Valencia Test: Alonso ups the pace
nextgen-auto.com 2011.02.02. 21:32
The Formula One field enjoyed a nice and sunny day at Valencia today, as it completed its second day of testing of the year.
Having been outpaced by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel yesterday and this morning, Fernando Alonso reacted and set the fastest time of the afternoon. The Spaniard thus concluded his first test session of the year in great fashion. His teammate Felipe Massa will take over at the wheel tomorrow.
Vettel was second fastest, with di Resta third fastest. Hamilton and Kubica completed the top five.
The Mercedes MGP W02 had another mechanical problem early in the afternoon. The new Lotus also had technical problems. Heikki Kovalainen did a number of installation laps but power steering problems forced the team to call it a day at 3.30pm. Some new parts will be built at the factory overnight and sent to Valencia early tomorrow morning.
In the course of the afternoon, Sébastien Buemi took over at the wheel of the Toro Rosso STR6 from his teammate Jaime Alguersuari. Maldonado at Williams and Webber at Red Bull also got their first taste of their team’s new cars.
Narain Karthikeyan posted an impressive sixth fastest time with the 2010 HRT car.
Fastest lap times of the day:
Pos. |
Driver |
Team |
Lap times |
Gap |
Laps |
01 |
F. Alonso |
Ferrari F150 |
1.13.307 |
|
108 |
02 |
S. Vettel |
Red Bull RB7 |
1.13.614 |
+0.307 |
43 |
03 |
P. di Resta |
Force India VJM03 |
1.13.844 |
+0.537 |
111 |
04 |
L. Hamilton |
McLaren MP4-25 |
1.14.353 |
+1.046 |
83 |
05 |
R. Kubica |
Lotus Renault R31 |
1.14.412 |
+1.105 |
104 |
06 |
N. Karthikeyan |
HRT F110 |
1.14.472 |
+1.165 |
80 |
07 |
N. Rosberg |
Mercedes GP W02 |
1.14.645 |
+1.338 |
69 |
08 |
T. Glock |
Virgin VR-01 |
1.15.408 |
+2.101 |
34 |
09 |
R. Barrichello |
Williams FW33 |
1.16.023 |
+2.716 |
51 |
10 |
S. Perez |
Sauber C30 |
1.16.198 |
+2.891 |
42 |
11 |
P. Maldonao |
Williams FW33 |
1.16.266 |
+2.959 |
29 |
12 |
S. Buemi |
Toro Rosso STR6 |
1.16.359 |
+3.052 |
46 |
13 |
J. Alguersuari |
Toro Rosso STR6 |
1.16.474 |
+3.167 |
64 |
14 |
M. Webber |
Red Bull RB7 |
1.17.365 |
+4.058 |
12 |
15 |
H. Kovalainen |
Team Lotus T128 |
1.20.649 |
+7.342 |
15 |
|