At the end of an exciting day for F1 it was business as usual as Sebastian Vettel topped the times in the new Red Bull.
However most team would agree that little was learned today as drivers were running brand new cars for the first time, and two top teams did very few laps. In addition several were still using last year’s models, including McLaren.
After the launches of the Sauber and Renault yesterday this morning saw the wraps come off the Red Bull, Mercedes, Toro Rosso and Williams.
Vettel ran a marathon 93 laps in the new car, while Ferrari showed reliability as Fernando Alonso matched that figure.
Second fastest was the 2010 Force India of Niko Hulkenberg, while Gary Paffett was third in last year’s McLaren. Paul di Resta, who shared the Force India for half a day, was fourth.
Of the other new cars Alonso was fifth, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber. Belgian rookie Jerome d’Ambrosio was next in the 2010 Virgin, ahead of Vitaly Petrov in the Renault, the Russian running only 26 laps and missing a lot of track time with car problems.
Running only in the afternoon Michael Schumacher was thwarted by hydraulic problems and did only 14 laps, after Nico Rosberg did only eight in the morning with the silver car.
The new Lotus T128 will join the action tomorrow.
More news later…
Adam Cooper F1 