Barcelona Day 1 – Heidfeld Leads and Button Impresses

For the first time since the end of the 2008 season and the Brazilian Grand Prix, the ten teams were in action on the same circuit as the countdown to Melbourne begins.

All the teams thus gathered in Spain with the first test sessions of the new Mercedes BGP001 by Brawn and the Toro Rosso STR4 taking center stage.

Nick Heidfeld is the leader at the end of this first day of testing with BMW-Sauber. The German completed 96 laps of the 4.655 km circuit with a best time of 1:20.338 on the 79th lap.

Kimi Räikkönen was not able to cover a large number of kilometers for Ferrari in the morning because the team was checking the underside of the new F60. The 2007 champion began to drive in earnest in the afternoon, finishing second of the day, six-tenths of a second behind Heidfeld.

Jarno Trulli started Toyota’s testing program which launched a new front wing on the TF109. The Italian completed 121 solid laps to secure the third-best time, very close to Räikkönen’s.

This morning, the session started in damp conditions, but the rain quickly stopped, giving us the chance to have a good day of work. The afternoon was windy, but the track surface was good, Trulli said.

The car was well balanced from the start and we worked on new things with the front wing that gave us positive results. We were competitive throughout the day and collected a lot of data. It’s a satisfying start.

Jenson Button made his grand return and was in charge of running the new Brawn GP single-seater. Predominantly white, the Briton was immediately on the pace despite it being his first tests. Button was able to complete 82 laps with a best time of 1:21.140, placing the BGP001 in fourth place, just eight-tenths off the leader.

To date, Nelson Piquet (Renault) has always had some difficulties with the R29, but the Brazilian was much closer to the pace today with the fifth fastest time, half a second behind Button.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso reportedly wished for a longer and more in-depth session with the new STR4 package. Sébastien Bourdais gave the new car its first official public run. He completed 86 promising laps, securing the sixth best time, just ahead of Mark Webber in the Red Bull Renault.

Adrian Sutil for Force India is eighth in the Mercedes-powered VJM02, completing 129 laps with nearly four-tenths of a second ahead of Kazuki Nakajima with the Williams Toyota.

« I am very confident and happy with the progress we made today. 129 laps is a good result. We gathered a lot more data. We simulated a race and a qualifying session. Everything went well, » said Sutil.

« It was very important to see how the tires reacted over this distance. I feel ready for Melbourne and we will see if tomorrow, we can improve even more. »

Heikki Kovalainen was out for the McLaren-Mercedes team, still partly focused on the 2009 version of the rear wing. The MP4/24 will continue to be aerodynamically reshaped.

However, the times remain mediocre for the Woking team. The Finnish driver is at the very bottom, 2.6 seconds behind Heidfeld and a tenth behind Nakajima.

The tests will continue tomorrow, Tuesday.

Results of Private Testing Spain – Barcelona – Monday, March 9, 2009