Barcelona – Day 1 – Hamilton ahead of Alonso!

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time on the first day of private testing in Barcelona. In his McLaren MP4/23, the vice-world champion was six-tenths ahead of his former teammate, Fernando Alonso, in the Renault R28.

No doubt helped by Ferrari’s absence on the Spanish track, the McLaren Briton set the fastest time on the first of the three scheduled days in Barcelona. The Woking team experienced its move to the last position on the pit lane well.

Fernando Alonso, who was driving for the first time with the latest version of the R28, presented yesterday in Paris, finished second but more than six-tenths behind his former teammate. The R28 nevertheless experienced some reliability issues, causing a red flag towards the end of the session.

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld for BMW showed that their new F1.08 car had potential. The team was able to rectify some issues that appeared during the initial tests. Kubica is on the podium, Heidfeld is 5th.

Between the two BMWs slots a surprising Giancarlo Fisichella in a hybrid Force India.

The second McLaren climbs up with Gary Paffett to 6th position, though not without difficulty. The test driver has indeed caused three red flags on his own. Almost in the same situation, the second Renault R28 with Nelson Piquet caused two red flags. He is 7th.

The Toro Rosso team still hasn’t had any major developments since 2007. This is reflected in the performance, with the two Sébastiens (Vettel and Bourdais) in 8th and 12th positions respectively, but with only 5 tenths of a second apart.

The two Red Bull drivers in the RB4 are in 10th and 11th place. With their new wing called Dolphin Fin, Webber and Coulthard conducted numerous other aerodynamic tests. They both also experienced session interruptions with a red flag each.

Honda, despite the new single-seater, did not achieve anything extraordinary. Barrichello and Wurz are last, finishing in 14th and 15th place.

Williams, who interrupted their tests to explain the incident encountered by Nakajima this morning, placed Rosberg in 9th position (13) while the team’s number two driver is 13th with 35 laps completed. Both drivers are expected to be in testing as planned tomorrow.

Barcelona Tests – Day 1