fundamental performance decisions when the car isn't behaving normally.

The 'big' teams went more aggressive; using the fact that overall pace would be masked by the weather to assess a multitude of things from the wear on the tyres to ultimate performance. For example, there were many times when Button did a reasonably long stint starting in the 1:32s and ending in the mid 1:30s (as the fuel was burnt). Alonso ran a similar programme, his best wet time seeming to be around the 1:30.5 mark too. He did say that "the car went very well on the wet track though and it's easy to drive. The feeling is good, just like on the dry" all of which implies that the Ferrari and McLaren are still fairly close with the Ferrari just edging it. Oddly the McLaren ran with a strange device attached in front of the sidepod, whatever it was analysing the team don't seem too worried but are they just playing the problems down?

Mercedes also ran mid length stints, Rosberg claiming that he felt "much better" in the car compared with last week. They seemed just a short step behind Ferrari and McLaren in their stints.

The new Red Bull hit the track and suffered a few teething problems which limited their running. They were still in the initial set-up phase of testing when an oil problem lost them over 4 hours of running! The running they did was pretty good though.

However, nothing compared to the new Virgin team who managed only a handful of installation laps after spending most of the day making last minute additions to their VR-01 machine.

Today's driver of the day? Nico Hulkenberg for having the determination to make the most, even in the poor weather. 118 laps!! He was rewarded by being the fastest man in the wet too; putting his Williams ahead of the big guns in these conditions.

Unofficial Wet Times

1. Hulkenberg  Williams 1:28.606

2. Alonso  Ferrari 1:28.7
3. Button  McLaren 1:30

4. Webber  Red Bull 1:30

5. Kobayashi  Sauber 1:31

6. Rosberg  Mercedes GP 1:32

7. Liuzzi  Force India 1:32

8. Buemi  Toro Rosso 1:33

9. Petrov  Renault 1:34

10. Glock  Virgin Racing 1:38

Unofficial Dry Times

1. N. Rosberg  Mercedes GP W01  1:20.927 57 laps

2. S. Buemi  Toro Rosso STR5  1:21.031  84 laps

3. N. Hülkenberg  Williams FW32  1:22.243  118 laps

4. F. Alonso  Ferrari F10  1:22.895  88 laps

5. K. Kobayashi  Sauber C29  1:23.287  55 laps

6. J. Button  McLaren MP4-25  1:24.947  68 laps

7. V. Liuzzi  Force India VJM-03  1:24.968  71 laps

8. V. Petrov  Renault R30  1:25.440  27 laps

9. M. Webber  Red Bull Racing RB6  1:26.502  50 laps

10. T. Glock  Virgin Racing VR-01  1:38.734  5 laps