Barcelona F1 test: Max Chilton quickest on first day

The Briton leapt to the top of the times with a late run on Pirelli's supersoft tyre that put him just over two tenths clear of Charles Pic's twin-tusk Lotus, which set its best time on the soft tyre.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton led the way for most of the day, which began wet on the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.

The Mercedes driver, who took his fourth straight win of the season at the Spanish GP on Sunday, wound up third fastest, only 0.013s slower than Pic on a set of mediums.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest after enduring a difficult day for Ferrari.

The Finn stopped after just two laps in the morning due to an engine failure, and brought out the red flags again in the afternoon after finding the Turn 4 gravel trap having briefly toppled Hamilton from the top spot.

Ferrari was forced to replace the car's floor after the incident.

Less than a tenth of a second covered the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Hulkenberg's Force India, and the Williams of Felipe Massa, while Jenson Button's McLaren was a further half a second back in eighth.

Kamui Kobayashi's Caterham and Giedo van der Garde's Sauber sandwiched the Red Bull of Sebastien Buemi at the foot of the times, with Kobayashi having crashed at Turn 3 late on.

Buemi's running was curtailed early by the RB10 developing a gearbox problem during the afternoon running.

The test resumes tomorrow with Mercedes set to trial an exhaust update aimed at increasing the noise levels produced by F1's new breed of V6 turbo engines.

Pos Driver                 Team                    Time       Gap
 1. Max Chilton            Marussia-Ferrari        1m26.434s
 2. Charles Pic            Lotus-Renault           1m26.661s  +0.227s
 3. Lewis Hamilton         Mercedes                1m26.674s  +0.240s
 4. Kimi Raikkonen         Ferrari                 1m26.965s  +0.531s
 5. Jean-Eric Vergne       Toro Rosso-Renault      1m27.724s  +1.290s
 6. Nico Hulkenberg        Force India-Mercedes    1m27.727s  +1.293s
 7. Felipe Massa           Williams-Mercedes       1m27.756s  +1.322s
 8. Jenson Button          McLaren-Mercedes        1m28.333s  +1.899s
 9. Kamui Kobayashi        Caterham-Renault        1m30.101s  +3.667s
10. Sebastien Buemi        Red Bull-Renault        1m31.440s  +5.006s
11. Giedo van der Garde    Sauber-Ferrari          1m31.783s  +5.349s