Jaime Alguersuari has finished atop the final Friday classification at Jerez after another heavy rainstorm hit the Spanish circuit in the afternoon. With dry times having been posted earlier on, Pedro de la Rosa was second for Sauber as Adrian Sutil made the top three on his first day of testing in 2010.

Ferrari have registered 289 laps so far at the Jerez test
With air temperatures of 9°C (49°F), Friday was the coldest of the three days so far in Andalucía as light rain began to fall half an hour before the session began. The spots had prevailed by 9am, though, as Sutil was first on-track after taking over at the wheel of the Force India VJM03 from team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Newcomer Petrov was back behind the wheel of Renault's R30 due to a reshuffled line-up
Installation runs took place as usual, meaning few cars were affected by the early red flag period just eight minutes in as Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber stopped, pulling onto the grass alongside the straight. The Spaniard was able to rejoin just half an hour later, however, as the majority of the field made the most of the dry track in the shape of multiple-lap runs.

The 2008 Champion finished a soaking day ninth out of ten cars
Another spitting of rain came at ten to ten, intensifying gradually within the following half hour. Lewis Hamilton was in the cockpit of the McLaren MP4-25 for the first time since Valencia; having rejoined the track after a 45-minute garage stop, conditions continued to worsen, with Rubens Barrichello being the first to be caught out by spinning onto the inside of Turn 14 and causing the second stoppage of the day.

Michael Schumacher will take over from Rosberg for Saturday
With indisputable rain now falling, cars began to kick up spray around 1 o'clock as the morning's dry lap times appeared to be looking like the quickest of the day. Following his lunch break, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg emerged from the pits on full wet weather tyres at half past two although the conditions continued to ensure a distinct lack of on-track action.

Virgin has completed just 24 laps over its first three days of testing
The Virgin Racing team endured another trying day following rain on Wednesday and a breakage for Timo Glock's front wing mounting yesterday. With Lucas di Grassi eager to make his first official testing debut, the Brazilian was forced to wait until twenty to four as the team redesigned the front wing's flawed area following a components delivery to the venue. Lucas completed a single installation lap before returning to the pit lane, followed by seven more outings before the end of the day.

Vettel enjoyed a dry first hour for his maiden drive of the year
The final two hours were the quietest of the day as heavy rain lashed the circuit from quarter past four onwards. Sutil's recovered Force India remained in the pits after causing a third red flag at quarter to three, before the Silverstone team unfortunately missed its chance to rack up a final installation lap following work on to repair an electrical problem.

Rubens Barrichello summed up a comparatively hushed day when reporting over the Williams radio that the track was 'like a river and undriveable' shortly before half past four. With the first three of four days having been somewhat comprised due to the weather, forecasts predict yet more heavy showers over the course of the weekend and next week.

Saturday's action at Jerez will begin at 9am local time (GMT +1)

 

That's a HUGE surprise! Everybody else must've been taking it easy...

 

Here is the Auto Sport article.