Jerez first pre-season test Test day one
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After a short break di Resta is back it, shaving a few thousandths of a second off his personal best. He stays seventh, with 0.801s separating him and Nico Rosberg at the top of the timesheets. He has Nico Hulkenberg and Mark Webber for company out on track.
Paul di Resta paints the timing screens green, setting a series of personal bests in the VJM06. On the medium compound he's worked his way down to a 1m21.710s, which includes a new overall best in the third sector speed trap.
Williams FW34
As Edd Straw reported, Williams is running a selection of 2013 developments on last year's car - including the obvious, and not unwelcome, addition of the so called 'vanity panel'.
Romain Grosjean and Lotus, conversely, are back out and flying. The Frenchman didn't leave the pits for the first hour and still has just eight laps under his belt in the E21, but he's just improved to a 1m21.175s, which keeps him third. The car looks particularly quick in the first sector, where it tops the speed trap.
On that front Jenson Button has also been sidelined since bringing out the first red flags of the test. The Briton has completed just three laps, and none of them flyers.
And as we write that Maldonado pops up second in the timesheets with a 1m21.019s, 0.173s off Rosberg. The German hasn't been out since his earlier electrical issue.
Edd Straw is a busy man. His latest update comes from Williams, with the team reports it is content with the early running. There are some 2013 aero developments on the car, but the primary focus is on working with Pirelli's new compounds.
We've got a motorised version of a Spanish bull run at the moment, as Webber and Ricciardo chase each other at opposite ends of the circuit. Neither man really threatening their personal bests, but they are both now up to the 20-lap mark.
Edd Straw, our roving pitlane reporter, has been speaking to Sauber. The team is doing car systems checks and aero measurements and reports that all is normal.
AUTOSPORT 's Jerez testing gallery is now live - check out all the latest photos from Formula 1's first pre-season test of the season here.
Five laps now completed, Grosjean heads back to the Lotus garage, leaving Massa and Webber the only men on track.
Romain Grosjean sets off on his first flying run, and it brings instant results - he's fastest overall in the first sector and eventually comes round in a 1m21.219s, just over three tenths of Rosberg's best.
Toro Rosso technical director James Key has just been talking to the media. He says he's happy with the work the team has done already today, saying the priority so far has been aero and temperature measurements.
Lewis Hamilton F1 2013 Mercedes
We have an interested observer in the pitlane today - a certain Lewis Hamilton. Glenn Freeman watched the 2008 world champion's first laps for Mercedes yesterday, and got his thoughts ahead of his first official day of testing tomorrow. Here's a snippet.
"I try to prepare myself knowing that the car was a long way off last year, they were a long way behind. I do know that they have some improvements on this year’s car but it is an evolution: the foundation is the same but it has just been improved in certain areas. But I hope that it’s a massive improvement. Only Nico will be able to say if it is..."
You can read the full article here.
Glenn Freeman has the latest on Mercedes's earlier stoppage - it was caused by an electrical failure, and the smoke was caused by the bodywork getting warm when the car stopped
Is that our first double-overtake of the season? Ballsy stuff from Chilton as he picks off Maldonado and Hulkenberg, even if the latter duo were only travelling at half speed. Van der Garde heads out on hards.
Maldonado, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Chilton are all out on track and finding time. Ricciardo moves into third with a 1m21.316s, while Chilton improves to a 1m27.846s but stays eighth.
Pastor Maldonado jumps up into second with a 1m21.215s, 36 hundredths of a second down on Rosberg. Felipe Massa is third (1m21.598s), just ahead of Daniel Ricciardo (1m21.630s) and Nico Hulkenberg (1m22.593s). Mark Webber is just over two seconds down on Massa, Giedo van der Garde a similar distance again and Max Chilton just over eight seconds off. Paul di Resta, Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean are all yet to set a time.
Paul di Resta Force India 2013
Still no flyer for di Resta, who heads back in. Giedo van der Garde and Pastor Maldonado, with a collective 20 laps between them, the only men on track now.
And talking of sensors, Button was doing aero evaluations of the McLaren front wing when he stopped earlier today.
Paul di Resta is the only man out on track at the moment. The Scot has managed seven laps so far today, but not a single flyer. He's running with a sensor on the top of the roll hoop.
And we're green once more
The track is reported to be clean where Rosberg stopped, and his car is now almost back at the Mercedes garage (via the low loader of course).
The low loader arrives, and a few interested Mercedes personnel have a quick scout of the rear end of the car. The smoke was only on CCTV and doesn't seem to have lasted long.
Rosberg is stopped at Turn 11 - that's the Senna chicane, although the German elected to go straight on and stop before rejoining the main track. He's on the tarmac at the Alex Criville curve.
Nico Rosberg is staring at the rear of his W04, while a marshal circulates with a fire extinguisher - which happily isn't needed at the moment.
A second red, and it's for a smoking Mercedes...
The session has been stopped.
Something we said? Nico Rosberg rejoins the fray after a practice start at the end of the pitlane, while Daniel Ricciardo follows him out moments later.
His first flying laps completed Chilton heads back in, leaving Nico Hulkenberg (on hards) as the only man on track.
Max Chilton Marussia
Chilton comes round for his first flyer, a 1m33.533s. He's on the orange hard compound.
And just as we write that, Maldonado heads in. Max Chilton moves in the opposite direction to keep Mark Webber company
Pastor Maldonado continues to hammer round in the 2012-spec Williams, a run which included a personal best of 1m22.130s. Mike Coughlan, Williams technical director, explained the team's decision to run the FW34:
“As part of our preparations for the 2013 season, we took the decision to launch our FW35 in Barcelona for a number of reasons. We have already spent a great deal of time rig testing key areas of the new car for reliability, including doing over 3000kms on the gearbox and rear suspension and 7000kms on our 2013 KERS, and we are happy with the results we have seen. Our cars also passed all mandatory crash tests for 2013 and so were fully FIA homologated earlier this year.
"Our focus for track testing is to work on developing our aerodynamic package with extra time and resource now being available in the windtunnel for a further upgraded race package ahead of the Australian GP.”
“As part of our preparations for the 2013 season, we took the decision to launch our FW35 in Barcelona for a number of reasons. We have already spent a great deal of time rig testing key areas of the new car for reliability, including doing over 3000kms on the gearbox and rear suspension and 7000kms on our 2013 KERS, and we are happy with the results we have seen. Our cars also passed all mandatory crash tests for 2013 and so were fully FIA homologated earlier this year.
"Our focus for track testing is to work on developing our aerodynamic package with extra time and resource now being available in the windtunnel for a further upgraded race package ahead of the Australian GP.”
Heikki Kovalainen sent his regards to Caterham earlier today, tweeting: "F1 testing resuming today - thanks for the Caterham F1 Team for the past 3 years and I wish them all the best for the future!"
As Grosjean comes in, Massa - second fastest so far today and with 10 laps under his belt - heads down the main straight at half chat. That's something we saw a lot of last year at Jerez.
And we have our 11th car: Romain Grosjean heads out for his first lap in the Lotus E21.
Talking of Rosberg, he was in buoyant form after a short demo run in the W04 yesterday. Here's what he had to say:
"It was a great start, everything went to plan: it all fitted very well, it was all good and I could straight away push when I was out there, and that was very enjoyable. The car was balanced well, so it was a perfect start. As a result I look forward to driving a full test day tomorrow."
"It was a great start, everything went to plan: it all fitted very well, it was all good and I could straight away push when I was out there, and that was very enjoyable. The car was balanced well, so it was a perfect start. As a result I look forward to driving a full test day tomorrow."
The drivers are taking advantage of the improving conditions too - just after Webber sets a personal best, Rosberg lowers the overall benchmark to a 1m20.846s. Massa follows that up by slotting into second, albeit some 1.6s down.
Glenn Freeman on track watch reports that temperatures are (finally) soaring - 15 degrees now, even if the air temperature remains a cool seven.
By: Sam Tremayne, Matt Beer, Glenn Freeman, Geoff Creighton
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