Jerez – Day 2: Hamilton comes back strong!

For the second day of private testing organized in Jerez, in the south of Spain, it was Lewis Hamilton, in his first outing as the 2007 vice-world champion, who topped the timesheets. The Briton was ahead of David Coulthard in the Red Bull and Felipe Massa in the leading Ferrari under sunny skies and a temperature of nearly 20°C.

« It was really good to be back behind the wheel today… It’s been long since the Brazilian Grand Prix, » said Hamilton.

« I started my preparation in 2008, there are only 101 days left now before the championship resumes, but I know it will go very quickly… »

« It was also a first for me without traction control in an F1… it’s different and requires some adaptation time, but I’m used to it with GP2 where we didn’t have it either… »

The Englishman continued about the unfolding of his day: « We developed and studied certain elements for the 2008 car… It was a very productive day and we will continue in the same direction tomorrow! »

Hamilton had a tough return nonetheless, going off the track in his first hour of testing this morning, but without any damage to the MP4-23, the Englishman was able to resume his program normally to get ahead of his Scottish ‘compatriot’ David Coulthard.

On the Red Bull, the veteran of the day was equipped like three other test drivers with slick tires in the testing phase for the 2009 season. With a performance gain of about 0.3 seconds, he secured the second position.

The two Ferrari drivers today—namely Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen—are respectively 3rd and 4th today with only a tenth of a second difference. They lead the second McLaren of Pedro de La Rosa and Nelson Piquet Jr in the Renault. The Brazilian also had a difficult morning by causing the first red flag of the morning after going off the track.

The Renault was equipped with slick tires, but didn’t really gain any performance advantage, unlike the Force India drivers. Christian Klien, who replaced Franck Montagny, settled in 7th position, two places ahead of Fisichella.

Kubica is 10th on the first BMW and with 118 laps covered, just like Kobayashi, the new test driver for Toyota. Heidfeld, who was leading yesterday, is the very last, focusing only on 2009 elements!

Bourdais is 12th. After a good day yesterday, the French driver had more difficulty today but remains close to Vettel – his teammate – as he is only two-tenths behind him. Vettel, for his part, caused a red flag before the lunch break, just like Rosberg did a bit later and Heidfeld in the afternoon.

The best times were achieved by many this morning, before the break, but the overall times remain less good than those of yesterday despite identical conditions.

Jerez Testing – Day 2 – Results