McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was the pace-setter on the final day at Jerez, ending the day 0.5s ahead of David Coulthard, and posting the best time of the year at the Spanish track.

Following the gusty winds that played havoc with teams' programmes on Tuesday and Wednesday, conditions were much better today.

The Finn was partnered by Lewis Hamilton as the Woking team continued its aerodynamic programme. In addition, Kovalainen spent some time in the morning conducting simulated qualifying runs, to further understand the handling of the MP4-23 in all race weekend situations. The Woking team was the centre of attention when it unveiled some radical new wheel rim covers.

"The primary focus of the test this week has been pushing forward with the aerodynamic programme," said Martin Whitmarsh. "There was some disruption to this on Wednesday due to the windy conditions. However the test team have been able to complete the proving process on a range of aerodynamic components.

"The team has seven track days remaining before the cars depart for Melbourne on 6th March," he continued, "incorporating full test sessions and some straight-line work. Naturally there will be a focus externally on the multi-team test at Barcelona in the final week of February. It will be the first time in a few weeks that all the leading teams will be on the same track. Whilst this will give us the possibility of a more comprehensive comparison, we will nevertheless focus on our own test programme rather than chase times. The real litmus test of performance will take place in Australia."

With Mark Webber topping the timesheets on Wednesday, today David Coulthard was second-fastest overall, separated from the top of the time sheet by 0.5s. He and Webber both completed high mileage on a day when track conditions, at least in the morning, improved thanks to the lull in the strong winds that had plagued the previous two days.

"Overall, this has been a very good test for us, as we got through all our programme and completed more laps than planned," said Chief Test Engineer, Ian Morgan. "Over the three days, we did a lot of aero and mechanical work with no major problems and we can look forward to the remaining pre-season tests in Barcelona with confidence."

Williams and, in particular, Kazuki Nakajima continues to show real progress, with the Japanese driver finishing third quickest, almost 2s ahead of the Grove outfit's test driver, Nico Hulkenberg.

"We spent most of today on set-up work and it was Nico's first proper run in the FW30," said Sam Michael. "Overall we have had a productive test and look forward to the next step in Barcelona next week."

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld continued for BMW as the German team completed numerous long runs in an effort to evaluate different aerodynamical set-ups. As part of the programme both drivers also carried out a number of practice starts and pit stops.

According to Toro Rosso, today was not the Faenza-based outfit's best ever day of testing. The morning got off to a good start, with both drivers happy with the performance of STR2B. But then, Bourdais was sidelined with a water leak which took a while to fix in the garage and Vettel had a clutch problem.

Once his car was fixed, Bourdais managed to fit in some long runs, while also working on the aero package and by the end of the day, he still managed to complete 101 laps. However, his German teammate was less fortunate as he had a further problem, this time an electrical one, which cost him even more track time. He ended the day sixth fastest with just 53 laps completed.