Raikkonen Quickest at Valencia - Morning Session

Finland's Kimi Raikkonen posted the quickest time of the morning session at the Valencia circuit, where five Formula One teams kicked off their preparations for the new season following the testing ban that ended today.

McLaren driver Raikkonen completed 26 laps before the lunch break, lapping more than half a second quicker than the closest of his rivals in the Mercedes-powered MP4-17. The Finn finished ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, who was the quickest of all the Williams drivers on track today.

The Grove-based squad, runners-up in last season's Championship, worked with three cars today, with test driver Marc Gene being joined by Italian Giorgio Pantano, who set an impressive fifth quickest time after 54 laps at the wheel of the Michelin-shod FW24.

23-year old Pantano, this year's runner up in the F3000 championship, had already tested for Benetton and McLaren in the past. Italian Jarno Trulli was the only man on track for the Renault team, the Pescaran setting the sixth quickest time with an hybrid version of the R202 car with next year's engine and gearbox.

Frenchman Franck Montagny was in action for the Minardi team, working alongside Russian Sergey Zlobin, who was more than 12 seconds off the pace with an old PS01 chassis.

Testing will resume in the afternoon.

For pictures of today's testing visit Atlas F1's Photo Gallery.

Today's times:

Pos Driver Team-Engine Tyres Time Laps 1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:13.875 26 2. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.478 24 3. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:14.784 35 4. Wurz McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:14.827 9 5. Pantano Williams-BMW (M) 1:14.894 54 6. Trulli Renault (M) 1:15.390 23 7. Gene Williams-BMW (M) 1:16.257 9 8 Montagny Minardi-European (M) 1:17.043 29 9. Zlobin Minardi-European (M) 1:25.491 7 All Timing Unofficial

Visit Atlas F1's Testing Center for further information