Jerez testing - Ferrari Fastest

WAY TO GO MICHAEL ! ! ! ! And good to see Hamilton up there again ! ! ! Good to see Panis up there too - hope he does well with the Peugot diesel Le Mans car next year.

Carol
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Schumacher sets blistering pace at Jerez

Michael Schumacher kicked off what it is likely to be his final Formula One test before he retires from the sport, joining Ferrari at Jerez.

The German driver, who canceled plans for a break before the Brazilian Grand Prix in order to work at the Spanish circuit, set a blistering pace on the second day of testing, finishing over a second ahead of teammate Luca Badoer.

Schumacher, who covered 117 laps, focused mainly on tyre testing for the Interlagos race, while Badoer tested new components for the 2007 season. The Italian caused one of two red flags when he went off track at the first corner early in the morning.

The only other red flag of the day was caused by BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica when he stopped on the Michelin corner before noon. The Pole driver was third fastest and also the busiest man on track, with 120 laps completed.

Pedro de la Rosa and Lewis Hamilton began McLaren's first proper day of work after the Briton had carried out a shakedown on Tuesday. De la Rosa concentrated on engine work while Hamilton continued acclimatising to the demands of a Formula One car, finishing less than a tenth behind the Spaniard.

Toyota's Ricardo Zonta had a productive day of work after 111 laps, posting the sixth fastest time ahead of teammate Olivier Panis.

"Today's running was really positive," said Zonta. "We got a lot of laps in and were able to cover a lot of tyre test items. It is hard to say that the track here is comparable to that in Sao Paolo, especially because the circuit there has changed so much and the weather is unpredictable.

"But you can say that the traction is similar. Today I believe the track conditions here changed greatly between the morning and afternoon sessions. If we would have put new tyres on the car in the morning, I feel that we could have had a better lap time.

"Tomorrow we will continue this testing to see how the track and the tyres behave before we make a final decision."

The Williams team continued testing with the Toyota engine powering this year's car. Both Alex Wurz and Narain Karthikeyan enjoyed a positive day despite finishing at the bottom of the times.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:16.238 117
2. Badoer Ferrari (B) 1:17.311 92
3. Kubica BMW-Sauber (M) 1:17.575 120
4. de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.788 80
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:17.818 62
6. Zonta Toyota (B) 1:17.988 111
7. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:19.072 90
8. Panis Toyota (B) 1:19.342 95
9. Karthikeyan Williams-Toyota (B) 1:20.474 87

All Timing Unofficial