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| Grosjean was the fastest of all 2012 runners |
Pre-season testing got underway last week in Jerez, Spain. The Spanish venue was blessed with bright sun all week whilst the rest of Europe was struck down by deep snow and sub zero temperatures.
11 of the teams were present ant of those, 9 were running their new 2012 cars. Mercedes and HRT ran 2011 cars whilst Marussia did not participate at all.
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| Raikkonen topped the times on his return |
The returning Kimi Raikkonen led the opening day in the new Lotus E20 with a time of 1m19.670s. Force India's Paul Di Resta was the only other driver to post a sub 1 minutes 20 second time. Mclaren and Ferrari weren't high up the order with 8th and 9th place times for Jenson Button and Felipe Massa. Mark Webber didn't get much of a run in the new Red Bull RB8 due to some parts arriving late but he still managed to set the fourth fastest time.
This was only a minor setback though as on day 2, Webber set the fastest lap of all the 2012 cars, driving 97 laps throughout the day. Michael Schumacher in a 2011 Mercedes went fastest.
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| Caterham showed promise |
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| De La rosa got seat time in a 2011 HRT |
Mercedes continued to lead on Day 3 with Rosberg topping the times. Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton joined the test replacing Mark Webber, Felipe Massa and Jenson Button respectively. Force India reserve Jules Bianchi ended their running after only 2 laps with an excursion into the gravel damaging the car with new parts not available until the next day. Romain Grosjean of Lotus posted the fastest time of any 2012 car so far. Caterham's Giedo van der Garde made his debut for the team setting the ninth fastest time with Senna making his Williams debut filling in the gap in 8th. Alonso carried on Ferrari's low key start with their radical F2012 with a 7th place time. Ferrari technical director Pat Fry later admitting he was unhappy with Ferrari's performaces so far.
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| McLaren had a low key start to 2012... |
This was to change on the final day with Alonso topping the time sheets. This could've been down to low fuel runs but that information was not disclosed. The time set by Alonso was the second fastest of any 2012 car over the 4 days of testing. Nico Hulkenberg got his first taste of the new Force India car after Bianchi's crash the day before. Sauber brought out a red flag during the day after Kamui Kobayashi's C31 suffered a hydraulic leak.
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| ...as did Ferrari |
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| Mercedes faired well with their 2011 car |
COMBINED TIMES FOR ALL 4 DAYS
Pos Driver Team Best time Total laps
1. Rosberg Mercedes 1m17.613s 174
2. Grosjean Lotus 1m18.419s +0.806 212
3. Schumacher Mercedes 1m18.561s +0.948 174
4. Alonso Ferrari 1m18.877s +1.264 106
5. Webber Red Bull 1m19.184s +1.571 151
6. Vettel Red Bull 1m19.297s +1.684 146
7. Hamilton McLaren 1m19.464s +1.851 166
8. Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m19.587s +1.974 157
9. Vergne Toro Rosso 1m19.597s +1.984 159
10. Raikkonen Lotus 1m19.670s +2.057 192
11. Perez Sauber 1m19.770s +2.157 116
12. Di Resta Force India 1m19.772s +2.159 170
13. Kobayashi Sauber 1m19.834s +2.221 182
14. Hulkenberg Force India 1m19.977s +2.364 90
15. Senna Williams 1m20.132s +2.519 250
16. Bianchi Force India 1m20.221s +2.608 46
17. Massa Ferrari 1m20.454s +2.841 164
18. Button McLaren 1m20.688s +3.075 147
19. Maldonado Williams 1m21.197s +3.584 122
20. Kovalainen Caterham 1m21.518s +3.905 167
21. De la Rosa HRT 1m22.128s +4.515 108
22. Trulli Caterham 1m22.198s +4.585 117
23. Van der Garde Caterham 1m23.324s +5.711 74
Pics from f1fanatic.co.uk
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