Barcelona Testing: Day 1 with Kimi

Source: autosport.com | lotusf1team.com | photo gallery

Nico Rosberg narrowly edged out Kimi Raikkonen to put Mercedes on top on the first day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

Both men found improvements after bolting on Pirelli’s medium-compound rubber in the final 20 minutes of the day.

Minutes later Raikkonen staged his own late rally, but despite bettering Rosberg’s sector two time he fell seven thousandths of a second short of putting Lotus on top.

TUESDAY'S TIMES

Pos  Driver         Team            Time                Laps
 1.  Rosberg        Mercedes        1m22.616s           
 2.  Raikkonen      Lotus           1m22.623s  +0.007     44 
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari         1m22.952s  +0.336   
 4.  Vettel         Red Bull        1m22.965s  +0.349   
 5.  Maldonado      Williams        1m23.733s  +1.117   
 6.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso      1m23.884s  +1.268   
 7.  Perez          McLaren         1m24.124s  +1.508   
 8.  Di Resta       Force India     1m24.144s  +1.528   
 9.  Gutierrez      Sauber          1m25.124s  +2.508   
10.  Chilton        Marussia        1m26.747s  +4.131   
11.  Pic            Caterham        1m27.534s  +4.918

Motor Racing - Formula One Testing - Test Two - Day 1 - Barcelona, Spain

Kimi Raikkonen became the first man to lap under 1m24s in the morning with a 1m23.5s. Alonso closed to within half a tenth of the Lotus, but then Vettel took charge going into the final half hour. A series of improvements got the Red bull to 1m23.046s, 0.525s clear of Raikkonen.

Morning times:

Pos  Driver               Team          Time                  Laps 
 1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull      1m23.046s             25
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus         1m23.571s  + 0.525s   19
 3.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari       1m23.626s  + 0.580s   44
 4.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams      1m23.733s  + 0.687s   47
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso    1m23.884s  + 0.838s   44
 6.  Sergio Perez         McLaren       1m24.124s  + 1.078s   22
 7.  Paul di Resta        Force India   1m24.144s  + 1.098s   47
 8.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes      1m24.520s  + 1.474s   14
 9.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber        1m25.136s  + 2.090s   38
10.  Charles Pic          Caterham      1m27.534s  + 4.488s   40
11.  Max Chilton          Marussia      1m28.068s  + 5.022s   36

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