To bad for Nico and Hamilton... although I'm not his fan. Because it wasn't a good day for Mercedes at all.
ZitatJerez day one – Button sets the pace for McLaren 05 Feb 2013
Jenson Button bounced back from an early setback to ensure that McLaren ended the first day of pre-season testing in Spain on top.
The day began badly for the 2009 world champion as his new McLaren MP4-28 ground to a halt after just three laps of the Jerez track, bringing out the red flag. The car was returned to the pits on the back of a truck with the team later confirming that a fuel pump problem had caused the stoppage.
With the problem fixed, Button was able to have a much more positive afternoon and ended the day having completed 37 laps, with his timesheet-topping lap set on Pirelli’s new orange-striped hard compound tyres.
Second fastest was Mark Webber for reigning champions Red Bull. Driving the new RB9 the Australian had a largely trouble-free day, completing an impressive 73 laps.
"It was actually like a Friday practice session in some regards," said Webber. "We started understanding the tyres and there were a lot of positives. There’s a bit of housekeeping we have to get on top of but, other than that, it’s been encouraging.
"The car feels similar to last year’s, so the main difference is the tyres. With these tyres you’re always on your toes. It was good that we had consistent temperatures today, so we got a lot of information and feedback to analyse, which is all good. Generally though, the car feels pretty good, so I’m happy.”
Marginally slower than Webber was Romain Grosjean in Lotus’s E21. The Frenchman set the pace in the morning and was unable to better his time in the afternoon.
Paul di Resta, fourth fastest for Force India, also set his fastest time of the day in the morning. The new VJM06 showed impressive reliability as the Scot completed 89 laps – the most of the day.
"I felt very comfortable all day and we managed to get through the programme as we focussed on collecting aero data and understanding how well the car correlates with our simulation tools at the factory," explained Di Resta.
"We also started trying to learn as much about the tyres as possible so that we can carry that into tomorrow and optimise the set-up. The new compounds are quite different with the new construction and I’ve already felt a difference with the balance of the car in the low and high speed parts of the lap.”
Behind Di Resta was Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo in the STR8 who was marginally quicker in than Felipe Massa in the Ferrari F138. The Scuderia spent nearly the entire day acquiring data relating to the behaviour of their new car.
New Sauber recruit Nico Hulkenberg completed 79 laps in the Sauber C32 – considerably more than the 14 fellow German Nico Rosberg managed in the Mercedes F1 W04.
As new team mate Lewis Hamilton looked on, Rosberg stopped out on track with smoke coming from the rear of the car. Mercedes later confirmed that an electrical fault had caused the stoppage and modifications to a wiring loom meant that Rosberg would be forced to sit out the rest of the day.
"At this time of year all you want to do is spend time in the car and get a feeling for how it's working, but these hiccups are just part of the game," said a philosophical Rosberg. "During the laps I completed this morning, I had a good feeling with the car and it felt solid."
Pastor Maldonado had a productive day in a revised version of Williams’ 2012 car, the FW34, completing 84 laps and posting a time marginally faster than those of F1 rookies Giedo van der Garde (in the newly-unveiled Caterham CT03) and Max Chilton (in Marussia’s MR02).
At lunchtime Chilton had said that his first pre-season test with Marussia “couldn’t have got off to a better start”, but the joy was to be short-lived as a suspension problem pitched the 21-year-old Briton into the gravel at the Dry Sac hairpin in the afternoon.
Testing continues at Jerez on Wednesday.
Unofficial Tuesday test times from Jerez: 1. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:18.861, 37 laps 2. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:19.709, 73 laps 3. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1:19.796, 54 laps 4. Paul di Resta, Force India, 1:20.343, 89 laps 5. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso, 1:20.401, 70 laps 6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:20.536, 64 laps 7. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:20.699, 79 laps 8. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:20.846, 14 laps 9. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, 1:20.864, 84 laps * 10. Giedo van der Garde, Caterham, 1:21.915, 64 laps 11. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1:24.176, 29 laps * Using 2012 car
I read from one of the drivers that jerez is known for high tyre degradation. And it is very early yet for the teams to understand the tyres. We will have to see more long runs and comparison of times between teams before we reason out who is "kind" and who is not to their tyres.
Hard to read into that data yet!
Are this years mediums similar to last years mediums? Or are they more like the softs ran in 2012? " title="dunno" />
Looking at some of the pictures from testing, cars don't look much different (especially Lotus and RB). The only team that tried something really different is Sauber with their very narrow sidepods. I hope it works for them
first of all, lovely weather! clear and so sunny!!! " title="sun" />
lotus was kind of late to show up again after gro's first lap...but i was standing on a terrace right over their garage and i could see Allison going and checking his laptop screen, all smiling and happy, so i thought it cant be that bad.... We walked a lot around the paddock, lotus has the most impressive motorhome set up, like no other team they even have a kind of a suite flat set up on a second floor level...i guess Kimi can hide there and not be bothered by anyone ....we saw all the drivers and many people like Wolff, Boullier, Martin, Lopez, Sauber, Fry...
Chilton's crash happened in front of our eyes, always scary as every crash... " title="nails" />
In the evening we saw Kulta, who was very happy, said "we have a good car!" and Allison who was again really happy and said he hopes they do have a good car ( we even saw him sliding from a stair rail like a kid! h" title="hih" /> )
tomorrow we'll hang around the circuit again and then, Thursday!!!! Kimi!!! " title="ii" />
I read from one of the drivers that jerez is known for high tyre degradation. And it is very early yet for the teams to understand the tyres. We will have to see more long runs and comparison of times between teams before we reason out who is "kind" and who is not to their tyres.
Hard to read into that data yet!
Are this years mediums similar to last years mediums? Or are they more like the softs ran in 2012?
I think the hards are similar to last year's meduims, so I am guessing that the meduims might be more similar to last year's softs.
You are right day one is to early to reach any conclusions, the teams didn't even do a lot of laps, tomorrow should be a better time to start making comparisons. And Thursday when Kimi starts testing would be even better. I am glad Kimi didn't start the testing with the new car first this year.
first of all, lovely weather! clear and so sunny!!!
lotus was kind of late to show up again after gro's first lap...but i was standing on a terrace right over their garage and i could see Allison going and checking his laptop screen, all smiling and happy, so i thought it cant be that bad.... We walked a lot around the paddock, lotus has the most impressive motorhome set up, like no other team they even have a kind of a suite flat set up on a second floor level...i guess Kimi can hide there and not be bothered by anyone ....we saw all the drivers and many people like Wolff, Boullier, Martin, Lopez, Sauber, Fry...
Chilton's crash happened in front of our eyes, always scary as every crash...
In the evening we saw Kulta, who was very happy, said "we have a good car!" and Allison who was again really happy and said he hopes they do have a good car ( we even saw him sliding from a stair rail like a kid! )
tomorrow we'll hang around the circuit again and then, Thursday!!!! Kimi!!!
It sounds like you are having an amazing time! There is no substitute for being right there!
I like what I am hearing about about Allison he sounds like a fun guy, the sliding down the stairs is something that Kimi would also do, they properly get along well. On the otherhand could anyone see activities like that happening at Mclaren? Allison properly wouldn't fit into Mclaren's philosophies.
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" title="ty" /> for all the informations 
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