McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa continues to set the pace at Jerez, as seven teams joined the Woking team and WilliamsF1 for the second day of testing at the Spanish track, the final test before the summer ban.

The Spaniard was once again joined by Gary Paffett as the team continued to focus on new aerodynamic and mechanical components. In addition, the team began the initial stages of evaluation of the Michelin compounds for the German Grand Prix, with both drivers operating different programmes.

Kimi Raikkonen will join Pedro tomorrow.

Renault was represented by Heikki Kovalainen and Jose Maria Lopez and both drivers completed busy programmes.

Heikki focused on tyre testing, both for longer-term development and also work for the upcoming Hockenheim race. Jose Maria ran for much of the day in low downforce configuration in preparation for the race in Monza, and also conducted general R&D work.

Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk commented: "We had a normal, productive day of testing to open our week in Jerez. Heikki ran through a pretty intensive tyre programme and found some good solutions to take forward, both for Hockenheim and for general development. Jose didn't have an easy task today, running in low downforce configuration to put miles on the car. With a less than optimum set-up for this circuit, he kept the car on track and completed a useful R&D programme. There were no major issues on either car, and we completed over 200 laps in total - an encouraging mileage for the opening day of a test."

Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson were in action for Honda. Jenson began his day with some set-up runs to get a good balance on the car. He then worked through a comprehensive aero programme, followed by a suspension evaluation and a second short aero programme.

Anthony worked on engine and chassis test items in the morning session, before spending the afternoon session running through a tyre evaluation looking at the tyres for the German Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello will join the test tomorrow to take over from Davidson.

For BMW, Nick Heidfeld started the morning doing set-up and aero work. He then tried some new parts on the car and his engineer said the results were "very useful". In the afternoon the German did tyre casing work for Hockenheim.

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica spent the morning doing aero testing for Hockenheim and also some set-up work, before switching to "tyre related testing" in the afternoon.

Kubica was one of several drivers to bring out the red flag today, though, like Kimi Raikkonen and Giorgio Mondini, his problem was mechanical, whereas Neel Jani's red flag was the result of an 'off'.

Third driver Ricardo Zonta and test driver Olivier Panis were on hand for Toyota, as the Japanese team focussed on tyre testing.

"We put in many laps today on a busy track and in these hot conditions," said Zonta. "The car performed well and I did not have any problems. I worked on long runs the whole day to compare tyre compounds for the next race. We also did some set-up work to find a good balance for the car. Tomorrow we are planning on continuing long runs to take advantage of these condition for the Hungary race as well."

"This test is similar to the one before Magny-Cours in that it is quite hot and we also had some wind to deal with," added Panis. "Just as Ricardo, I also did some long runs and found some positive results. We will try to improve tomorrow and better our lap times, but overall I am happy with today's work and results."

"This week we have to push especially hard having to gain information for three races," admitted test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "The hot temperatures we are experiencing here are a big advantage in regards to Hockenheim and Hungary, which are two races known for being amongst the hottest races on the calendar. Besides testing the performance of the tyres and learning about the degradation in this heat, we are also working on smaller race items to prepare and improve on our reliability."

Once again, Alex Wurz was WilliamsF1's sole representative, the Austrian completing 95 laps on his way to posting the ninth fastest time of the day.

"We started with some comparison tests on the set-up of the car and then moved on to test some new suspension components," revealed test team manager, Mike Condliffe. "In the afternoon, we carried out further set-up changes before completing brake work and longer runs for compound checks."