Ferrari send a warning

Fernando Alonso sets the fastest time as Ferrari send out a warning to their rivals at the Valencia Formula 1 test as Jenson Button admits to a "tough day".

Making his first appearance in Ferrari's F10, double title winner Alonso delighted an estimated crowd of 36,000 fans, took over from Felipe Massa and set a best time of one minute 11.470 seconds - more than half a second clear of the field.

Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber was second, ahead of Michael Schumacher's Mercedes, which was 0.968secs off the pace.

McLaren's Jenson Button ended the day 1.481secs slower than Alonso.

Debuting for McLaren, defending champion Button could only manage fifth quickest of seven runners after struggling with the seat fitting on his new MP4-25.

Button said it had been a "tough day", adding: "It would have been nice to get more testing done.

"I've been doing a lot of work making sure I'm comfortable in the car. I wasn't quite where I wanted to be. I was quite high in the car and uncomfortable.

"I had to change a lot within the car. I fit well now and feel comfortable with my head in the car now."

Schumacher was third fastest on both his days' running - Monday and Wednesday - with Nico Rosberg fourth quickest on Tuesday.

The seven-time world champion said: "I'm thinking we will be competitive, but whether this is a winning car straight away or not, that's another story.

"For me that's not so important - it's a long season. We need to be there and taking points from the beginning.

"I wouldn't expect to be winning right from the beginning. It wasn't something that I was aiming for and expecting to be the case. But we need to be strong enough on development."

Ferrari were fastest on all three days - with Massa setting the pace on Monday and Tuesday before handing over to Alonso for the final day.

Times:
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m11.470 127 laps
2 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber 1m12.094 81
3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1m12.438 82
4 Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m12.576 97
5 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 1m12.951 82
6 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m13.097 75
7 Nico Hulkenberg Williams 1m13.669 126