On his first day at work with Honda, and his first time back in an F1 car since October, Rubens Barrichello made an impressive return at Jerez today.

The Brazilian, posted 1:16.732, to equal, to one-thousandth-of-a-second, the time posted by McLaren test driver, Pedro de la Rosa, on the third day of pre-season testing at the Spanish track at Jerez.

The Brazilian began the day running in the 2005 car with a (restricted) V10 engine. At the start of the session, the circuit was cold, so he chose to complete a series of installation runs to acclimatise to the car and establish his driving position. Once the circuit had warmed up however, he was able to go back out and complete his first full runs to evaluate the car.

In the afternoon, the former Ferrari star completed a further three runs in the 2005 car, continuing his set-up work. He totalled 45 laps, concluding the team's V10 programme. He then moved to the 2006 'concept' chassis for his first run in a V8-engined car. Unfortunately, frequent red lights limited his running to 8 laps but it was enough to give him the chance to learn the car before his first full day with the V8 car tomorrow (Friday).

Meanwhile, Anthony Davidson continued in the second 'concept' car. His early morning runs were also confined to system checks due to the cold weather. Once the track had warmed up sufficiently he completed a couple of set-up runs before turning to a tyre evaluation programme.

McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa, was once again partnered by Gary Paffett, as Michelin tyre testing dominated the days running as the team prepares for the change in tyre regulations.

Pedro was fastest driver of the day in the MP4-20 V10, while team-mate Gary was in 13th, having posted a best time of 1:20.136.

30 minutes from the end of the session, Pedro suffered an engine failure, which led to the session being red-flagged for a short period of time. The engine had covered close to 1,500km.

With Michael Schumacher and Luca Badoer at Madonna di Campiglio, Ferrari relied on Marc Gene, who took to the track to continue with the Italian team's development programme.

The Spanish test driver had two cars at his disposal and took turns at the wheel of both of them: an F2004 with a V8 engine and an F2005 fitted with a regulated power V10. In the former, he covered 49 laps, the quickest in 1:18.'548 and in the other car, he did 47 laps, with a best time of 1:20.'538.

Fourth quickest was 2005 world Champion, Fernando Alonso, getting his first drive in Renault's 2006 challenger.

The Spaniard had a slow start to the day, after a muscular pain saw him sit out the morning while he received treatment. During this time, Giancarlo Fisichella drove the car in order to conduct systems checks and log data.

Fernando was able to begin working again at lunchtime, suffering no after effects, and began his programme in the new car with a series of short familiarisation runs to get a feel for the machine. After that, he began endurance running in the afternoon as the team once again aimed to maximise mileage with the new package. The Spaniard completed several long runs, in spite of his running being fragmented owing to several red flags.

Fisichella ran with the R25 throughout the day, using the reliable platform of the old car to conduct tyre development with Michelin, working on both short and long runs.