The second official winter test of the 2010 season has began this week and we have day one times and highlights.
A few drivers were able to set some dry lap times before rain moved into the area causing slower lap times. This provided a chance for the teams to test their new cars in the wet conditions. Force India, Virgin Racing, and Red Bull were new additions to the testing session with the Red Bull squad suffering mechanical failure early. Not a hot start for the drink racers as they were forced to fix an oil leak after only 47 laps.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg topped the time sheet before having a mechanical failure of his own at the end of the session. The team secured the fastest time during the dry conditions at a 1m20.927s. As for the other Mercedes powered teams, Jenson Button made his McLaren debut in 6th place with a 1m24.947s. Force India made their testing debut with Liuzzi at the wheel. Car looked good and ran consistently through the day with little trouble.
Nico Hulkenburg notched 118 laps through the day and ended third quickest. Renault and Russian driver Vitaly Petrov ran a conservative program and did not really take any chances in the wet weather. Below are the days final times:
1 Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.927s
2 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m21.031s +0.104
3 Hulkenberg Williams 1m22.243s +1.316
4 Alonso Ferrari 1m22.895s +1.968
5 Kobayashi Sauber 1m23.787s +2.860
6 Button McLaren 1m24.947s +4.020
7 Liuzzi Force India 1m24.968s +4.041
8 Petrov Renault 1m25.440s +4.513
9 Webber Red Bull 1m26.502s +5.575
10 Glock Virgin 1m38.734s +17.807
