Smooth manoeuvre! Wedding bells on the horizon as Button and model girlfriend Michibata get engaged



Jenson Button and long-term girlfriend Jessica Michibata are engaged.

Model Michibata was sporting a diamond ring on her engagement finger in the paddock on Friday as Button took to the track for McLaren on the third day of this week's pre-season test in Bahrain.



The Woking-based team confirmed the news on their Twitter account, writing: 'Huge congrats to @JensonButton and @jessybondgirl on their engagement! #attaboy'.

Button followed up the announcement of his engagement by posting the second fastest time of the day behind former McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton.



Waiting in the wings: Jenson Button's long-term partner Jessica Michibata in the Bahrain paddock on Friday

Green light: Michibata shows off her diamond ring in the Bahrain paddock on Friday

On track: Button was in action for McLaren on Friday at the four-day test in Bahrain

Button was seven tenths adrift of Hamilton who posted the fastest time of the Bahrain test so far as Mercedes continued to maintain their pre-season momentum.



The British driver returned to the Mercedes cockpit following team-mate Nico Rosberg's stint behind the wheel on Thursday.



And it didn't take long for the 29-year-old to head the timesheets after he eclipsed Kevin Magnussen's best time of the four-day test.

Hamilton's lap of 1min 34.263secs was three-quarters-of-a-second faster than Magnussen's time from yesterday and impressively almost three seconds quicker than Sebastian Vettel's quickest lap in last year's race.

Setting the pace: Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time of the Bahrain test so far on Friday morning

Discussions: Hamilton speaks to Mercedes chief and three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda

Hamilton was joined on track by the newly-engaged Button who will drive the Mercedes-powered MP4-29 for the remaining days of this week's test.



Meanwhile, McLaren's rivals Red Bull finally managed to discover some of their 'gold dust' yesterday.

After completing just 35 laps from the first five days in the reliability-stricken RB10, Sebastian Vettel was able to chalk up a few miles at the Sakhir circuit.

Although Vettel finished almost five and a half seconds adrift of rookie Magnussen, for the reigning four-times Formula One champion the lap time was irrelevant. Instead, it was all about the amount of time spent behind the wheel as Vettel rattled off 59 relatively trouble-free laps, with only four other drivers ahead of the German on the lap charts.



Vettel, whose best time was a 1min 40.340secs, said: 'We did more laps than we have done so far, and that's the big thing. That's encouraging.



'It was good to check the car, check the reliability, to get a proper first feel for the car, which feels okay, but there's a lot more to come.'