Valencia – Day 2 – The Scuderia sets the pace!

Ferrari raised the stakes this week for the second official day of private testing in Valencia, Spain. The Scuderia placed its driver duo at the top of the timesheet, with Felipe Massa half a second faster than his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen. Third place, Nico Rosberg with the new Williams FW30, impressed the competition.

The Ferrari drivers were indeed the fastest on track today. On the 4 km of asphalt, Massa took the lead at the very end of the session and in ideal weather conditions. 23° in the air with very light wind.

Räikkönen, who tested different setups, completed several long stints and is ahead, and it’s a small surprise, the brand new Williams of Nico Rosberg. The FW30 impressed in its first competitive test and even takes the podium over the two McLaren-Mercedes drivers.

Sam Mickael, the technical director of Williams stated: « Rosberg tested several engine mappings with a successful trial, especially since no issues were encountered! For his part, Nakajima continued the reliability tests with the FW29. »

Heikki Kovalainen signs the 4th best performance, a tenth ahead of his teammate De La Rosa. He is ahead in the car of his former team, Fernando Alonso with the R28; also competing for the first time.

Behind the Spaniard, Kazuki Nakajima continued the development work on certain parts with a Williams FW29B. He is ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who is in the top 8 with the first Toro Rosso. The version of the STR2 used today will be identical for the first race in Melbourne on March 16th. His teammate, four-time Champ Car champion Sébastien Bourdais, is 10th.

Between the two Toro Rossos is the likely future test driver for BMW with an older version, Marko Asmer. Nick Heidfeld, who was testing a new front wing on the F1.08, was left behind. He set the 11th fastest time with this configuration called Viking (see photo section).

In 12th and 14th position, the new Toyota also seems to be in the breaking-in period. Trulli, who is ahead of Glock, remains perplexed: “We are still having difficulties on a very changeable track. But we did a lot of laps today, which was our goal. Nevertheless, we still have a lot of room for improvement, and we will work hard to achieve it.”

David Coulthard takes the 13th position in the new RB4. He did not shine either but focused on evaluation. Behind him, Liuzzi for Force India and Wurz with an entirely white Honda bring up the rear.

Valencia Testing – Day 2