Massa’s back – the first day of testing
The first day of pre-season testing is over with Massa sitting on top of the time sheets, he’ll be the happiest man around tonight to know that he’s still got what it takes and that the Ferrari isn’t a dog like last year – don’t get me wrong it can still go bad from here but it’s a much better place to be than last year.
The full timings are (from formula1.com)
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:12.574, 102 Laps
2. Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber, 1:12.784, 74 Laps
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:12.947, 40 Laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:13.543, 39 Laps
5. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:13.846, 86 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:14.449, 75 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:14.762, 18 Laps
8. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:15.000, 69 Laps
Michael Schumacher will also be happy to be leaving the circuit having a faster time than Nico Rosberg, it doesn’t mean anything in the scheme of things as Nico had the shake down laps in his 39 but it’s all about psychology with Michael Schumacher and he’s won the first points.
The Sauber has put in a good performance only 2 tenths off the Ferrari – I said that nearly a whole year working on it might pay some dividends, but then Pedro de la Rosa is used to these conditions having been a test driver for so long.
I’m sure that McLaren will be slightly disappointed to find themselves fifth today as they will want to trump the works Mercedes even if they can’t hang onto the Ferrari.
Renault must be the most disappointed though to find themselves behind the Toro Rosso that spent half the day in the garage with a gearbox problem – they can’t even claim it to be a Red Bull hand me down, Kubica has some work to do it seems.
We all know the first day is only a shake down but the games have started and the clocks are running, there’s no time for playing it safe now with the limited testing that is allowed so I’d be surprised to see any of these teams sandbagging. In summary, winners Massa, Schumacher and Sauber, losers Kubica, Renault and the Toro Rosso gearbox mechanic.
Popularity: 1%
