The possibility of moving from the Spanish Jerez circuit to another speedway for two of the four test days this week was suggested.  Rain forecast indicated that weather conditions would be worse this week, but an adequate replacement for Jerez could not be found on such a short notice.

When Sauber Beat Zendher, team principal, was asked about the possibility of moving to Valencia or else, to the Portimao circuit he answered: “The circuits are taken up and weather conditions are quite uncertain.”

The pilots are waiting for the option of dry driving to be able to understand the performance of the cars and to tune them up before the March 14^th Bahrain season’s opening.  Hence, time is ticking away and there are only eight test days left, four in Jerez this week and four in Barcelona, next week.

Weather conditions are particularly bad for the new teams. Virgin and Lotus have just unveiled their single-seaters this year with two cars that start up in zero during the winter.  With scarce experience, they need dry performance much more that others with more data and experience, to be able to overcome the initial problems with their new engines.  Last week, Virgin lost the best part of the day, due to the front wing failure and lack of spare parts.

Under a sunshine that the ‘scuderias’ in the racetrack were thankful for, the second session of unveiling began in the Jerez circuit.  With the absence of Virgin Racing in the tracks, because there were no spare parts to repair the single-seater, most of the pilots ran for long periods of time.

Today restarted the work that could not be done yesterday due to bad weather.  The teams have collected more data and have been playing the cat and the mouse.  Buemi’s Toro Rosso stopped the chronometer at 1:20.026, getting the best time of the day.

Many tests and many data, would be the balance of the day, where the expected Valencia time duel did not happen.  The media were left with the feeling that the duo reserved for later on.  However, tomorrow if the climate allows it, there will be new unveiling with other pilots.

Time classification

1. Sebastian Buemi (Toro Rosso) 1:20.026 (121 laps)
2. Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:20.618 (83)
3. Nico Hulkenberg (Williams) 1:21.565 (67)
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) 1:20.754 (80)
5. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) 1:21.083 (122)
6. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) 1:21.377 (100)
7. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:21.424 (129)
8. Robert Kubica (Renault) 1:22.003 (101)
9. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:22.043 (29)
10. Timo Glock (Virgin) 1:29.964 (11)