Jerez Day 1: Vettel, Red Bull, and the Rain Back on Top!

Sebastian Vettel put Red Bull at the top of the timesheets during the first day of testing this week in Jerez. It is the first time in 2010 that the German is in the lead. This new round of tests started with another rainy day in Andalusia. Conditions were difficult throughout the session with only occasional sunshine. Indeed, heavy showers fell in Spain and the ambient humidity only persisted. Vettel set his best lap early in the afternoon to clock a best time of 1.22.593.

Lewis Hamilton improved at the very last minute when the track had somewhat dried. He ultimately finishes 0.424 seconds behind Vettel. The McLaren driver relegated Felipe Massa for Ferrari to third place. Both drivers had already lost some time by stopping on the track and contributed to the deployment of five red flags throughout the day.

Sébastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso remained near the top and finally settled in fourth place, ahead of Pedro de la Rosa’s Sauber and Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes. The latter was the most active driver of the day, completing 111 laps.

“The weather was really changing all the time today, which makes it difficult to follow our schedule and have a clear picture of everyone’s performances,” Schumacher said. “From the first laps we completed, we confirmed the car’s reliability again. Based on the impressions and data collected, we can say that the performance and pace seem very good. We have a solid foundation to continue development here in Jerez and next week at the final tests in Barcelona.”

De la Rosa also admitted that the weather did not help, but the Spaniard is still satisfied with his work: « The conditions were obviously not ideal today, but overall everything went well for us. We were able to complete all the tasks we had scheduled. »

«However, we hope to complete a few more laps in dry conditions, as we still have a lot of work to do. The weather is not very good for Thursday, so we need to make the most of every dry window we get. »

Force India used both its reserve driver, Paul di Resta, and one of its race drivers, Adrian Sutil. Di Resta caused an early red flag with a spin and finished just behind Sutil on the timesheet.

Rubens Barrichello caused two more red flags when his Williams stopped. He finishes 10th with 109 laps on the counter behind Vitaly Petrov for Renault.

All eyes were on Lotus as they conducted their first tests alongside their rivals. Reserve driver Fairuz Fauzy completed 76 laps for an encouraging start. The Malaysian is 9.2 seconds off Vettel’s pace but 0.6 seconds ahead of Timo Glock in the Virgin. The other new team only completed 10 laps.

Results Private Testing Jerez – Day 1 – Wednesday, February 17, 2010: