Valencia day one - Vettel leads the way for Red Bull
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was the early leader as this year’s opening test got underway on Tuesday in Valencia. Vettel covered 93 laps and clocked a best time of 1m 13.769s at the Spanish circuit in the newly-launched RB7. The 2010 world champion is expected to continue testing on Wednesday.
Force India's new reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg was second in the team's 2010 car, the VJM03. Former Williams racer Hulkenberg completed 71 laps and ended the day just under two-tenths down on Vettel. He handed the car over to the team’s new race driver, Paul di Resta, in the late afternoon. Scottish Di Resta finished in fourth after covering 28 laps. He will continue to test on Wednesday.
"Our strategy for this test was to use the VJM03 to gain our drivers some early season mileage and collect as much data on the Pirelli tyres as possible," explained Force India's circuit engineering director, Dominic Harlow. "Overall we achieved our objectives today, looking at the three compounds available here and with both Nico and Paul driving the car. Fortunately the weather for the coming two days is forecast to remain fairly good and we look forward to continuing with our work over the remaining two days."
Third fastest was McLaren tester Gary Paffett, who fielded an interim version of the MP4-25, ahead of the launch of the team’s new car on Friday. Paffett covered 91 laps, as he carried out an evaluation of the new Pirelli rubber. Lewis Hamilton will be in action for the team on Wednesday.
“The car we ran today ought to allow us to get the right loadings on the Pirellis to understand how they behave,” said Paffett. “Today was about trying to understand the tyres - we established a good baseline and then did some long runs. It’s useful to understand how the tyres go off, and how the balance changes once they do. The medium seems to last the longest and the super-soft the shortest, but that’s exactly what you want from a tyre – and it should lead to different strategies once we start racing.”Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished fifth after giving the recently-launched F150 its official track debut. Alonso focused his attentions on developing the new car and furthering his understanding of the new Pirelli tyres. He completed 98 laps after a largely trouble-free day and will continue to test on Wednesday.
Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was sixth quickest following his first day in the new C30. Kobayashi covered 64 laps for the team and finished just ahead of Jerome D’Ambrosio who was seventh in Virgin’s 2010 car.
“It was a busy day, with all the little problems you have to look into at this time of the year when testing begins with a brand new car," explained Sauber's technical director James Key. "The important and good thing is we had absolutely no major issues and the car was running well.
"We used the morning for several system checks and some initial set up work. We only used the KERS and the rear wing activation in the afternoon. Tyre degradation was quite high and we will have to keep an eye on that for the remainder of the test. Of course there is plenty of work to do, but we are fine with what we have learned and achieved so far today.”
Renault’s Vitaly Petrov was eighth in the new R31, which was official launched on Monday. The Russian is expected to hand over the car to his team mate Robert Kubica on Wednesday.
Ninth fastest was Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher in the new MGP W02. Schumacher’s team mate Nico Rosberg had debuted the team’s 2011 car in the morning, but the younger German had only completed nine laps when a hydraulics problem interrupted his outing. He eventually finished in the 13th - and last - slot on the timesheets. After the car had been repaired, Schumacher made it out on track to cover 15 laps.
"It felt good to see the MGP W02 finally take to the track after so much hard work from everyone at the factory to prepare the car for this first test," said team principal Ross Brawn. "Michael and Nico felt comfortable and had a good feeling from the car, although we were limited in the mileage that we achieved today.
"We had a hydraulic problem early on which limited Nico's running but were able to change the system to get Michael out for a few laps at the end. The first tests are about focusing on reliability, which admittedly was not great today, and getting the KERS system functioning well. Performance testing will develop over the next month as we get more running under our belts."
Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari finished in tenth in the new STR6. Rubens Barrichello, meanwhile, was in action in Williams’ new FW33 and finished in 11th. Twelfth quickest was Narain Karthikeyan, who completed 45 laps in HRT’s 2010 car.
Testing continues at Valencia on Wednesday, when Lotus are expected to join the fray with their new car.
Unofficial Tuesday test times from Valencia:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1:13.769, 93 Laps
2. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:13.938, 71 Laps
3. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:14.292, 91 Laps
4. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:14.461, 28 Laps
5. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1:14.553, 98 Laps
6. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 1:15.621, 64 Laps
7. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Virgin, 1:16.003, 71 Laps
8. Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 1:16.351, 28 Laps
9. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:16.450, 15 Laps
10. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 1:17.214, 19 Laps
11. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:17.335, 77 Laps
12. Narain Karthikeyan, HRT, 1:18.020, 45 Laps
13. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:19.930, 9 Laps
Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)
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