Hot on the heels of his lights-to-flag Bahrain triumph, Felipe Massa proved he is very much still in the groove as the Formula 1 circus returns to European soil for the first time in over a month – by setting a searing pace on the opening day of testing in Barcelona.
Though he languished right down towards the bottom of the timesheets in the morning, the Brazilian improved substantially in the afternoon – despite decidedly overcast conditions, strong winds and a late shower over the Circuit de Catalunya – to end proceedings almost 2.5 seconds clear of anyone else.
With the sport's regulations stipulating that teams may only run one car in each test held during the season, Massa tried out new aerodynamic components on Ferrari's F2008 whilst working on finding the best set-up for the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of the month, round four on the F1 calendar. In the afternoon, the 26-year-old also did some laps using the 2009-spec Bridgestone tyres, which proved to be almost 1.5 seconds faster than the current rubber.
A surprise second-fastest – and quickest of all at the midday lunch break – was Honda test driver Alex Wurz, as the Brackley-based squad put their new aero package through its paces, hoping it will prove the catalyst for a significant leap up the pecking order come the next race. The Austrian did, however, have to contend with an early drama when a small fire at the rear of the car quite literally stopped him in his tracks in the morning.
Wurz ultimately wound up half a second ahead of McLaren-Mercedes counterpart Pedro de la Rosa, who completed the second-most laps of anyone present with a marathon 103 on the board as he too spent time evaluating Bridgestone's 2009 Potenza tyres with his MP4-23 set up as close as possible to next year's regulations.
BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld ended the day fourth on the timing screens, the German the only man to conduct more laps than de la Rosa as he covered 105 tours of the Montmelo track behind the wheel of the Munich and Hinwil-based concern's F1.08. The man currently lying in second spot in the world drivers' standings focused on aerodynamic and mechanical set-up work as well as trying out different engine mappings in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Only a precautionary stop when an alarm light came on inside the cockpit disrupted the 30-year-old's progress, and he will remain in the car on Tuesday before handing over to team-mate Robert Kubica for the final two days. BMW affirmed it is not planning to try out the quicker 2009 regulation set-up until later in the test.
David Coulthard wound up fifth in the Red Bull Racing as the experienced Scot looked at chassis and aerodynamic work and was another to try out the 2009-spec tyres, whilst Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Timo Glock (Toyota) and Nelsinho Piquet (Renault) proved evenly-matched and were separated by less than two tenths of a second in sixth to eighth places respectively. Force India's Vitantonio Luzzi brought up the rear in ninth, more than four seconds away from Massa's stunning effort.
“The morning was spent working on the 2009 tyre programme with Bridgestone,” summarised Williams technical director Sam Michael, “then the rest of the session was devoted to suspension work in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix next week.”
“Today was a productive day, and the team and mechanics did a good job,” stated Glock, who concentrated on set-up work and trying out an aerodynamic update due to be introduced for the forthcoming grand prix, despite suffering a brief off-piste moment early on. “Everybody was focused on the new bits and pieces that we have brought and trying to find the right way forward. In the end that's what we did.
“I made one small mistake in the morning and spun off, but it didn't cost us too much running time. In the afternoon we collected a lot of data to look at and now we just have to fine-tune that. Hopefully overnight we can find the right direction from all the information we have gathered today. The timesheets might not show it yet, but I'm happy with our work so far.”
“Our main aim for the week is to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix here in ten days' time,” added Toyota test team manager Gerd Pfeiffer. “We will be concentrating on the revised aerodynamics package on the TF108 along with setting up the car for the race.
“Timo tested the new parts today and we collected some useful data, even if the afternoon was windy so that made it difficult to make detailed comparisons during his long runs. Overall we made it through a solid amount of work today, so that was positive.”
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Though he languished right down towards the bottom of the timesheets in the morning, the Brazilian improved substantially in the afternoon – despite decidedly overcast conditions, strong winds and a late shower over the Circuit de Catalunya – to end proceedings almost 2.5 seconds clear of anyone else.
With the sport's regulations stipulating that teams may only run one car in each test held during the season, Massa tried out new aerodynamic components on Ferrari's F2008 whilst working on finding the best set-up for the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of the month, round four on the F1 calendar. In the afternoon, the 26-year-old also did some laps using the 2009-spec Bridgestone tyres, which proved to be almost 1.5 seconds faster than the current rubber.
A surprise second-fastest – and quickest of all at the midday lunch break – was Honda test driver Alex Wurz, as the Brackley-based squad put their new aero package through its paces, hoping it will prove the catalyst for a significant leap up the pecking order come the next race. The Austrian did, however, have to contend with an early drama when a small fire at the rear of the car quite literally stopped him in his tracks in the morning.
Wurz ultimately wound up half a second ahead of McLaren-Mercedes counterpart Pedro de la Rosa, who completed the second-most laps of anyone present with a marathon 103 on the board as he too spent time evaluating Bridgestone's 2009 Potenza tyres with his MP4-23 set up as close as possible to next year's regulations.
BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld ended the day fourth on the timing screens, the German the only man to conduct more laps than de la Rosa as he covered 105 tours of the Montmelo track behind the wheel of the Munich and Hinwil-based concern's F1.08. The man currently lying in second spot in the world drivers' standings focused on aerodynamic and mechanical set-up work as well as trying out different engine mappings in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Only a precautionary stop when an alarm light came on inside the cockpit disrupted the 30-year-old's progress, and he will remain in the car on Tuesday before handing over to team-mate Robert Kubica for the final two days. BMW affirmed it is not planning to try out the quicker 2009 regulation set-up until later in the test.
David Coulthard wound up fifth in the Red Bull Racing as the experienced Scot looked at chassis and aerodynamic work and was another to try out the 2009-spec tyres, whilst Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Timo Glock (Toyota) and Nelsinho Piquet (Renault) proved evenly-matched and were separated by less than two tenths of a second in sixth to eighth places respectively. Force India's Vitantonio Luzzi brought up the rear in ninth, more than four seconds away from Massa's stunning effort.
“The morning was spent working on the 2009 tyre programme with Bridgestone,” summarised Williams technical director Sam Michael, “then the rest of the session was devoted to suspension work in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix next week.”
“Today was a productive day, and the team and mechanics did a good job,” stated Glock, who concentrated on set-up work and trying out an aerodynamic update due to be introduced for the forthcoming grand prix, despite suffering a brief off-piste moment early on. “Everybody was focused on the new bits and pieces that we have brought and trying to find the right way forward. In the end that's what we did.
“I made one small mistake in the morning and spun off, but it didn't cost us too much running time. In the afternoon we collected a lot of data to look at and now we just have to fine-tune that. Hopefully overnight we can find the right direction from all the information we have gathered today. The timesheets might not show it yet, but I'm happy with our work so far.”
“Our main aim for the week is to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix here in ten days' time,” added Toyota test team manager Gerd Pfeiffer. “We will be concentrating on the revised aerodynamics package on the TF108 along with setting up the car for the race.
“Timo tested the new parts today and we collected some useful data, even if the afternoon was windy so that made it difficult to make detailed comparisons during his long runs. Overall we made it through a solid amount of work today, so that was positive.”
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