Rossi taken for a spin

MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi continued his erratic progress in Formula One with an incident-filled day at Valencia.

The Italian’s first proper Ferrari test has been littered with spins, including one just a few turns into his stint behind the wheel on Tuesday which ended his participation.

He continued in that vein today, spinning his 2004-specification Ferrari five times on his way to the 12th fastest time.

Fernando Alonso topped the times for the second straight day for Renault, just faster than Jenson Button, whose day was punctuated by a Honda engine failure.

Mercedes’ engine troubles continued with McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya losing four hours as a result of yet another blow-up. He ended the day 14th.

Elsewhere today, Ferrari confirmed they have poached Nicholas Tombazis from McLaren. He takes over as chief designer on March 1 as part of a reshuffle.

As expected, design chief Rory Byrne will stand aside to become a consultant, promoting as head of the design and development department at Maranello.