Testing at Paul Ricard, Day 1

Hamilton was the only man to lap the French track in less than 66
seconds, posting a best time of 1:05.600 despite being the driver with
the smallest number of laps completed.

The layout used today was the 3.593km 2D SC.

With all outfits focusing on their preparations for the Monaco Grand
Prix, several new aerodynamic elements appeared today on some of the
cars.

Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest, albeit over
four tenths of a second slower than his McLaren rival. The Italian
squad were working with their regular nose for most of the day, but
Raikkonen tried the ‘hole in the nose’ concept for his final run.

Ferrari have said they will use the nose again in Monaco after it skipped the race in Turkey.

BMW’s Robert Kubica was third quickest after 124 laps, with Red
Bull’s Mark Webber, the early pace-setter today, finishing down in
fourth.

Sebastian Vettel finally got his first taste of Toro Rosso’s new
STR3 car following its troubled debut in Spain. The car, which featured
a shark-fin engine cover, is scheduled to race in Monte Carlo after its
introduction was delayed following a crash by Sebastien Bourdais in
testing.

Vettel showed promising form with the new car, setting the first
fastest time ahead of Nico Rosberg, whose Williams team also introduced
a new shark-fin engine cover today.

Rosberg was the busiest man with 154 laps completed.

Alex Wurz returned to Formula One action following his LMS outing in
Spa last weekend, carrying out testing duties for his Honda team, who
tried a new version of their ‘Dumbo-style’ front wing.

Toyota also introduced new aerodynamic updates – including a new rear wing – tested by Timo Glock.

Tonio Liuzzi was also back behind the wheel of a Formula One car for
the first time in weeks, testing for the Force India team. He set the
ninth quickest time, ahead of Renault’s test driver Luca di Grassi.

Vettel and di Grassi caused the two red flags of the day, although
Hamilton, Kubica and Glock also stopped at the end of the pitlane.

Today’s times:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:05.600   84
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:06.089  103
 3.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:06.177  124
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:06.348   93
 5.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:06.372   91
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:06.571  154
 7.  Wurz          Honda                (B)  1:06.681  131
 8.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:06.935   93
 9.  Liuzzi        Force India-Ferrari  (B)  1:07.346  106
10.  di Grassi     Renault              (B)  1:07.430  146

Kimi Raikkonen got on with preparations for the Monaco Grand Prix,
running on a version of the track that simulates some of the
characteristics of the Monegasque circuit. The Finnish driver worked on
finding the best set-up and on development of new aerodynamic
components.

Kimi’s day in figures is as follows: 103 laps completed, the quickest in a time of 1.06.098. Testing at this circuit continues tomorrow, again with Kimi Raikkonen on track.

It’s testing so you can’t really take much conclusion from the times, but it’s good to hear Kimi and the team will be using the ‘hole in the nose’ design at Monaco – especially after it’s success at Spain where Kimi seemed to like the car’s handling much better. And if you haven’t seen the following image in the photo album, it’s a great shot of Kimi on the Paul Ricard circuit against the coloured lines on the run off areas. I thought it was worthy of making into a wallpaper, so enjoy it! The second one of a more intimate Kimi was requested by a fan named ‘peaces & cream’ (just for you!)

Click! >