Jerez Day 1: Soucek Dominates with Williams, Bianchi 5th

Formula 1 had been on vacation for a few weeks, but work resumed today in Jerez for a first full week of private testing. All the teams, except Toyota, gathered in Spain to test rookie Formula 1 drivers. In sunny but cool weather conditions, Andy Soucek, on behalf of Williams, recorded the best performance of the day. Jules Bianchi, the F3 Euroseries champion and French, finished fifth on the Ferrari F60. Bertrand Baguette, the Belgian, was a bit further down the standings with Renault, in ninth place.

Andy Soucek is therefore the leader of this first day despite a crash this afternoon that required the deployment of red flags. The 24-year-old Spaniard, testing for Williams thanks to his Formula 2 trophy, remained at the top of the timesheets during the first hour of racing and was never outside the top four thereafter.

His time of 1:19.158 was achieved during the first hour of the race, but notably after a spin and a skid at the Michelin hairpin. The red flags were also deployed.

The Briton Paul di Resta made an impression with an impressive second-fastest time for Force India despite only driving in the afternoon, having taken over from JR Hildebrand, who was present in the morning. The DTM driver positioned himself in second place in the last 10 minutes of the session, 0.211s behind Soucek, which relegated Gary Paffett for McLaren to third position.

The morning tests were also interrupted by a red flag. Brendon Hartley crashed his Toro Rosso into the barriers at the Ferrari corner. The right front wheel and the nose of his car were damaged. Consequently, he is the slowest driver. Daniel Ricciardo, who was following closely, tried to avoid him but ended up getting his Red Bull stuck in the gravel.

Ricciardo quickly recovered to set the fourth-fastest time, ahead of Jules Bianchi for Ferrari and Mike Conway’s Brawn. The other Brawn, driven by Ericsson, is in 8th place.

The BMW-Sauber team tested Alexander Rossi as a reward for his recent results. He was the seventh fastest: «I really enjoyed this day. It’s impressive to see what the car does and the overall level of grip. But I have to admit that I’m also a bit disappointed because being a racing driver means being the fastest! »

« I think that in the afternoon, we didn’t manage to find the perfect balance. Physically, I must say it was demanding and yet I was prepared. The G-forces are obviously higher. »

Oliver Turvey, during testing for winning the BRDC McLaren award, drove for 90 minutes at the end of the day for McLaren. He completed only 27 laps, fewer than anyone else, but improved his time more than anyone else in the last half-hour. His best lap was 1.698 seconds off Soucek.

The tests will continue tomorrow and until Thursday for some teams.

Results Private Tests Jerez – Day 1 – Tuesday, December 1, 2009: