Nick Heidfeld sent a clear signal to his prospective Renault employers by setting the fastest time of the day at Jerez behind the wheel of the R31.
Heidfled came within 0.009 seconds of Michael Schumacher's best time of the week, as he sets his sights on replacing the injured Robert Kubica this season. Before the test Heidfeld insisted he was not aiming for fast times but in the afternoon he pulled together a quick lap, to not only hint at his ability, but also the competitiveness of the Renault.
He is expected to hand the car over to Bruno Senna for Sunday before hearing his fate before the start of the third test in Barcelona. However, the team's decision to allow him to grab the headlines on what were most likely softer tyres and a light fuel load is a clear indication that it is keen to sign him up.
Heidfeld's time toppled home hero Fernando Alonso from the No. 1 spot, but the Spaniard still had plenty to smile about after completing 131 laps over the course of the day. He was just 0.132 seconds shy of Heidfeld and over half a second clear of Schumacher in third, who completed another promising day in the Mercedes.
The introduction of the new McLaren MP4-26 appeared to veer slightly off course as Lewis Hamilton completed just 33 laps at the wheel, the least of any car at the test. McLaren said it is waiting on spare parts and "on-the-spot repairs were effected, and the relevant new components will be delivered overnight ahead of tomorrow's running". Despite the problems, Hamilton did manage to sneak in the fourth fastest time as the team aims to gently ramp up the performance of the car over the remaining nine test days.
Word champion Sebastian Vettel had a low-key day in the Red Bull as the team continued with the car's development. He set the sixth fastest time on Saturday and racked up 98 laps, but the general feeling is that the RB7 will still be one of the cars to beat come the start of the season.
Kamui Kobayashi was fifth fastest, but Sauber's progress remains something of an enigma as the car also stopped twice on track, causing two red flags. A third red flag was caused by Paul di Resta when a brake problem saw him carry straight on in to the turn nine gravel trap - he walked away unharmed. Force India said the brake issue had been troubling the car's progress all day and he finished tenth on the timing sheets.
But just as the session got back underway another red flag was caused by Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso, which stopped on track. A restart was called in the dying minutes and a couple of cars snuck out for one final lap before the chequered flag fell at 17:00 local time.
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