Just three-thousandths of a second separated the quickest two runners on the third day of testing at Jerez today.

Conditions were ideal throughout the session, with bright sunshine and temperatures reaching 20 degrees.

For Renault, the primary aim of today's running was to continue putting mileage on the new R26. That is the main objective of this winter's test programme: to work on reliability, push to the limit and identify potential problems in order to avoid them at the race weekend. The day's programme was completed in spite of numerous red flags caused by other cars.

Fernando Alonso completed a race in the morning, then concentrated on tyre testing during the afternoon, completing medium distance runs as he continued working with Michelin.

Meanwhile, Heikki Kovalainen continued his acclimatisation to the R26, while aiming to complete a race distance. Some small hydraulic problems delayed the programme, but the Finn was able to get back on track to conduct brake testing in the second half of the day.

"It was another busy day," said the Finn. "We wanted to do as many laps as possible today, and we did just that. I am pleased with my second day of running, because we only had small problems and that's normal when you are working with a new car. From a personal point of view, I feel comfortable in the car and I am pleased with performance today. I hope we can carry on in the same way tomorrow."

"We wanted to do a race distance with each car," said Christian Silk, "we got good results with both cars and didn't have any major problems, which is an encouraging sign ahead of the opening race. It was a productive day, even though the red flags made life difficult, but we are pretty pleased all in all. We hope to continue in the same manner tomorrow, working on race simulations during the morning before tyre testing in the second half of the day."

Second quickest was Jenson Button, who was joined by Anthony Davidson, who took over from Rubens Barrichello.

Both drivers began the test programme running through tyre evaluations followed by a race simulation with live pit stops in the afternoon session.

Button suffered an engine failure early in the afternoon session but was able to return to the track to complete his programme. Meanwhile, Davidson completed an impressive 128 laps in total.

"It has been another very good test for us this week," said Mark Ellis, Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance. "We have again had to contend with poor weather and track conditions however the cars have proven to be fast and consistent in all conditions. Despite a couple of small issues, we are happy with the reliability of the new car. We look forward to continuing our development programme in Jerez next week."

"We have gained a little more top power and an improved torque curve after this test," added Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development. "Our target is 100% reliability so we still have work to do in the coming weeks, but overall we have made good progress."

Ferrari had three drivers on duty, Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi and Felipe Massa was third quickest overall

Schumacher had the new 248 F1 at his disposal, while Massa had an F2004 fitted with the new V8 engine. Meanwhile, MotoGP star, Rossi continued with the V10 powered F2004.