Jerez Test: Week Two Day One

Testing resumed today at Jerez for the second week of running around the Spanish circuit, and it was Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel who posted the fastest lap of the day. The weather played its part again, with rain showers interrupting the afternoon and limiting the running made by the teams that did not time their runs well. Of the new teams, Virgin were out in force again and today marked the testing debut for the Lotus T127, being piloted around Jerez by the squad’s test driver, Fairuz Fauzy.

As mentioned, Red Bull Racing fielded Vettel for today and the Lotus went to Fauzy, while McLaren allowed Lewis Hamilton to pilot the MP4-25. Michael Schumacher was at the wheel of the Mercedes, Felipe Massa for Ferrari, Vitaly Petrov for Renault, Pedro De La Rosa for Sauber, Timo Glock in the Virgin, Sebastien Buemi for Scuderia Toro Rosso, Rubens Barrichello for Williams and Force India ran with two drivers, Paul Di Resta in the morning and Adrian Sutil in the afternoon.

Although the track was damp in the morning, a dry line soon emerged and the weather was looking to be okay for a productive day of testing. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way as intermittent showers soon plagued the Spanish circuit. All the drivers went out early with the sole exception of Glock, while Petrov only completed two installation laps in the Renault during the first two hours. The Russian pilot was soon allowed to get some mileage under his belt as the team began its programme just before lunch, but a rain shower soon halted proceedings and all the drivers scurried back to the pits. Ferrari took the opportunity to cover the rear end of the F10 every time they could

Timo Glock finally ventured out onto the wet track at 11am, and as the rain eased, he was joined by most others. During the course of the day, five red flags were thrown, two of which went to Barrichello. Hamilton, Massa and Di Resta caused the other three, with the Force India driver spinning early on.

In the afternoon and on a drying circuit, Sebastian Vettel squeezed in the fastest lap of the day, and in the dying minutes Lewis Hamilton improved his McLaren up to second. Felipe Massa and similarly-powered Sebastien Buemi slotted into third and fourth places, while Pedro De La Rosa pipped Michael Schumacher for fifth towards the end of the day. Paul Di Resta steadily improved during the morning, and Adrian Sutil improved to seventh just before the chequered flag was shown.

Vitaly Petrov finally got some laps in and Rubens Barrichello did not have an enjoyable afternoon in the FW32, although the Brazilian was simulating a race distance and completed 109 laps. Fauzy managed the Lotus well and ended his afternoon ahead of Timo Glock in the Virgin VR-01, the former completing 76 laps while the latter only managing 10. Fauzy’s time was made even more impressive by the fact the Malaysian driver was running without power steering, the team blaming the problem on a supplier issue.

Michael Schumacher was the busiest driver of the day, completing 111 laps, while Sebastien Buemi impressed with the fourth best time of the day in the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR5. Timo Glock and Vitaly Petrov failed to complete many laps. Testing resumes tomorrow where the teams will be hoping for a dry day throughout.

Jerez Test Week Two Day One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m22.593s	99 Laps
2.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m23.017s	72 Laps
3.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m23.204s	72 Laps
4.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.322s	79 Laps
5.	Pedro De La Rosa Sauber	1m23.367s	76 Laps
6.	Michael Schumacher Mercedes	1m23.803s	111 Laps
7.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m24.272s	28 Laps
8.	Paul Di Resta Force India	1m25.088s	74 Laps
9.	Vitaly Petrov Renault	1m26.237s	55 Laps
10.	Rubens Barrichello Williams	1m27.320s	109 Laps
11.	Fairuz Fauzy Lotus	1m31.848s	76 Laps
12.	Timo Glock Virgin Racing	1m32.417s	10 Laps