Jerez: Räikkönen retains 1st time

Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) maintains the best time of the first day of testing in Jerez with a time of 1'19”670 achieved this morning with the E20. Paul di Resta (Force India) finished in second place a tenth behind after 101 covered laps. Driving the old Mercedes W02, Nico Rosberg set the third time while his teammate Michael Schumacher, who replaced him this afternoon, finished the day credited with the sixth fastest time (+1”124) after having completed 42 laps against 56 for his compatriot.

After 54 laps completed, Mark Webber (Red Bull) takes fourth place with the RB8 (+ 0 »826). Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) follows at 1”024 but the Australian had to stop on lap 57 after encountering an oil pressure problem on his STR7. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) also ended his session prematurely after setting the seventh fastest time (+1”683). The Japanese still worked well since he completed no less than 106 laps of the track. Jenson Button (McLaren) takes eighth position at 1”860 ahead of Felipe Massa (+ 3”145).

Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham) was only able to cover 28 laps after a problem arose with the starter of the CT01. The Finn finished the day credited with the 10th time (+ 3 »508). Pastor Maldonado (Williams) completed only 25 laps of the track and set the 11th fastest time (+3”701) ahead of the old F111 of Pedro de la Rosa (+4”006). The second day will also start at 9 a.m. Sergio Perez will replace Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel of the C31 while Michael Schumacher will this time cover the entire session with the W02. All other drivers should remain in place.