F1 - Trulli finds speed during a rain hit day 3 at Ricard

Trulli topped the times in the rain

Jarno Trulli topped the times for Toyota on a rain-interrupted final day of testing at Paul Ricard on Friday.

After two days running in Monaco-style high-downforce trim, the teams switched to a longer 3.3-mile configuration of the Le Castellet circuit to prepare for the Canadian Grand Prix.

But persistent rain from mid-morning onwards and a torrential lunchtime downpour severely restricted their useful running.

Trulli completed 26 laps, the fastest in 1m31.360s, to outpace Renault’s Nelson Piquet by three-tenths of a second.

“It was frustrating that the rain came early in the day and meant that we could not collect any dry data,” said Trulli.

Piquet shared the Italian’s frustration despite managing the day’s highest tally of 60 laps – but felt it had been a productive test overall.

“Fortunately we did a lot of laps yesterday and got most of our work done because we knew that it was likely to be wet today,” said the rookie.

“So a good week overall and I think we are well prepared for Monaco next week.”

McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa took over the MP4-23 from Heikki Kovalainen and posted the third quickest time, with Sebastian Vettel a promising fourth in the new Toro Rosso STR3.

Vettel had been due to hand over the new car to team-mate Sebastien Bourdais in the afternoon, but the heavy rainfall confined the Frenchman to the garage.

“Sebastian did a very good job of dealing with a new car in low-downforce trim, without traction control on a wet track,” said STR’s chief engineer Laurent Mekies.

“However, the rain really intensified and the track was actually closed until late afternoon.

“By this time, we had already decided the best option was to pack up and concentrate on our Monaco preparation, so Bourdais did not get to drive today.”

Turkish GP winner Felipe Massa was fifth fastest, completing only 19 laps before Ferrari decided to cut its day short so as to save testing mileage.


Ferrari were aware of 2008's restricted testing mileage, so only completed 19 laps

Nick Heidfeld was sixth quickest for BMW Sauber despite a minor off just before the lunch break which caused some bodywork and suspension damage.

The mechanics repaired the F1.08 in time for the afternoon session but in view of the bad weather the team decided not to run the car again.

Red Bull’s test driver Sebastien Buemi finished seventh on the timesheet after just 16 laps.

“It was very frustrating, because I have not had much mileage in a Formula 1 car so far this year so I was looking forward to today,” said the Swiss driver.

“We got a couple of runs in dry conditions, but then as I was meant to be doing a long run test, the rain got much heavier and we decided the most sensible option was to stop running.”

Testing times from Paul Ricard (Friday 16 May)
1. TRULLI Toyota 1m31.360s
2. PIQUET Renault 1m31.634s
3. DE LA ROSA McLaren 1m32.143s
4. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m32.480s
5. MASSA Ferrari 1m33.246s
6. HEIDFELD BMW 1m33.371s
7. BUEMI Red Bull 1m34.064s
8. FISICHELLA Force India 1m34.071s
9. BUTTON Honda 1m36.501s
10. SUTIL Force India 1m43.877s
11. HULKENBERG Williams 1m44.741s

ITV Sport