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Final Barcelona test begins, with Romain Grosjean on top - Last chance for season preparations gets underway

Published by Christine

Grosjean heads the times in Barcelona
Grosjean heads the times in BarcelonaCredit: Andrew Ferraro/LAT Photographic

Lotus hit the ground running on their return to testing, with Romain Grosjean leading the way for the first day of the final week in Barcelona. The team missed the previous test in Catalunya after pulling out on the first day with suspension issues, but have returned with a car they say feels as good as new.

Grosjean pipped Jenson Button to the top spot, after the McLaren driver headed up the morning and much of the afternoon. Long runs were part of many team's plans, with no less than six squads hitting the century. Vitaly Petrov was driving for Caterham in place of the expected Heikki Kovalainen, as the Finn was feeling under the weather.

A couple of updates from the ground:

Longer runs for Nico this afternoon with a total of 128 laps completed by the end of the day... Michael will be in the F1 W03 tomorrow.

MercedesAMGF1 MercedesAMGF1

113 laps completed and our boy Jean-Eric shows no sign of being tired, well done!

ToroRossoSpy ToroRossoSpy

Stomach feeling better, only some temperature now hopefully fighting the bug off. Been following the test, Vitaly did great program today

H_Kovalainen H_Kovalainen

2012 Pre-Season Testing - Day 1, Barcelona
PositionDriverTeamTimeLaps
1Romain GrosjeanLotus1:23.25273
2Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:23.51064
3Sergio PérezSauber1:23.820118
4Mark WebberRed Bull1:23.830102
5Nico RosbergMercedes1:23.992128
6Jean-Éric VergneToro Rosso1:24.216113
7Paul di RestaForce India1:24.30598
8Felipe MassaFerrari1:24.318105
9Vitaly PetrovCaterham1:24.876123
10Pastor MaldonadoWilliams1:25.58758

All content in the series F1 testing 2012