Valencia: Alonso holds the advantage
Just a mere 78 days after F1 bid farewell to the 2010 season, testing for the 2011 campaign got underway at Valencia.
With blue skies overhead, heralding a perfect day for testing, new Force India test driver Nico Hulkenberg was the first out on track followed by McLaren's Gary Paffett.
Both drivers were using last year's cars as their team's new challengers won't be launched until later in the morning.
Fernando Alonso therefore had the honour of being the first to display his team's new car as he took the track in Ferrari's F150.
His run was short-lived as the Spaniard suffered an apparent technical problem within the first hour. Alonso, though, was able to get his car, which had the rear covered in flow-paint, back to the garage.
Soon back on track, the double World Champion climbed to the top of the timesheets with a 1:15.371.
Defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi both hit the track in their 2011 challengers while Vitaly Petrov debuted Renault's new R31 before Rubens Barrichello ventured out in his FW33.
Jaime Alguersuari put Toro Rosso's STR6 through its first test while Narain Karthikeyan made his Formula One return with Hispania Racing - but in last year's machine.
The morning saw most of the teams focusing on short runs, barely more than installation laps as the drivers got a feel for their new cars.
One man, though, who wasn't left with a good feeling was Nico Rosberg.
The Mercedes GP driver was behind the wheel of Merc's new W02 for its maiden voyage when he became the first to bring out the red flags as he stopped out on track.
With the action back underway, Vettel improved from a 1:18 to a 1:15.559, slotting in behind Alonso as last year's antagonists went at it again.
Alonso responded by dropping his time to a 1:14.718 and extending his advantage over the reigning World Champ to 0.841s. He also completed the most number of laps during the morning, amassing 44.
Hulkenberg was third fastest on his Force India debut while Kobayashi had a promising start in his Sauber C30, finishing with the fourth best time ahead of Paffett and Jerome D'Ambrosio, who was using a modified version of last year's Virgin Racing car.
Unofficial Times (1pm)
01. Alonso Ferrari F150 1:14.718 44 laps
02. Vettel Red Bull Racing RB7 1:14.962 + 0.244 15 laps
03. Hulkenberg Force India VJM-03 1:15.615 + 0.897 29 laps
04. Kobayashi Sauber C30 1:15.831 + 1.113 38 laps
05. Paffett McLaren MP4-25 1:16.256 + 1.538 45 laps
06. D'Ambrosio Virgin Racing MVR-02 1:16.398 + 1.680 32 laps
07. Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR6 1:18.260 + 3.542 8 laps
08. Karthikeyan HRT F1 Team F111 1:18.650 + 3.932 22 laps
09. Barrichello Williams FW33 1:18.714 + 3.996 11 laps
10. Rosberg Mercedes GP W02 1:19.930 + 5.212 9 laps
11. Petrov Lotus Renault GP R31 1:20.633 + 5.915 6 laps
Credit: PlanetF1.com (www.planetf1.com)
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