Kimi Raikkonen overcame a spate of red fl🃏ags at Catalunya to post the fastest time of the day in Spain as McLaren hit the track for the first time this week.

With weather conditions s𓃲howing a marked improvement from the rain which greeted the teams on Monday, Raikkonen completed just under 100 laps and posted a quickest time of 1min 15.223secs as he spent the day completing set-up work on his M🐼P4-21 and putting more mileage on the car ahead of the opening round of the year in Bahrain in a fortnight.

Behind Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Fernando Alonso posted the second and third quickest times for Renault as the championship winning outfit also hit the track for the first time this 𒊎week.

Although software problems saw both R26s grind to a halt ♍on their installation laps, the pair were soon able to continue with a programme focused on tyre development and chassis set-up for Alonso while Fisichella completed an incident free race distance.

The Itaꦆꦉlian would post the quicker time of the two and said he was pleased with the way the day had developed.

"We had a small problem this morning, but that didn't s🎐top us completing the programme today," he said. "I am very pleased with what we did today, and with the performance. Our priority was to complete the programme, and we did 93 laps, which is a very good total. The car is behaving very well, it is consistent and we have made good progress on the set-up. It was another very productive day."

Chief tꦗest engineer Christian Silk was also pleased with the day and said the software problem ⛦that had affected the start of the session wasn't too much of a cause for concern.

"We had a rather laborious start to the day with software problems on the cars, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed," he said. "The track conditions were not suitable for running, so we didn't realise lose any useful running time. W♐e solved the problems quickly, and had a very efficient afternoon's running. Both cars did a lot of laps, and the drivers are very happy with it - especially Giancarlo, who was testing the new aero package for the first race."

Jenson Button was fourth quickest for Honda as the final driver to dip under the 1min 16sec mark, while team-mate Rubens Barrichello was seventh - the duo sandwiching Toyotas Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher in fifth andꩵ sixth. While Button and Barrichello completed tyre development work, Trulli continued with the programme he started in Vallelunga last week to test the new aerodynamic package Toyota will use for the start of the season.

Juan Pablo Montoya - like Raikkonen working on set-up work on the MP4-21 - was eighth fastest in the second McLaren butꦿ Red Bull Racing endured a difficult day with Christian Klien and David Coulthard ninth and te🅠nth.

Having planned for both drivers to complete an on-track 'dress rehearsal' for the Bahrain Grand P👍rix, Klien was instead left sitting on the sidelines with a brok༒en gearbox while Coulthard suffered an engine failure.

"David had a fresh engine, but it was not to the latest specification that we plan to run in Bahrain," chief test engineer Ian Morgan explained. "Christian's gearbox was quite high mileage, but we👍 would not have expected it to fail when it did. Because he had a Bahrain spec engine, it was important to put as many miles on it as possible, but both guys lost a lot of track time, especially David, who only returned to the track with half an hour remaining."

Mark Webber posted the eleventh quickest time in the lone Williams to set a lap-time with Nico Rosberg suffering 𒁃more technical problems - this time due to the ge▨arbox.

"It was a slow start for all the teams this morning due to a cold and green track surface after yesterday's rain," technical director Sam Michael said. "Mark spent the whole day doing long runs on different tyre casings to look at improving degradation. We made good progress a🅠nd will continue with this in the short term.

"Unfortunately, Nico diܫdn't manage to record any timed laps today due to gearbox problems. Both Mark and Nico will be driving again tomorrow."

Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro were twelfth and 13th ཧquickest for MF1 Racing while Super Aguri returned to the track for the second day of running with its system car but with Yuji Ide taking over driving duties from Takuma Sato.

Ide completed 43 laps on his first officia💜l test a🍬ppearance posting a best time of 1min 24.455secs and will be back out on track tomorrow when he will share the car with Sato.

"Today was Yuji's first run in an F1 car during🔜 an official test," chief testing officer Mark Preston said. "The main aim of the day was to allow him to acclimatise himself to F1 levels of downforce and power, and to put further mileage onto the SA05 systems car.

"Running was halted by an electronics problem on the gearbox, b💧ut Yuji c𒊎ompleted 43 laps which is encouraging progress for the team."

Testing continues tomorrow.

Leading times (22 February) - Barcelona:

1. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes 1m 15.223s 96 laps *
2. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault-Renault1m 15.500s 93 laps *
3. Fernando Alonso Renault-Renault1m 15.801s 93 laps *
4. Jenson Button Honda-Honda 1m 15.969s 88 laps *
5. Jarno TrulliToyota-Toyota 1m 16.193s 93 laps
6. Ralf SchumacherToyota-Toyota 1m 16.381s 47 laps
7. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda 1m 16.486s 66 laps *
8. Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1m 16.538s 87 laps *
9. Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 1m 16.927s 35 laps *
10. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 1m 18.212s 12 laps *
11. Mark WebberWilliams-Cosworth 1m 18.265s 88 laps
12. Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1m 19.300s 28 laps
13. Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1m 20.381s 35 laps
14. Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda1m 24.455s 43 laps
15. Nico RosbergWilliams-Cosworth No time

[* denotes Michelin tyres - all others Bridgestone.]

Track conditions / weather: Sunny/Cold

All times unofficial.