THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JEREZ, Spain — Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished with the fastest session Friday in Formula One’s first preseason test.
The Spanish two-time world champion had a quickest lap of one minute 18.877 seconds to go seven-tenths faster than the field.
The Italians rallied from a subdued start with the second fastest time this week among 2012 designs. Alonso’s running was restricted to 39 laps because of a hydraulics problem.
Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was second Friday ahead of defending world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, whose best lap was 1:19.606.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth for McLaren in front of Lotus’s Romain Grosjean, whose quickest lap Thursday has so far set the pace for the 2012 cars.