Jerez first 2015 test Test day one
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Ben Anderson, Andrew van Leeuwen, Jonathan Noble, Jamie Klein
Summary
Status: Stopped
Here's the full report from that intriguing opening day of 2015 running:
Jerez day one report: Vettel fastest for Ferrari
Keep an eye on AUTOSPORT tonight for all the reaction and analysis from the paddock, plus technical expert CRAIG SCARBOROUGH's low-down on the Mercedes W06.
AUTOSPORT Live coverage from Jerez resumes from 8am UK time on Monday morning. See you then.
Jerez day one report: Vettel fastest for Ferrari
Keep an eye on AUTOSPORT tonight for all the reaction and analysis from the paddock, plus technical expert CRAIG SCARBOROUGH's low-down on the Mercedes W06.
AUTOSPORT Live coverage from Jerez resumes from 8am UK time on Monday morning. See you then.
Rosberg Jerez
Here's the lap count for the day:
Rosberg - 157 laps
Ericsson - 73 laps
Bottas - 73 laps
Vettel - 60 laps
Sainz - 46 laps
Ricciardo - 35 laps
Alonso - 6 laps
And that's the chequered flag. Vettel and Ferrari top the first day of pre-season testing in 2015. Raikkonen did the same last year...
1 Vettel (Ferrari), 1m22.620s
2 Ericsson (Sauber), 1m22.777s
3 Rosberg (Mercedes), 1m23.106s
4 Ricciardo (Red Bull), 1m23.338s
5 Bottas (Williams), 1m23.906s
6 Sainz (Toro Rosso), 1m25.327s
7 Alonso (Ferrari), 1m40.738s
1 Vettel (Ferrari), 1m22.620s
2 Ericsson (Sauber), 1m22.777s
3 Rosberg (Mercedes), 1m23.106s
4 Ricciardo (Red Bull), 1m23.338s
5 Bottas (Williams), 1m23.906s
6 Sainz (Toro Rosso), 1m25.327s
7 Alonso (Ferrari), 1m40.738s
Vettel, Ericsson, Rosberg and Bottas still on track with six minutes remaining. Vettel still has fastest time.
EDD STRAW: "OK, Mercedes has already had the car on track before today on a promotional day, but to log 150 laps on the first official test day is absolutely outstanding. Looking strong."
Vettel has now notched up 50 laps for the new Ferrari. So the team joins Sauber, Mercedes and Williams in the half-century club for today.
But on saying that, Rosberg heads into the pits. He's now clocked 148 laps on a remarkable first day for Mercedes.
Vettel Ferrari
Vettel passes Ericsson on that lap, setting a time four seconds quicker than the Sauber.
Vettel is chasing the Sauber down, and he's gone ever-so-slightly faster, finding 0.070s to set a 1m22.620s.
BEN ANDERSON: "Went to find out why pace-setter Sebastian Vettel had such a long delay in the Ferrari garage this morning. Turns out the car was suffering from a telemetry problem, which took a long time to fix."
Rosberg passes through the pits and heads straight back out, while Ericsson has started a timed lap.
Ericsson and Rosberg head to the end of the pitlane together, but the Mercedes hangs back before following the Sauber out on track.
Nothing on track at the moment, although the McLaren has been fired up again to make sure we're not sitting here in silence.
Ah - we have some engine noise coming from the McLaren garage again. It was brief, but it's a sign of some progress being made on the troubleshooting front. Will Alonso get to add to his six laps so far?
Interesting news for McLaren fans:
@McLarenF1: Ron Dennis: "Our 2015 livery will change, but I'm not going to say when..."
@McLarenF1: Ron Dennis: "Our 2015 livery will change, but I'm not going to say when..."
Ericsson runs wide on the exit of the final hairpin - clearly pushing - and he misses out on top spot by just 0.087s on that soft tyre flying lap.
Rosberg flow-viz
Rosberg earlier had been sent out with flow-viz paint all over the front of his Mercedes steed, as this picture shows, as the Brackley-based team continues to get to grips with its new creation.
Ericsson (softs), Bottas (mediums) and Rosberg (mediums) are first to head out as we are now into the final hour of today's running.
The Toro Rosso has made its way back to the pits on the back of a flatbed truck. It's covered up, so it's still unclear what happened to cause the stoppage.
Vettel lowers the benchmark for the day. He's gone even quicker out front, getting down to a 1m22.690s in the Ferrari.
There's a puff of dust from the Toro Rosso as Sainz has a huge moment coming out of the final corner which spits him way over the exit kerb. Cold tyres are probably to blame for that one, but he got away with it.
While McLaren continues to work on what it earlier referred to as "a niggly problem", the team has Tweeted a picture of Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier speaking with the British press. JONATHAN NOBLE is there for us - it will be interesting to see how much the team's chiefs are prepared to say about the progress with Honda up to now.
As Ericsson enjoys having the track to himself and manages a slight improvement in laptime, here's a recap of some of today's headlines:
* Mercedes logs over 100 laps with Rosberg
* No sign of the new Lotus, which was only sent to Spain today
* Only six laps for Alonso in the McLaren-Honda so far
* Red Bull's morning running comes to a smoky end
* Vettel sets two laps good enough for P1 during a short run
* Mercedes logs over 100 laps with Rosberg
* No sign of the new Lotus, which was only sent to Spain today
* Only six laps for Alonso in the McLaren-Honda so far
* Red Bull's morning running comes to a smoky end
* Vettel sets two laps good enough for P1 during a short run
In stark contrast to this time last year, the day's running has been almost uninterrupted. Ericsson was responsible for a very brief red flag when he had a spin this morning, but he was able to rejoin and the green flags came out as soon as he got himself back to the pits.
Things have been quiet out there for a while now, but Sauber sends Ericsson back out to liven things up on track.
Bottas
Here's today's lap count in full:
Rosberg (Mercedes) 136
Bottas (Williams) 51
Sainz (Toro Rosso) 41
Ericsson (Sauber) 40
Ricciardo (Red Bull) 34
Vettel (Ferrari) 31
Alonso (McLaren) 6
That's some decent recovery work from Williams, which hardly ran at all this morning.
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