Red Bull on the pace again at Valencia

Red Bull Racing was again leading the way a Valencia, David Coulthard setting the best time of the day on January 27th, as teammate Christian Klien a couple of days before. Coulthard clocked 1:09.170 to top the time sheet on Thursday, while fellow Red Bull driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was third fastest.

Antonio Pizzonia was second fastest for Williams, closing the team's week working on traction control and set up at the cold Spanish track. BMW's ETCC champion Andy Priaulx had his first F1 test with Williams and rounded off the times in tenth.

"I'd like to have achieved a better lap time, but, just as I went out on fresh tyres, testing was interrupted due to an incident by someone else on the track," said Priaulx.

Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest for Renault, continuing set up work with the new R25, while teammate Giancarlo Fisichella completed a race distance on tyre work in the R24 for seventh. The Italian will get his first taste of the R25 tomorrow.

Jarno Trulli was fifth on the time sheet for Toyota and team tester Olivier Panis was eighth. Takuma Sato led the way for BAR, sixth, while teammate Jenson Button was ninth. Sato was delayed by an engine failure but racked up 84 laps overall, while Button worked on tyre and chassis development.

At Barcelona, McLaren continued its private test of the new MP4-20, today with Juan Pablo Montoya behind the wheel. "Since seeing the MP4-20 for the first time on Monday I have been looking forward to getting my hands on it, so it was great to get behind the wheel today although our running has been affected by the cold weather," said the Colombian.

"I completed the installation lap shortly after 9am, and the conditions were very slippery, as the track temperature was between -2 and 0 degrees. After waiting for a couple of hours to allow the circuit to get warmer, we have now just completed a longer timed run. I have been able to start to learn about the handling and feel of the car, which so far is positive, and I can't wait to put more miles on it later today and during tomorrows session."