Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets on the second day of testing at Jerez, the fastest of 17 drivers on duty at the Spanish track.

Along with teammate Pedro de la Rosa, Hamilton continued evaluating Bridgestone Potenza tyres and additional development programmes as the Woking team pushes forward with preparations for 2007.
Hamilton spent time working on mechanical set-ups and tyre/wheel combinations over both short and long runs. His day ended 90 minutes early following an off-track excursion, however the test team have repaired his car to enable him to continue running tomorrow. de la Rosa also completed some set-up work, in addition to focusing on aerodynamic development.

For Renault, Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen concentrated primarily on tyre testing and chassis set-up changes, in order to further advance their understanding of the Bridgestone tyres, and the impact of the set-ups that were tried on the car.

The Italian's second day of testing saw him working initially on brake development, before beginning the tyre work once conditions had improved. His objective was to do as many miles as possible, in order to collect the maximum amount of data. He finished the day second-fastest, having completed 63 laps.

Kovalainen worked through a set-up programme in order to continue his evaluation of the Japanese tyres. The Finn completed a total of 78 laps after a productive day's work, setting a best lap of 1:20.204 to finish the day tenth fastest.

"I had a better second day," said Fisichella, "and I am beginning to find my feet with these new tyres. I am feeling more confident with the car, and I made good progress with the car in spite of some delay this morning owing to poor track conditions. The tyres are harder than what we have been used to, which means the grip is not so good. But I was expecting that, so it is not a surprise, and things are going well during this first session back in the car."

"We had another very busy day," added Christian Silk, "and we tried to complete a large part of our programme today as we have seen some rain forecast for tomorrow."

Taking over from James Rossiter, Rubens Barrichello spent his early runs finding a good balance on the car before beginning the planned test items. He ran through a suspension evaluation, alongside general car set-up work as the evaluation of the Bridgestone Potenza tyres continues.

Christian Klien spent the day concentrating on an intensive aero programme. He then rounded off the day with some electronics set-up work, covering 99 laps in total. James Rossiter will be back in the car tomorrow taking over from the Austrian.

Fourth quickest was WilliamsF1's sole runner, Nico Rosberg, who completed over 100 laps.

"Nico continued with set-up changes and brake balance adjustments, making further improvements on what we discovered yesterday," said the Grove outfit's test tea manager, Mike Condliffe. "We then tested some aero parts before completing a race distance, complete with pit stops, in the afternoon."