F1 Jerez Test 2015 (day 4): Raikkonen with weekly best time

E There are only 2 cars in the field that are powered by a Ferrari engine. During the first week of testing in Jerez, the works team from Maranello and the Swiss Sauber racing team fought for the top two places on all 4 test days. At the big weekly final on Wednesday, the red car was once again ahead of the game.

After two Vettel best times at the beginning of the test drives, Kimi Raikkonen countered the team mate's target with an absolute weekly best time - but on soft tires. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber was clearly behind, 1.1 seconds behind (also on soft), but was able to secure second place in the classification for his team, as in his first appearance on Sunday.

Mercedes conceals potential

Ferrari fans shouldn't be happy too soon. The Mercedes competition had noticeably slowed down the whole week. Lewis Hamilton spent the whole day long runs and lots of fuel on board. Nevertheless, it was still enough to 3rd place.

More important in the Silver Arrows camp was the kilometer crown. Despite a spin by Hamilton in the chicane around noon, the W06 achieved the best distance value in the fourth session with 117 laps. Sauber (112) and Ferrari (106) did well in this rating as well.

McLaren only made slight progress

The situation at McLaren is very different. The fourth session of the week also had to be ended prematurely. With a daily output of 35 laps, the MP4-30 at least set a new record. Then the fuel pump went on strike and prevented Jenson Button from continuing his journey. The Briton had previously completed tests on the subject of cooling. In addition, the car was regularly painted with FloViz paint to collect data on aerodynamics.

In terms of speed, clear progress could be seen. In the end, Button was 'only' 6.8 seconds behind the day's best time. But nobody in the McLaren warehouse will be happy. Too many small defects prevented a structured test program. The weekly workload of the new Honda racer of only 79 laps must be regarded as a false start.

Also Lotus and Red Bull with technical bad luck

Another car that is lagging behind the test plan is the Red Bull. Daniil Kvyat took care of the last one early onFirst break session. A hybrid problem stopped the RB11 and called the tow truck out on the track. After that, the car in the zebra design disappeared in the garage for a long time. It wasn't until the afternoon that the Russian did 53 laps - that's 166 in total for the week.

This means Red Bull has even fewer laps than Lotus. Although the new E23 arrived in Jerez a day late, the Enstone team managed 190 laps. Lotus had to end the last day of testing in Jerez earlier. A problem with the Mercedes engine meant that Romain Grosjean made a shortened debut in the E23. After his first test drive over 53 laps, the Frenchman could be satisfied. The car feels much better than last year's model, so the first conclusion.

We have collected the best pictures from the last day of testing in our large gallery.