The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Luca Badoer set the pace at Jerez today, the first day of the penultimate test of 2006.

In the morning, the track was still wet following heavy overnight rain. However, the track had dried out by 11 am, with conditions subsequently improving throughout the day.

The Maranello drivers began an intensive technical programme, based on engine endurance testing, experimentation with new components and working on finding the best set- up on the 248 F1.

The Brazilian was the faster of the two, with the Italian posting a best time just 0.249s slower.

Third quickest was Lewis Hamilton, who was partnered by Pedro de la Rosa. The Englishman focused on the continued Bridgestone Potenza tyre programme, initially using wet weather tyres. He also worked on the rear suspension programme, while de la Rosa continued with the front and rear wing work started in Barcelona last week.

Christian Klien and James Rossiter were on duty for Honda as the Japanese team focuses on further evaluation of the Bridgestone tyres.

Klien continued his acclimatisation to the car as he spent the afternoon session working to find a consistent balance, completing 90 laps, while Rossiter also focused on car set-up. Rubens Barrichello will join the test tomorrow taking over from the English driver.

Toyota began with a new combination of drivers as 2007 third driver Franck Montagny was joined by Toyota Young Driver Programme rising star Kohei Hirate.

Montagny will join Toyota full-time in January but took the opportunity to become more familiar with the team, bringing his wealth of experience to a test which focused on increasing the team's understanding of the 2007 Bridgestone tyres.

In contrast, Hirate was taking part in his first full Formula 1 test and spent the morning learning about the car. The 20-year-old made his debut soon after the track opened. During the course of the morning he worked on getting used to a Formula 1 car, with minor adjustments to make him comfortable in the cockpit, before getting the chance to spend longer on the track. Hirate's first timed laps put him alongside more experienced drivers on the timing sheets and he improved steadily throughout the afternoon, helping the team gather data in the process.

"It was not a bad day," said Montagny. "I was in this car last at Silverstone in September so it has been a long time. This morning it was wet and therefore a little bit difficult to run through our programme but we did find some interesting things. We worked on the set-up of the car and in the afternoon we were the first ones to put on the dry, grooved tyres. It was quite a good experience to test these new tyres and get a feeling for them, even though on this circuit it was a little challenging because of the track conditions this morning. We followed our programme and we did a good job - the car was quite quick today."

"Once the circuit had dried out, which actually took quite a long time today, we were able to work on the 2007 tyres," said test team manager, Dieter Gass. "We had quite a productive day with no major issues on either car. The team got a lot of things done and we were quite satisfied with the day's work. Kohei had a very good first day I would say, he made no mistakes and he set quite a good lap time which we are quite pleased with. Frank was back in the car for the first time since September and as expected he did a solid job and set a competitive lap time in the afternoon."