Barcelona: Force India's Nico Hulkenberg edged Sergio Perez for the fastest time in Formula One testing on Wednesday, while Red Bull was quickest among the 2012 favourites.
Hulkenberg's lap of one minute 22.608 seconds was slightly quicker than his Sauber rival's, while defending champion Sebastian Vettel was third for Red Bull with a time of 1:22.891.
Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was fourth in front of Daniel Ricciardo of Toro Rosso. Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was sixth, followed by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Vettel and Hamilton appeared to run full race simulations, indicating the teams are pleased with their cars.
"I think we are on the right road with the car," Vettel said after running 66 laps. "The car reacted the way we expected. So far, so good."
Hamilton was pleased with his McLaren running more than 1,000km in his two days behind the wheel before he handed over to teammate Jenson Button yesterday.
"The car behaves really well in the high-speed corners; I think it's better overall at high speed," he said.
