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Jerez first 2015 test Test day one

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Ericsson heads back out in the Sauber to make it two cars on track.
Ricciardo is on the hard tyre, while Rosberg's best lap was set on mediums.
Another improvement for the Red Bull, this time Ricciardo gets down to a 1m25.131s. He's two seconds adrift of Rosberg.
Rosberg's 10-lap run on medium compound Pirelli tyres looked pretty impressive, though we don't have much to compare it with yet. He lapped consistently in the mid-to-late 1m23s for the majority of the run, after setting that new fastest time of the test early on.
The crowd outside the McLaren garage continues to swell as the Honda engine is fired up again.
Marcus Ericsson

Marcus Ericsson


The first red flag of the year only lasted a few seconds and was caused by Marcus Ericsson's Sauber doing this and then getting going again. He made it back to the pits unscathed.
Rosberg comes in to complete a run of 10 timed laps - Vettel follows him down the pitlane.
Rosberg is on his 10th flying lap of this run on a set of medium-compound Pirellis, and his pace isn't falling off very much at all so far.
Vettel makes it two cars on track, taking the Ferrari back out to join the Mercedes.
Rosberg has the track to himself at the moment, and he's still comfortably lapping in the 1m23s on this run.
Sainz pits in the Toro Rosso, having taken his lap count up to five so far today.
Rosberg has settled in with a couple of mid-1m23s in succession on this run, slightly slower than his 1m23.1s that currently tops the times by 2.6s from Vettel.
Rosberg improves again on his next lap. He's beaten the best time of the entire four-day Jerez test last year (Kevin Magnussen's 1m23.276s) by 0.170s in just 11 laps... Meanwhile Sainz is now off the mark - third fastest on a 1m26.081s.
Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg


EDD STRAW was down at the pit exit as Rosberg set off. He reports that the Mercedes stopped briefly but didn't do a full-fledged practice start.
Rosberg continues to make strides in the Mercedes. The first flying lap of this latest run is faster still - 1m23.325s is the new benchmark on day one.
Sainz heads back out in the Toro Rosso for his second lap of the day.
Ricciardo abandons that flying lap and heads back to the pits, just as Rosberg heads back out in the Mercedes. The German stopped at the end of the pitlane and pulled away very gently. All quiet again in the McLaren garage...
Ricciardo heads back out in the camo-liveried Red Bull, while the McLaren-Honda has just fired up in the garage.
First hour summary:

* Red Bull causes a stir as its 2015 car emerges in camouflage colours

* Mercedes and Williams officially launch their new designs

* Rosberg sets early pace for Mercedes

* Ericsson causes a brief red flag

* Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Sauber and Toro Rosso all run, but McLaren, Williams and Lotus yet to appear
EDD STRAW reports that as Carlos Sainz Sr appears in the Toro Rosso garage, his son is getting ready for another run. The team has just been blipping the engine in the garage in preparation.
Some commotion outside the McLaren garage just now. Looks as though the first run of the MP4-30 is getting closer.
Sure enough - the track is green again. A temporary blip for the Sauber.
The Sauber took more than a minute to get through the short first sector, so maybe he stopped and then got going again. He's back in the pits now, anyway.
Ericsson is the only car on track, although it seems that he's still running.
He's a couple of seconds faster next time through, which puts him in a no-man's-land between Vettel's Ferrari and the RB10.
Marcus Ericsson

Marcus Ericsson


Ericsson posts his first flying lap of the test in the Sauber. The Swede is third fastest, fractionally quicker than Ricciardo's Red Bull.
Vettel finds a chunk of time to go second fastest in the Ferrari. Almost within two seconds of the Mercedes now.
Rosberg is back in the pits after that flurry of fastest times on his first proper run.

EDD STRAW: "Mercedes is starting 2015 the same way it started 2014 - by running further, earlier, than anyone else.

"Whenever the car returns to the pits, the mechanics are quick to cover the upper parts of the rear wing from prying eyes."
Vettel picks up the pace in the Ferrari - a 1m29.252s has him just behind Ricciardo now.
Ericsson heads back out in the new Sauber C34, so we have three cars on circuit simultaneously now.
Rosberg finds another three tenths to get down to a 1m23.6s.
Vettel sets his first laptime as a Ferrari driver - a leisurely 1m35.218s.
Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg


Rosberg finds more than a second on his latest lap - a 1m23.986s is the new benchmark as the Mercedes continues to pound round on this run.
Rosberg shaves (or chops) nearly two seconds off his best that time around - he's down to a 1m25.057s in the Mercedes.
It's still very cold here in Jerez. Air temperature a little over 5C now, while the track temperature has yet to top 10C.
Rosberg stays out and goes much quicker this time - a 1m26.933s puts him 2.2s ahead of Ricciardo.

By: AUTOSPORT staff, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Ben Anderson, Andrew van Leeuwen, Jonathan Noble, Jamie Klein

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