Kimi Räikkönen finished top of the timesheets as F1 2012 creaked gently into gear on the first day of winter testing.
When engineers talk about going to Spain for winter testing because of the good weather, it paints a picture of a sun-bleached pitlane, blue skies and palm trees wafting gently behind the grandstands. That isn’t really the way it goes. What they really mean is that the weather is better than in the other places where it might be convenient to test a car. With Silverstone, Paul Ricard and Mugello currently shovelling away snow that’s a fair point, but for the mechanics turning up at Jerez this morning in pitch darkness and sub-zero temperatures, the things mostly being tested were beanie hats, fingerless gloves and mugs of steaming tea.
Raikkonen tries the new Lotus © Andrew Ferraro/LAT Photographic
By the time testing formally began at 0900, the temperature had at least risen to a comparatively balmy 3°C but before then there was the matter of the Williams launch, involving as it did the drivers wheeling the car out into the pitlane shortly before the start of running and letting everyone take a good look. Sir Frank said the FW34 represents ‘A truly fresh start.’ With a new technical team at the helm and a Renault donkey in the back, Williams have to hope that they can lay to rest the ghost of their abysmal 2011. At first glance, the car appears to have followed the same path as its competitors with a stepped nose and a lot of tucking around the rear – though Williams’ tiny 2011 gearbox meant they were always ahead in those stakes anyway.
As the pitlane went green Heikki Kovalainen for Caterham had the honour of being the first man on track in 2012, swiftly followed by Kimi Räikkönen for Lotus, Daniel Riccardo’s Toro Rosso, Kamui Kobayashi for Sauber, Nico Rosberg for Mercedes, Paul di Resta for Force India and, after a couple of minutes, Felipe Massa in a Ferrari. Pastor Maldonado followed a little later in the Williams. Those all did installation laps and came swiftly back to the garage for system checks before getting down to business.
Jenson Button got first go with the new McLaren, though didn’t reappear after his installation lap for quite some time, Pedro de la Rosa emerged an hour into the session in last year's HRT to do some tyre work (Mercedes were running their old car also and for the same reason) but there was no sign of Mark Webber in the Red Bull. The reason? Fog.
'When Mark did get going, it was pretty smooth' – Ian Morgan
Webber eventually emerged from the garage at 1154, the delay caused by last-minute parts arriving late from England because Jerez airport was fogged-in and they were diverted to Seville. While F1 teams have state of the art logistics operations, it’s not uncommon for late departing-staff to leave the factory with a suitcase full of bits. “The delay meant we didn’t get running until midday, which is a little bit frustrating,” explained head of race engineering Ian Morgan. “Fortunately, the delay wasn’t too severe as it was very cold early this morning and for the first hour and a half I don’t think the track was in great condition anyway. So we probably only lost an hour or so of proper running. When Mark did get going, it was pretty smooth and we didn’t see anything unexpected. We have done a lot of simulation work and today pretty much confirmed what we are getting from that. It’s nice to repeat it on track and we’re happy with how things went.”
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Definitely not delayed was Kimi Räikkönen. Revelling in his return to single-seaters, Kimi slammed in fast lap after fast lap and spent most of the morning on top of the time sheets. He finished the morning with a best time of 1m19.670s which would not be beaten in the afternoon.
The only change for the afternoon’s activity was Michael Schumacher replacing Rosberg in the old Mercedes. Barring the odd slide (Jenson Button had a particularly good one) and minor technical issues (a brake duct flying off the Sauber and Lotus having a few KERS problems) the day progressed incident-free until the last hour and quarter when first Toro Rosso and then Sauber cause the red flags to fly with their cars stopping out on track. Ricciardo had an oil-pressure problem – though still managed to finish the day a creditable fifth – while Kobayashi simply ran out of fuel, almost certainly by design.
After those hiccups, the session drew to a close at 1700 without incident. The timing screens indicated that Räikkönen on his return was 0.1s quicker than Paul di Resta with Rosberg third and Webber fourth.
'It was a good feeling going fast again' – Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo was fifth in a creditable Toro Rosso debut, “It was a good feeling going fast again,” said the Australian as he sat out the last minutes of the session with his car unable to be repaired before the 5pm cutoff. “It’s too early to give a true assessment of the car, but out of the box this morning, it seemed balanced and quite stable. It gave me a good feeling when I put the power down.”
Schumacher and Kobayashi were just behind him, ahead of the heavy artillery of Massa and Button, both of whom had a quiet day working through their programmes. The times, everyone stressed, were not important – though nobody doubted the man of the day was the man who went quickest of all. “It was a positive first day of testing and everything went almost to plan,” said Kimi in a speech longer than his combined utterances of 2009. “We had no major issues and I got a good feel for the car and the tyres. The lap times don’t matter today. I’m happy with the balance of the car, which feels good, and the fact that we didn’t have any major issues. I’m looking forward to making further progress with the car tomorrow.”
JEREZ TESTING FINISHING TIMES
1. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m19.670s 73laps
2. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m19.772s + 0.102 101laps
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.219s + 0.549 56laps
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m20.496s + 0.826 53laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m20.694s + 1.024 57 laps
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m20.794s + 1.124 41 laps
7. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m21.353s + 1.683 106 laps
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m21.530s + 1.860 60 laps
9. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m22.815s + 3.145 69 laps
10. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1m23.178s + 3.508 28 laps
11. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m23.371s + 3.701 25 laps
12. Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1m23.676s + 4.006 44 laps
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