Alonso breaks Brawn's stranglehold in testing

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain: Renault's Fernando Alonso knocked the Brawn team off the top of the timesheets in F1's final week of pre-season testing in Spain on Monday while McLaren continued to struggle.

Spain's double world champion, who had crashed his R29 car on Sunday's first day of testing, completed 103 laps of the southern Jerez circuit with a best time of one minute 18.343 seconds.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, driving the former Honda car renamed as Brawn GP after new owner Ross Brawn, lapped in 1:18.398 with British teammate Jenson Button third fastest in 1:18.892 on a hot afternoon.