The newly-formed Brawn GP Team, formerly Honda F1 Racing, stunned the field both in Barcelona and in Jerez last week after Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button swapped posting the best times during the final pre-season tests in Spain before the Formula One season opener in Melbourne on March 29.

Barrichello was the better of the two drivers in Spain as he topped the time sheets more beating the cars of Williams and Renaults by as much as half a second per lap.

Barrichello posted a best lap of 1 minute 19.236 seconds making sure that Ross Brawn’s team was the fastest team of the three present.

During their first ever test as Brawn GP Team in Barcelona last week, the BGP001 looked both quick and reliable. Barrichello’s time was over half a second quicker than nearest rival, Renault’s Fernando Alonso, and the Brazilian completed 107 laps as he worked on a series of set-up and tire evaluations.

“We had a good day of testing today,” said Barrichello. “It is hotter in Jerez than it was in Barcelona last week and therefore more representative of the temperatures that we can expect for the first few races, so it is good preparation for myself and the car.”

“The car ran very well once again and we are increasing our understanding of its characteristics every day," he added.

Alonso’s day got off to a bad start, with a trip through the gravel early on causing damage to his R29. The team got him back out in the afternoon, but the Spaniard managed just 40 laps in total.

“Unfortunately I made a mistake this morning which was a shame as we lost a lot of track time, but sometimes this happens in testing when you are looking for the limits of the car,” said Alonso.

Williams test driver Nico Hulkenberg completed the line-up for Sunday, which saw fine and sunny conditions throughout the day. The German covered 69 laps working through aero component tests and mechanical set-up changes in the FW31 and finished two-tenths down on Alonso.