Alonso makes fast start with Ferrari
Date published : 03 Feb 2010 - 13:03:59
Fernando Alonso showed he had settled into Ferrari life very quickly by setting the fastest time of the Valencia test so far on his first morning in red colours on Wednesday.The Spanish star's first ever appearance in his new team's F10 has seen thousands of local fans flock to the Ricardo Tormo circuit, with world champion Jenson Button's maiden outing in a McLaren and Michael Schumacher's first full day back in a contemporary F1 car also part of a blockbuster final day at the first pre-season test.The motorway which runs past the track on the outskirts of Valencia was experiencing heavy tailbacks from mid-morning, while entrance roads which lead to the circuit were still congested at 1pm local time.Organisers expect that up to 30,000 fans will have passed through the gates by the end of Thursday most of whom will go away optimistic about the season ahead if national hero Alonso remains at the head of the times.After team-mate Felipe Massa had shown the impressive potential of Ferrari's new challenger by leading the way on the opening two days, it didn't take long for Alonso to move to the head of the order lapping in the high-1m11s. He eventually bettered Massa's day two benchmark around midday, lapping the 2.517-mile track in 1m11.599s.Sauber once again currently occupies second place on the times, with Pedro de la Rosa making it an all-Spanish 1-2 with a best lap of 1m12.094s a time which is just four hundredths slower than stable-mate Kamui Kobayashi's from Tuesday.De la Rosa's day hasn't been without incident, however, as he was involved in the first minor tangle of 2010 when he brushed wheels with Williams new boy Nico Hulkenberg early in the day.The 38-year-old's C29 stopped on track and was returned to the pits on a truck, but after repairs he was able to resume his programme later in the morning.Meanwhile, Schumacher continues to get himself back in the F1 groove with Mercedes's 2010 car following his three-year spell in retirement.The German legend sat third on the times at lunchtime after 30 laps in the best time set by the new W01 around Valencia so far, 1m12.438s.The day's third high-profile star, Button, enjoyed a steady introduction to McLaren's new car, initially completing four exploratory laps before later returning and gradually upping his pace to 1m13.498s after 24 laps.Spain's other F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari got what is his first ever official F1 test appearance off to an encouraging start with 37 laps and the fourth-fastest morning time for Toro Rosso.Hulkenberg had completed by the far the highest number of laps [72] by lunchtime to slot into sixth on his first day in the new Williams FW32, while fellow rookie Vitaly Petrov is spending Wednesday acclimatising himself to the 2010 Renault and F1 equipment in general.Lunchtime testing times from Valencia 1. ALONSO Ferrari 1m11.599s (55)2. DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m12.094s (28)3. SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m12.438s (30)4. ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m12.576s (37)5. BUTTON McLaren 1m13.498s (24)6. HULKENBERG Williams 1m13.669s (72)7. PETROV Renault 1m14.009s (29)
