Raikkonen fastest as McLaren woes continue

Ferrari's Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen sits in his car on the fourth day of the Formula One pre-season tests at Jerez racetrack in Jerez. (AFP/JORGE GUERRERO)

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain: Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fastest on the final day of the first pre-season test series in Jerez on Wednesday (Feb 4) but McLaren's hopes for a problem free day were dashed.

The Finn set the fastest time of the week with a lap of 1min 20.841 followed by Sauber's Marcus Ericsson and world champion Lewis Hamilton with all three completing over 100 laps on the day.

There was no such luck for Jenson Button as a difficult week for the new McLaren-Honda partnership continued. Button failed to get beyond the pit lane in two attempts early on before a fuel pump issue cut short his afternoon having completed just 35 laps. That took the Woking-based team's tally to just 79 laps for the week.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier warned on Tuesday that any more setbacks in testing would delay their chances of being competitive once the season gets underway in Australia in six weeks' time.

"Unfortunately, we've had a few issues this week - all of which have been pretty small - but cumulatively they meant we were stuck in the garage for quite some time," said McLaren's engineering director Matt Morris. "Still, our prime objective coming away from this test was to ascertain that the main car architecture worked, and we've done that."

Red Bull have also had problems in the southern Spanish city, but they recovered from a power unit problem in the morning as Daniil Kyvat managed 62 laps, albeit only ahead of Button on time.

Double world champions Mercedes enjoyed another marathon day on the mileage front as Hamilton's 117 laps took them past the 500 mark for the week. "It's been pretty amazing this week to see how reliable the car has been and how much mileage we've covered," said Hamilton.

"We all loved the experience of last year and everyone wants to do it again. This is where you prove the car, looking for as many laps as you can, not searching for fast times. It's been really positive from that perspective and every day here the car has got better as we learn more about it."

It is also been a promising few days for the perennial minnows Sauber and Toro Rosso. Ericsson and rookie Brazilian teammate Felipe Nasr were in the top two across all four days.

Meanwhile, the youngest ever driver in Formula One, Max Verstappen, got some more experience under his belt in the Toro Rosso as he was fourth fastest in a 97-lap effort.

There was also plenty of news off the track as Force India announced that their new VJM08 car is unlikely to be ready in time for the next test in Barcelona, so they will run their 2014 car in the Catalan capital later this month.

Meanwhile, there were reports that the financially stricken Marussia team could come out of administration in the coming weeks with the hope of still making it to the first Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne on Mar 15.