The Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and James Rossiter topped the timesheets on the final day of testing at Jerez this week, the penultimate test of 2006.

As predicted, much of the day was held in wet conditions, with teams running extreme wet weather tyres at the start of the session. As the day progressed conditions gradually improved, and drivers began to get closer to the sort of times posted on Wednesday and Thursday.

Barrichello and Rossiter initially went out on extreme wets before switching to wet tyres. The Brazilian completed a couple of short set-up runs to look at engine control settings, whilst the Briton worked through a longer tyre evaluation run. During the afternoon, both drivers continued with set-up work and longer tyre runs on the Bridgestone dry tyres.

"We have had another very productive week," said Mark Ellis, "working to acclimatise to the new Bridgestone tyres. Since last week's test in Barcelona, we have been analysing all the data gathered, which has provided us with some new and interesting directions for the car set-up. These have proven to be successful and reflected in our competitiveness this week. This week's changeable weather conditions have also allowed us to work with the new wet weather tyres which have also performed consistently."

Third quickest, behind the two Hondas, was yesterday's pace-setter, Lewis Hamilton, who was once again partnered by Pedro de la Rosa. Between them, the Woking drivers completed 167 laps, though the Englishman's day was marred by a technical failure which saw him stop on track late in the afternoon.

"Despite a mixed week weather wise, the test was a positive session and we were able to complete the planned programme," said McLaren chief executive, Martin Whitmarsh. "The main focus for the test team continued to be developing our understanding of the Bridgestone Potenza tyres. The wet weather conditions have also allowed us to run on wet weather tyres, which has proved useful in gaining valuable intelligence of this track condition.

"Alongside the main Bridgestone programme Lewis and Pedro have been working on individual programmes. Lewis's week has seen him focus on continued set-up evaluation and rear suspension. Pedro meanwhile has been spearheading the aerodynamic development programme, including work on the front and rear wing packages."

Despite the conditions at the start of the session, Toyota Young Driver Programme member Kamui Kobayashi showed no fear and followed Ralf Schumacher out of the garage, with the Toyota pair the first drivers to brave a wet track for an installation lap.

Plans to continue evaluation of the 2007 Bridgestone tyres were put on hold until the track dried but in the afternoon sunshine, both Schumacher and Kobayashi returned to the planned programme and put the new rubber through its paces.

"We were expecting rain this morning and we were not disappointed!" said Gerd Pfeiffer. "It was not too bad from a testing point of view because it gave us the chance to gain more knowledge of our wet tyres and that is always useful because it is hard to simulate real wet conditions.

"Both Ralf and Kamui did well not to make any mistakes on a difficult track and when the circuit dried we were able to return to our programme of testing the new dry tyres."

Both Renault drivers also got a first taste of the new tyres in tricky damp conditions, and were still able to make good progress with their technical programmes once the circuit had dried.