The ING Renault F1 Team completed day three of its Jerez test on Thursday in what were, once again, sweltering conditions. Heikki Kovalainen was on hand once again after a late change to the team’s programme last night required the Finn to stay to drive this morning, before a planned driver swap to allow Nelsinho Piquet to drive this afternoon.

However, after two days free of mechanical incident, Heikki Kovalainen had to endure both gearbox and engine changes during the day and while he completed his planned programme of aerodynamic evaluations, there was no time left for Piquet to take the wheel.

“First and foremost, we must give great credit to the mechanics who have continued to work exceptionally hard on demanding conditions. This was not an easy day, but we still managed to collect good data that will allow us, after our analysis back at the factory, to make further progress with our set-up ahead of the next race,” Chief Test Engineer Christian Silk commented.