Rosberg fastest on Day One in Barcelona

By on Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Nico Rosberg set the fastest time as the second pre-season test kicked off at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.

Rosberg's time of 1:22.616 was just 0.007s quicker than the Lotus E21 of Kimi Raikkonen.

Both Rosberg and Raikkonen jumped to the top of the leaderboard after fitting the medium compound tyre during the final hour of running.

Rosberg's morning had been disrupted by checks to his gearbox but he nonetheless edged out Raikkonen.

After electing to skip the opening test, Fernando Alonso was given his first taste of the Ferrari F138 and he finished in third place, the only man to complete over 100 laps.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the morning but despite improving his lap time and becoming the first man to break into the 1.22s, he ended the day in fourth place.

Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas unveiled the Williams FW35 in the pits prior to the start of testing. Maldonado promptly gave the FW35 its track début and ended the day in fifth place.

The only red flags of the day were caused by Esteban Gutierrez and Charles Pic. The Sauber driver stopped as part of a planned fuel run early in the morning, while Pic caused a red flag in the afternoon when his Caterham came to a halt.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Laps
1 N. Rosberg Mercedes W04 1:22.616 54
2 K. Raikkonen Lotus E21 1:22.623 40
3 F. Alonso Ferrari F138 1:22.952 106
4 S. Vettel Red Bull RB9 1:22.965 65
5 P. Maldonado Williams FW35 1:23.733 81
6 D. Ricciardo Toro Rosso STR8 1:23.884 68
7 S. Perez McLaren MP4-28 1:24.124 71
8 P. di Resta Force India VJM06 1:24.144 78
9 E. Gutierrez Sauber C32 1:25.124 63
10 M. Chilton Marussia MR02 1:26.747 65
11 C. Pic Caterham CT03 1:27.534 49

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