Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr upstaged former world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso as he went fastest on the third day of pre-season testing in Jerez.

Nasr’s Sauber C34 car has been an early season hit and his best time of 1min 21.545 in 108 laps was enough to end Ferrari’s dominance on the leaderboard from the opening couple of days.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo only managed five laps before he had to return to the pits early on Tuesday for an engine change, however he come back out to complete 35 laps overall, posting the seventh best time.

Technical problems also persisted for McLaren’s Alonso, who was also at the back of the grid both in time and laps completed.

Raikkonen took over from new teammate Sebastian Vettel in the SF15-T, but couldn’t match the pace set by the German on the opening two days as he was 0.205sec behind Nasr in his 92 laps.

Double world champions Mercedes continued to prioritise mileage over speed as Nico Rosberg racked up 151 laps to add to his world record 157 lap effort on day one.

Rosberg could even have managed more, but his W06 had to be towed back to the garage after stopping on the track midway through the day.

McLaren looked to have put a disappointing opening couple of days during which Alonso and Jenson Button managed just six laps apiece behind them early in the day.

Alonso was able to log 32 laps on Tuesday morning, albeit 14 seconds off the pace set by Nasr.

Yet, worse was to come as cooling pressure problem in the power unit prevented any running after lunch to once again leave them as the team with the least amount of mileage on the day.

The Spaniard will now have to wait until the second test in Barcelona later this month to get back in the Mp4-30 as Button will take over for Wednesday’s final day in Jerez.

Barcelona will also be a big test for the only non-Mercedes driver to win a grand prix last season as Ricciardo has been restricted to just 83 laps over two days in Jerez.

Red Bull’s unreliability is even more alarming as another rookie Carlos Sainz gave the Spanish fans more to see than the home hero Alonso as he completed 136 laps for their junior team Toro Rosso.

There were also encouraging signs for Lotus on just their second day of testing having arrived late in Jerez as Pastor Maldonado clocked up 96 laps.

Felipe Massa was overshadowed by compatriot Nasr, but did enough for fourth fastest in the Williams FW37.