Barcelona Testing Day 1 – Vettel Steals the Spotlight from Alonso

It is in a tense political context, in light of the events currently unfolding in Bahrain, that the first of four scheduled test days began in Barcelona at the Circuit de Catalunya. However, this did not disturb the drivers who set off this morning on a wet track, before it dried completely by midday.

It was in his last lap that reigning champion Sebastian Vettel prevented local hero Fernando Alonso from ending the first day at the top of the time sheets, relegating him to second place more than a second behind the German. Red Bull took advantage of the wet track in the morning to test Pirelli’s intermediate tires. Some concerns about the reliability of the RB7 led the team to carry out checks during the lunch break.

« Unfortunately, we didn’t do many laps today, given the long break we imposed on ourselves, longer than expected, » Vettel told the press. « It wasn’t something important, nothing was broken, but during testing if you suspect a problem, then it’s better to check the car. The guys did their best and we were able to do a few runs at the end of the day, not as many as we would have liked, but the car is running well and fortunately, we’ll be driving more tomorrow. »

For its part, Ferrari fielded a car in the same configuration as in previous tests. The Scuderia took the opportunity to test the Pirelli tires and to put the reliability of the F150th Italia to the test. No issues were reported.

The podium of the day is completed by the surprising Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso. In the morning, the Faenza team completed around twenty laps on intermediate tires and focused on brake evaluation in the afternoon.

Other highlights: the engine change on Barrichello’s Williams, which caused the team to lose time; Lotus had to stop slightly before the end of the session due to a gearbox problem; finally, Lotus Renault GP faced KERS issues today, which nonetheless allowed the team to conduct some pit stop simulations and perfect a new lollipop light system.

The times from the first day of testing in Barcelona: