Jerez Day 1 – Barrichello Continues His Progress

Rubens Barrichello continues to perform superb winter tests for his Brawn GP team. He is the leader on the first day of testing in Jerez, the final rehearsal before the official season kicks off in Australia.

The Brazilian completed 102 laps, often being the fastest. With a time of 1:19.236, he relegated Fernando Alonso to second place, 0.683 seconds behind.

A difficult day for the Spaniard, victim of an accident after only 8 laps. He only managed four laps in the morning and wasn’t able to return to the track until the last hour of testing. He eventually completed 33 laps with his best time achieved in his final laps.

Alonso admitted that the accident was caused by a driving error.

Read Alonso’s statements by clicking here

Williams test driver, Nico Hülkenberg, was the third and final man on track and is 0.118 seconds slower than Alonso.

McLaren is also present this week in the south of Spain, but has decided to run from Monday to Thursday instead of Sunday to Wednesday, as initially planned. Lewis Hamilton will be on track for the first two days before handing over to his teammate Heikki Kovalainen.

**Result of Private Tests Spain – Jerez – Sunday, March 15, 2009:**

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