Brawn GP - the team which has risen phoenix-like from the ashes of Honda F1 - continues to impress as Rubens Barrichello topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Barcelona, for all but a couple of teams the final test before Melbourne, indeed, the end of the 2009 season.

Once the heavy fog which delayed the start of today's running had cleared, Barrichello ran through a full 66-lap race distance with pit stops using both tyre compounds. The car proved reliable once again with the Brazilian setting competitive lap times over the three stints. The afternoon saw the veteran complete a series of qualifying simulations during which he set the fastest time of the week - a 1:18.926.

The team will resume testing at Jerez on Sunday for the final three-day test before the start of the 2009 season.

"I'm very pleased with the mileage that we have achieved today," said Barrichello, "and the completion of another full race distance. The qualifying exercises were also very useful in enabling the team and I to get fully up to speed and ready for Melbourne.

"The car has proved fast and reliable throughout the week so we go to Jerez feeling positive and pleased with the results of our first test outing."

"We are extremely pleased with the inaugural test of the car," added Ross Brawn, in what must be a masterpiece of understatement. "The team made a very late start to our pre-season testing programme with only seven days in which to run the car before the first race in Melbourne, therefore our focus has been on reliability and achieving as much mileage as possible. Both of these aims have been successfully achieved this week.

"That the car has run so reliably 'out of the box' is a tribute to the strong team that we have at our factory in Brackley," he continued, "they have done a great job during a very difficult period. The car is performing to our expectations and the feedback from Jenson and Rubens has been positive with both drivers completing full race distances.

"We have three further days of testing in Jerez next week to complete our preparations for the first race and I look forward to seeing how the car progresses from here."

Second quickest was Nico Rosberg in the Williams, the German completing 120 laps on the way to posting a best time 0.848s off Barrichello's pace.

"After an initial delay due to the fog, we spent our last day in Barcelona completing another useful session working mainly on the optimisation of set-up around the slick tyres," said Sam Michael, "something that will be key to this year's championship.

"We have made progress over the four days and now look forward to our final test in Jerez next week where we will sign off some more parts for Melbourne. The lap times are close at the moment making it difficult to predict the order... and that's great for the sport!"

"We've put in a lot of laps this week," added Rosberg, "and have definitely made good progress. Our schedule has mainly focussed on mechanical and aero testing, of which there was lots to learn because there are so many new concepts and designs this year. It's difficult to judge where everyone is because the times are quite close, but we have one more test next week which will be an advantage."