Button finishes on top

World Champion Jenson Button set the fastest time across eight days of running on Saturday as the latest F1 test ended at Jerez.

World Champion sets fastest time across eight days of running

World Champion Jenson Button set the fastest time across eight days of running on Saturday as the latest Formula One group test reached its conclusion at Jerez. The McLaren driver's benchmark came seven days after new team-mate Lewis Hamilton ended the previous four-day session at the Spanish track by setting last week's best. Making a series of short runs in the morning, the 30-year-old posted a lap time of one minute and 18.871 seconds - the quickest of the eight days of testing at Jerez. Button's effort proved to be just over four tenths of a second quicker than the previous best set by Red Bull Racing's Mark Webber on Friday, and 0.7secs beyond what Hamilton managed last week. He ended the day 0.243 seconds clear of Robert Kubica as the Renault driver ended with the second quickest lap across the two weeks. Kamui Kobayashi and Vitantonio Liuzzi underlined the potential of the Sauber and Force India as they finished third and fourth on the day, respectively 0.317secs and 0.779secs slower than the pacesetter. Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg was fifth, just over a second down, with team principal Ross Brawn happy with progress, despite poor weather which has hampered running. "The past two weeks in Jerez have seen an intensive period of testing for the team," said Brawn. "It is very pleasing to have ended the test programme with two days of very valuable dry running for Nico and Michael (Schumacher). "Although the conditions haven't been ideal over the two tests, we have been able to make good progress on the set-up of the car and completed a number of our systems evaluations. "We still have a great deal of work ahead of us in Barcelona next week, but overall we're looking in good shape for the start of the season."

Alonso sixth

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, cheered on by a sizeable local crowd, was sixth for Ferrari, followed by Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari. Webber was eighth on Saturday ahead of Williams rookie Nico Hulkenberg. Among the two new teams appearing this week, Virgin Racing again had the edge on Lotus Racing in terms of lap time. Virgin's Timo Glock ended the day a second quicker than Jarno Trulli - the latter making his maiden outing for Lotus. However, Lotus are out front in terms of reliability as Trulli managed a test high for all the drivers of 141 laps. In contrast, Glock was restricted to just 28 laps as a hydraulic issue that has dogged the team all week again compromised their running. The teams conclude pre-season testing with a four-day run in Barcelona from Thursday through to Sunday of next week. The season starts in Bahrain on March 14. Times: 1. Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 1:18.871 108 laps
2. Robert Kubica Renault 1:19.114 117
3. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:19.188 117
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India 1:19.650 80
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:20.061 130
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:20.436 137
7. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:21.053 139
8. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:21.194 87
9. Nico Hulkenberg Williams 1:21.919 137
10. Timo Glock Virgin Racing 1:22.433 28
11. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1:23.470 141 All times unofficial