Jerez Day 1 – Buemi ahead of Bourdais, Toro Rosso leads

Toro Rosso begins its Jerez (Spain) tests with a bang. Sébastien Buemi finishes first ahead of his one-day teammate, Frenchman Sébastien Bourdais. The Italian team’s choice for its 2009 driver lineup will be made at the end of this week of testing.

A total of six teams were present on this first day to evaluate cars in 2009 specification. Leading the way, Buemi took a new step towards securing a race driver spot for the next season.

The trials started very late due to fog and with the added challenge of a wet track. The drivers were then disrupted by showers in the middle of the afternoon.

The McLaren test driver, Gary Paffett, kicked off his tests and finished with the third-fastest time of the day. He focused on the development of the KERS. The Briton has a three-hundredths lead over his teammate Pedro de la Rosa, who concentrated more on setting up the McLaren.

Kimi Räikkönen is back in his seat for the first time since his demonstration in Mugello last month. He takes 5th place. He worked on setting up the Ferrari over long distances as well as evaluating the Ferrari engine.

The sixth is Nick Heidfeld, who focused his day on the suspension and aerodynamic development of the BMW-Sauber. He is happy with the car today compared to the one in Barcelona.

« It seems that we are heading in the right direction », said the German.

Behind, we find Kazuki Nakajima and Nelson Piquet. Christian Klien, for his part, only managed to complete 15 laps after being forced to stop to change the engine as a precaution. He had been tasked with working on the KERS.

Results of private tests – Jerez – December 9, 2008: