Vettel fastest in opening 2011 test - Red Bull open proceedings in Spain with the top time
Published by Christine
The first day of pre-season testing got underway at Valencia today, coinciding with the launch of four more brand new cars. The season is still a good 40-odd days away, but we saw the teams back in action as they start tweaking their 2011 challengers ahead of the racing proper.
Vettel led the way, picking up where Red Bull left off in 2010, whilst Hülkenberg got off to a good start in his new reserve driver role at Force India. Alonso completed the most laps for Ferrari, almost breaking through into 100, whilst Rosberg completed the least.
The Mercedes driver managed only 9 laps before the car stopped out on track with hydraulic problems, causing a red flag. Rosberg was always scheduled to share driving duties with Schumacher, and the car was repaired in time for Michael to complete 15 more laps.
The only other red flag came from Alonso who stopped out on track just a few minutes before the day's running was over.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:13.769 | 93 |
| 2 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India | 1:13.938 | 71 |
| 3 | Gary Paffett | McLaren | 1:14.292 | 91 |
| 4 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 1:14.461 | 28 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:14.553 | 97 |
| 6 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:15.621 | 68 |
| 7 | Jérôme D'Ambrosio | Virgin Racing | 1:16.003 | 71 |
| 8 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:16.351 | 28 |
| 9 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:16.450 | 15 |
| 10 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:17.214 | 19 |
| 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 1:17.335 | 77 |
| 12 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:18.020 | 45 |
| 13 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:19.930 | 9 |
