Jerez Day 3: McLaren’s Magnussen Fastest As Lap Times Start To Get Respectable – Very Well…
McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen got his Formula 1 career to the best start possible when he topped the timing sheets at the end of the third day of testing at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain on Thursday, where once again, the Mercedes powered teams prospered while the Renault brigade suffered.
Magnussen’s best time of 1:23.276 was almost a second faster than the top time set 24 hours earlier, and almost five seconds up on the times set on the first day, suggesting that the new V6 turbo cars may eventually match their predecessors. The young Dane set his fastest lap time on Pirelli Mediums, late in the day.
With the team having missed Tuesday running, Button was given the morning stint before handing over to Magnussen. The 2009 World Champion’s best time was good enough for fourth fastest of the day, and together they amassed 92 laps.
Thus for the second day in succession the McLaren MP4-29 has been fastest of all, with Button having ended the previous day tops, no doubt a much needed boost for the team undergoing some major changes behind the scenes.
It was another day where Mercedes continued to boast the upper hand as the top four cars on the timing screens were powered by the Stuttgart manufacturer.
It was a productive day for Felipe Massa who made his Williams debut on the day, finishing second fastest with 47 laps to his credit in the FW36. His lap was set in the final minutes of the day’s proceedings.
Read more: Jerez Day 3: McLaren’s Magnussen Fastest…
MyTake
Way to go McLaren and rookie Kevin Magnussen. And way to go Felipe Massa. I think everyone would agree, it was nice to see the Brazilian put in some good laps and finish up the leader board at the end of the days testing. It must be a real confidence builder for both Massa and his new team Williams F1 to finish off a test session in this manner. McLaren must also feel very good after bouncing back from day one’s delay. However the real interest of the day (aside from Red Bull, I will get to that in a minute) was Fernando Alonso took over the testing duties from Kimi Raikkonen today. Alonso’s program did not include fast laps only aero mapping and development. That being said the Spaniard notched up a solid 58 laps. One would assume Ferrari is very happy with the way testing has proceeded (at least as far as reliability is concerned).
Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton back in the car are looking very solid as far reliability goes. It is starting to look as though the initial feeling that the Mercedes power plant would be the one to have is starting to come true. We are still in the most early stages of testing, so nothing is a fore gone conclusion yet.
The same can not be said about Red bull or for that matter any of the Renault powered teams. Today’s lap total for the World Champions was five. So severe is the problem in the Red Bull camp team principal Christian Horner and aero guru Adrian Newey have left for the teams factory to begin the process of ‘a fix.’ It would appear that there is little hope for any meaningful running tomorrow but I am sure the team will do all it can in light of the problems at hand. For Red Bull, I don’t think this will be an issue come the next test in Bahrain. I feel confident they will find the fix needed to solve whatever issues are ailing the RB10, but the sister team Toro Rosso and Caterham might not be so lucky. We shall see. Results below:
-jp-
| P | Drivers | Teams | Times | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | K.Magnussen | McLaren | 1.23.276 | 52 | |
| 2 | F.Massa | Williams | 1.23.700 | +0.424 | 47 |
| 3 | L.Hamilton | Mercedes | 1.23.952 | +0.676 | 62 |
| 4 | J.Button | McLaren | 1.25.030 | +1.754 | 40 |
| 5 | F.Alonso | Ferrari | 1.25.495 | +2.219 | 58 |
| 6 | N.Hulkenberg | Force India | 1.29.803 | +2.820 | 17 |
| 7 | J-E.Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1.29.915 | +6.639 | 30 |
| 8 | A.Sutil | Sauber | 1.30.161 | +6.885 | 34 |
| 9 | R.Frijns | Caterham | -.–.— | +-.— | 10 |
| 10 | D.Ricciardo | Red Bull | -.–.— | +-.— | 5 |
| 11 | M.Chilton | Marussia | -.–.— | +-.— | 3 |
AmerF1can 
JP,
It’s so early, I mean that’s what testing is all about.
Boy, Mercedes sure is cookin’. (engine).
I wonder if Audi is paying attention. Le Mans is cool but F1 is where the prestige is at among the racing cognoscenti.
ed